Quick Hitters: What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said about the future of bowl games
Marcus Freeman addressed the media Saturday for the first time since his Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl press conference on Dec. 4. Notre Dame football’s second-year head coach spoke to reporters for about 20 minutes and discussed various topics.
This edition of Quick Hitters breaks down Freeman’s take on the future of college football bowl games, the injury status of three wide receivers, the bowl game linebacker rotation, and his thoughts on the December college football schedule. Here’s what Freeman had to say.
On the future of bowl games:
“I think all postseason play is going to change now that you’re talking about a 12-team playoff. We understand that, and for those teams that don’t make the 12-team playoff, you’re going to have to see how many guys you have available, right? And guys that are going to be willing to play.
“For me, as the head coach, anytime you get a chance to have an opportunity to compete, I want to compete. You only need 11 on each side of the ball and obviously some specialist to do that. But I think you got to be smart, too, as a head coach. You don’t want to put your team in danger.
“That’s something that is to be determined in the future. I want to make sure we continue to build this roster that has a chance to make sure we’re in those playoffs next year.”
On the injury statuses of Notre Dame wide receivers Deion Colzie, KK Smith and Jayden Thomas:
Yeah, all three are coming along really well … I’m saying from my eyes, man, it’s been great to see where JT (Jayden Thomas) is now being healthy. Deion (Colzie) being healthy — KK (Smith). We haven’t seen KK all year. He’s doing some really good things for our offense and our wide receivers room. So I’m very pleased with where they’ve gotten to in these first five practices, and excited to see where we go.”
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On the Notre Dame linebacker rotation with Marist Liufau opting out of the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl:
“You’ll see (Jaylen) Sneed in there when we play some base. You’ll also see Drayk Bowen, being a guy that you’ll see at Mike and Will. Then, Jaiden Ausberry’s gotten reps over the course of this bowl practice. I can see an increased role for all three of those guys. But right now, as we go to base, Sneed will be the third backer.”
On the December schedule for FBS coaches:
“It’s ‘wow.’ I think about the changes in my first two years being a head coach, from what December presents to all the things that encompass college football. It’s forever changing. I remember the conversation I had with Jack Swarbrick last year at the bowl game, in terms of ‘Hey, where we see NIL going? Where we see just college football going.’ It just went right past what we thought it was going to be.
“I truly believe that we are continuing to flourish with the changes in college football. I believe that Notre Dame will continue to be at the front of making sure we take advantage of every new opportunity that college football presents and the changes that it presents.
“You wear a lot of different hats, right? You have to figure out what it’s going to take to help your program have success. We have a lot of support. Our collective has been great with the FUND. Jack Swarbrick and Pete (Bevacqua) have been amazing in terms of just trying to continue to make sure this program is set to have success.”
