Quick Hitters: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman on keeping Audric Estimé in the game late
Notre Dame football finalized its 2023 home slate with a 45-7 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday. The No. 10 Irish improved to 8-3 on the season and 5-1 at home. Afterward, coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media and answered various questions from reporters.
Freeman spoke about keeping junior running back Audric Estimé in the game late, sophomore tight end Eli Raridon’s breakout, timeout management and the onside kick decision. Here are the quick hitters.
On keeping running back Audric Estimé in late in the game:
“Yeah, I’m never a huge fan of that, because there is just — you know me, I’m thinking, ‘This game is over.’ It’s only fair to the kid. But we talked about it and wanted to get him over 100 yards. I think he ended up with 115. That was important to us for possibly his last game in Notre Dame Stadium, to get him over 100 yards.”
On Eli Raridon getting over the mental hump of last season’s ACL injury for a breakout game:
“It wasn’t one thing. Accumulation of weeks and practices. When he finally was cleared to play from where he was to now, it’s just a process of him gaining that confidence.
“He’s not at his full potential yet. He’ll continue to gain that confidence. I think today was a great reflection of how far he’s come since he was cleared medically. For him to have some of those catches and get hit low, it gives him confidence that, ‘Hey, I’m going to be just fine?'”
On managing Notre Dame’s timeouts at the end of the first half:
“Yeah, I think there has been — the majority of times I’m in that situation, again, I have the utmost confidence in our offense and quarterback Sam (Hartman) to march us down the field and try to create something positively.
“I know there has been a game or two that maybe something hasn’t gone our way, and I kind of let the clock run out. At Clemson, after they got that first down when we were on defense, I let him just run out the clock.
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“And I have a lot of confidence in our offensive staff and our offensive game plan, and that was a reflection of why I called those timeouts today.”
On Notre Dame deciding to attempt an onside kick:
“We had seen it on film. We had practiced it for a couple weeks and seen it on film. The first two kickoffs, we were like, ‘It’s there. It’s not the right time.’ I said, ‘If we score again, let’s do it.’
“At some point, if you’re going to do it, you got to call it. If you believe you can execute it, you have to call it, right? There is no point of practicing something and getting a look that you are looking for and not calling it. So I told them, let’s do it.
“It was a great job by (special teams) Coach (Marty) Biagi of preparing for that moment and executing when it mattered.”
