What Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, Riley Leonard, Jeremiyah Love said on 'Outta Pocket with RGIII'

During their bye-week media blitz, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, senior quarterback Riley Leonard and sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love went on “Outta Pocket” with former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Robert Griffin III and his wife, former Florida State track and field star Grete Griffin.

Freeman, Leonard and Love said more than just what’s transcribed in this article, but Blue & Gold wanted to highlight new topics and information, not sound bites that have more or less already been said at press conferences (i.e. “handling success” after Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois).

For the full podcast, click here:

Freeman on the people who say Notre Dame has an easy path to the College Football Playoff as an independent

“I don’t want to combat them, right? We play teams in every conference. That’s the unique thing about being an independent football program. We started off the season down in College Station, we played two games in New York, we finished off the season in LA. We play coast to coast, in every conference. We have to play tough teams at tough times, and I think there’s stats out there that somebody else can promote for us but we’ve been battle-tested. We’ve been battle-tested, and we’ll be ready to go.”

Freeman on Notre Dame’s two-headed monster at running back with Love and Jadarian Price — and if it’s the best the Irish have ever had

“Ever is a big word. I would say one of the two best running back combinations. I’m sure there are some people that would argue, but they’re special, man. We need to come up with a name, you know what I mean? Don’t the Lions have a name?”

Griffin: “They got Sonic and Knuckles.”

“Yeah, we gotta come up with a cool name. When you spend some time with J-Love and those guys, come up with a good name. J-Love is great. I mean, he hurdles a guy. He’s in the air, it probably looks like about four yards. Most, 90 percent of people that do that, people that hurdle, they fall down. He stays on his feet and then the next guy tries to go high, he runs him right over. I don’t know, don’t go high, don’t go low.

“They’re really a great combination. They are, man. Both of them have unique skill sets. The thing I love most about them is they hand the ball to the official, right, protecting the football. But those two guys have done really good for us this year.”

Freeman on flag-planting in rivalry games around college football

“Listen, I wouldn’t be too high on somebody else planting a flag in our home stadium, but I wanna speak on this from the other side. I’m not gonna tell another coach how to run their program, but for us, let’s get our butts in the locker room and celebrate team glory together. Don’t take a flag and plant it on the field. Let’s go into the locker room, spend that time together, celebrate the way we need to.

“You put so much work into this thing. You don’t need to go celebrate on the middle of their field. Let’s go into the locker room with the people that put so much into what it takes to achieve that feeling, and let’s celebrate together.”

Griffin: “That’s why I love talking to you. … What you just said sparked something in me, because when you plant the flag, you’re making it about them.”

“That’s it.”

Griffin: “Whereas if you go to the locker room and you celebrate and you go to the fans and you do the fight song, you’re making it about us.”

“That’s right. That’s right. … It’s a bad look for college football. You don’t want people looking at highlights, saying, ‘That’s how college football players act? They’re fighting each other after the game? It’s a physical, violent game, but I like to say it’s a beautiful game. It is. Let’s make sure that we portray the right picture to those fans that are watching the game.”

Freeman on balancing being a head coach with taking care of his six kids

“I try to blend. There’s no balance. There’s not a balance to being a head coach and being a husband and father, so I try to blend my family with our football family as much as I can. My wife can bring two kids and just let them run around at practice. That’s my way, I can see them and say, ‘Hey.’ And then they play with the players and they’re running around there.

“I try to blend it as much as I can to see my family but also, I want our players to see me as a father and husband. I think some of the greatest lessons I learned in college were seeing my coaches just interact with our families. It’s not always what we say — we as coaches think that we give these great messages — it’s what they see. And it’s important for our players to see me as a husband and father.”

Love on his hurdle against USC

“The whole game, they was talking trash, so I was trying to embarrass somebody, for real. It was me and No. 4, the linebacker [Easton Mascarenas-Arnold] he was talking a lot of smack. I was just going and saying, ‘I’m trying to embarrass somebody.’ I already trucked No. 7 [Kamari Ramsey]. So as soon as he came around the corner I seen him coming down, I’m like, ‘I’m finna do him dirty.’ [laughs]

“I waited for him to get a little closer. I stuttered a little bit, so he thought I was trying to make a move. I knew he was gonna go low, so as soon as he came a little close, I was like, ‘Woo.'”

Leonard and Love on what they’ve done for their Notre Dame teammates with their NIL money

Leonard: “With the offensive line, they really like golf, so I’ve been able to supply them with different golf clothes. Get my guys different merch from different clothing brands that have helped me out a little bit. And then we got some Christmas presents on the way, so I can’t say too much.”

Love: “I got a little something coming up for Christmas as well, something for the full team. This will really be my first time being able to give to the full team, which I’m blessed to be able to do. Just kind of spread the love. I haven’t really done much. This will be my first big opportunity, but I’m looking for it. As my career continues to move forward, hopefully I can continue to bless this team.”

Leonard on Love

“We were talking earlier about him talking trash. This dude doesn’t say much throughout the week. On game day, I’m telling you, it’s different. It’s not necessarily talking trash when he’s about to get the ball. It’s talking trash when it’s a QB run. So, if it’s a QB run, he’ll point at the D-lineman he’s pulling for — which, we run a lot of QB runs — he’ll point at the D-lineman he’s pulling for and tell him he’s finna knock his head off.

“It ain’t even talking trash when he’s finna get the ball. He’s trying to lay somebody out for me. He’ll tell me that all the time.”

Love: “Last game, USC, I said, ‘Follow me, bro. I’m finna knock somebody out.'”

Leonard and Love on Notre Dame’s unsung hero (player who doesn’t get the notoriety they deserve)

Leonard: “There’s a freshman, Bryce Young —”

Love: “Oh, yeah.”

Leonard: “— who is a beast on special teams, and that’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough. We’re talking about game-changing plays. I think he has 3 blocked kicks, which is the most in college football this year. I mean, that’s a kid who is one of the highest recruits out of high school, freak of an athlete but is just playing his role. We got so many guys on our team that are doing that, but he’s just one guy that sticks out to me. Doesn’t care about anything but doing his job to the best of his ability, and he’s done it.”

Love: “I would say Anthonie Knapp. He’s a freshman, came in, was just kind of thrown into the fire. Played his first game, Texas A&M, his first start against a really good Texas A&M team in a hostile environment. He’s owned his role every since he’s been thrown in there. I remember, first game, I think it was one play where he got beat. So he was down, but I had to let him know, ‘Man, I trust you. Riley trusts you. Everybody on this team trusts you to get your job done.

“And from then on, Knapp, he’s just been going at it. He’s been doing great. One of the best freshmen in the country. He’s just been owning his role.”