Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Thursday before Georgia Tech game

Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media for the final time before No. 12 Notre Dame faces Georgia Tech on Saturday. Here is everything he told reporters in his about 10-minute Thursday news conference over Zoom.

On what Notre Dame graduate student defensive lineman Rylie Mills has meant to the defense:

“Riley’s been just a staple in the center of our defense. I’ve always had a belief you have to be good up the middle if you want to be good defensively. He’s actually a guy that, from the time I’ve gotten here in ’21 to now, the improvement’s been tremendous. 

“He was a raw football player when I first got here, but had so many traits of being able to be a great football player. He’s really developed those traits, and he’s practicing and performing in games at a high level. He’s doing a great job in terms of his leadership, too.”

On Georgia Tech backup QB Zach Pyron’s passing game and how he prepares to Haynes King:

“Yeah, we went back and watched all of his clips from the past few years, and there’s quite a bit. There’s quite a few of them. He’s doing a good job and going into some hostile environments and performing.

“I would say they use him very similar as they do with King, but he also does some things differently. So, we have a plan for both. Probably not the exact same, but it will just depend on who’s going to be back there. But again, he has the ability to run the ball and create issues for your defense with his legs, but he can throw it, too. He’s confident, and he’ll throw it in tight windows. So we have to be ready with both quarterbacks.”

On comfortably of playing man coverage and if that gets stressed with Notre Dame freshman cornerback Leonard Moore replacing junior Benjamin Morrison:

“Yeah, to play man, you have to be confident in your defender’s ability to play man. We’ve had a lot of confidence, and we still do, in terms of what our guys can do and do it well.

“I think the ability to have change-ups and the ability to go off of your tendencies is crucial, right? It’s the ability to play man but it doesn’t always look the same. I think those are the things that have made this defense successful, but it still starts with your guys’ ability to execute man coverage, and then your ability, as a coach, to not always just tell the offense what you’re doing.”

On Morrison’s involvement as a leader despite being out for the year due to injury: 

“Right now, he’s obviously recovering from surgery. When he gets back — he’s eager to get back here. Once he’s able to get back around our guys, his leadership skills will continue to show. Right now, he’s just taking care of his body and recovering from surgery. We wish him all the best, and he’ll be back before we know it.”

On senior defensive lineman Jason Onye’s status after missing the Stanford game due to personal reasons: 

“It’s still the same status that I previously said.”

On the best combination of Moore and sophomore cornerback Christian Gray playing field and boundary cornerback: 

“Yeah, we feel confident that both of those guys can play field or boundary. They can do it at a high level.”

On if Notre Dame has missed the edge that senior defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio has brought back to the lineup:

“I think you have a big human, a big body that really plays at a high rate. He has a lot of velocity with the way he plays. So we absolutely missed the presence that he brings to this defense.

“The thing with Gabe is he’s continuously learning how to control that aggression, right? To play with details. He’s doing a much better job at that. He’s going to be a guy that continues to improve, because he plays with the effort, he plays with the motor, the disruptive mindset that he has, and now he’s continuing to improve on the details of the position. So, he’s only going to continue to get better.”

On who would replace graduate kicker Mitch Jeter, the backup kickers’ range and how that would impact third and fourth down calls:

“I’m confident in Zak (Yoakam) and Marcello (Diomede). I think they’re different kickers and where their range is might change. Again, they’ve done a really good job in practice. We have a lot of confidence in putting those guys out there. Yoakam is a guy that’s kicked for us before. 

“The range always changes based on pregame. ‘Hey, how are we kicking today?’ You can do one thing, really good or really bad in practice, but we got to make sure, as we get into the game, the confidence in terms of where that range is determined probably the closer we get to game time. 

“So obviously, the way you call the game will always be determined based off where the line is, we say, for the kicker. And the same thing: Do we decide to go for it, do we decide to punt, do we decide to kick it? Those final decisions are really made after pregame warm-ups.”