Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Thursday before the Navy game

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

On the keys to putting together a complete performance:

“It still goes back to the way you prepare, in continuing to iron out the details of everything we’re doing. Making sure we’re all on the exact same page. You leave no stone unturned. Like, there is no guaranteed formula to make sure that we are as consistent as we need to be, but it’s more so a mindset of we have to continue to get better, right?

“It’s a challenge to every person in this program to get better. And what does better mean? Is that we are more consistent. Now, how do you do that? It is about the work you put into it. It’s finding a way to elevate the way you practice and continue to find ways to improve on Saturday so you can be more consistent.”

On whether they emphasize red zone efficiency, with Notre Dame and Navy being successful in that area:

“Especially defensively, we have to find a way to get red zone stops versus this team. They’re obviously good on both sides of the ball. Offensively, it’s having a great plan and making sure we finish with touchdowns and not field goals.

“But defensively, I think you do; you make sure you have a great red zone plan. They’re really good on offense, all over the field, but in the red zone. So there has been a huge point of emphasis on the defensive side of the ball and offensively, just continuing to have a great plan and executing at a high level.”

On being a part of the Notre Dame vs. Navy rivalry:

“I think as you go back to the history, and you go back to why this rivalry was even created, it’s an honor to be a part of it. You’re humbled; you’re grateful. And I think everybody has that mindset and approach to this opportunity we have ahead of us.

“If you have a grateful mindset, a grateful approach, and you prepare in a way that you respect what this opportunity presents. So I think that’s most important, man, is that our mindset’s in the right place, and we understand the tradition, the history of this rivalry and we prepare in a way that gives us a chance to have success.”

On whether wide receivers and lacrosse players freshman Matt Jeffrey and quarterback Tyler Buchner count toward the football scholarship limit and how that differs from sophomore Jordan Faison:

“It was different. Jordan was what you call a recruited walk-on. We brought him here on an official visit. It had something to do with when he signed his NLI (national letter of intent) for lacrosse, whereas Bucner is in a different situation. Obviously, he’s not a freshman.

“Then, Matt Jeffrey is in a different situation. Where if he played, he wasn’t going to be accounted for as a scholarship. So just had to do with was he recruited, was he not? And when they signed their NLI for lacrosse.”

On what he is doing when he writes notes on the sideline:

“Yeah, it’s funny. My son asked me the same thing this week. There’s a couple of different things that that I have a routine of doing, in terms of, certain things that happen during the drive and certain reminders that I want to make sure that I remember as we go into the end of the half or the end of a game. So those are different things that I do.

“There’s also different notes and reminders I have for myself on there that I have to go back and look at and make sure — it’s almost like my game plan. If you saw it, you probably wouldn’t understand it. There’s a lot of writing on there, but there’s different things after each series, maybe a penalty, after each situation that happens that I jot down on certain sides of the page.

“Again, it’s for a couple of different reasons. To remind me of certain things, but also to keep track of certain things.”

On whether Notre Dame graduate student Max Hurleman and freshman Karson Hobbs can rotate in at cornerback:

“Both of those guys are improving. Karson’s doing a great job of just getting better week by week, practice by practice. Max has been more of a safety for us and the safety/nickel position. But there’s a chance you can see both of them in a defensive role this week. That’s still to be determined based off the flow of the game.

“But I can’t tell you what the outcome is going to be in terms of what’s going to happen on Saturday, but I can tell you that both of those guys are ascending vertically, man, in a really good way. They’re both improving tremendously.”

On Notre Dame and Navy excelling in the second quarter:

“I contribute it to, hopefully, a mindset. The ability to stay in the moment. The ability to understand that this possession on offense or defense is the most important possession of the game. This play is the most important play of the game. And then, as you look back at the game, it might be that, ‘Hey, we’ve been playing well in the second quarter or third quarter. Let’s figure out why we didn’t start the game off the right way. What plays, what execution did we lack?’

“But again, it’s just, if we can focus on every possession, every play, we’ll look back and you’re going to be able to have some of those summaries of how we play in the game.

“It isn’t like we have a speech or something that happens before the second quarter. I do think it’s a testament to the in-game adjustments on all three phases, but both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. Like that, probably more than anything, is a credit to that — the ability to say, ‘Okay, hey, here’s what they’re doing to us, here’s how they’re attacking us, and here’s how we want to return the attack and make sure we find a way to have better success.'”

On the second bye week to-do list:

“I think you always have meetings with your players in the bye weeks. It’s intentional time where you’re not getting ready for a game on Saturday, where you can spend a little bit more intentional time with your players individually, just to see where their head’s at and be able to show them how you feel they’re progressing. Where’s their areas of improvement. So, some of those conversations will happen during the bye week.

“I really like the way we prepared the previous bye week. The structure of our practices will be similar. But as far as looking for a strength coach and some of the things I had to do last year, we’re in a different position.

“For me, the challenge will be to how to make sure we enhance during that by week, maybe have conversations about the future, but also, find a way to truly take care of this team right now and try to chip away at reaching that full potential, as you always hear me talk about.”

On Notre Dame playing freshmen and their evaluation process:

“I think, first of all, it talks about the evaluation process that our entire program has had. The depth of our team. We’re recruiting really good high school football players to come here and some of them are able to help us right away, and some of us aren’t.

“It speaks to the efforts of our recruiting staff, our personnel department and our coaches as they evaluate. Then, you talk about the development to prepare those guys for — it could be six months if they come in January, or it could be a couple of months if they get here in June. Everybody’s on a little different journey.

“It speaks to our coaches’ ability to get them ready to play, as you’ve always heard me say, with velocity, right? Is that what prevents young people from playing early is that they don’t play with the velocity that sometimes you see on our high school film. So it’s the ability to make sure those guys are clear on what they got to get done. So they can play with the velocity that it takes to help this team.

“If they have the ability to help this team, we’re going to play them. We’re not afraid to do that. Then, you can see at the snap of a finger, a guy like (freshman cornerback) Leonard Moore is thrust into the spotlight because of an injury. So, it really speaks to the depth of this team and those guys being able to step up when their number is called.”