On Monday afternoon, Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman kicked off Northern Illinois week with his scheduled press conference. Here's what Freeman had to say after a 23-13, season-opening win Saturday at Texas A&M.
On the Texas A&M game
“It was a great team win in a great environment on Saturday. A lot of individuals did some really good things as you watch back and evaluate film, but I'm most proud of how we played complementary football. It was important to play complementary football when two really good teams go at it. And we won the battle of field position, which was a major key for us. And then we won the turnover margin. Those two things were vital for us to have success on Saturday.
The defense played really well — two turnovers were huge, and holding [Texas] A&M to field goals two out of those three times when they were in our territory was key … Offensively, to not make a crucial mistake versus a really, really good defense was key. We had to protect the football, and we did that by not turning the ball over and being effective offensively. To finish the fourth quarter with an eight-play, 85-yard [touchdown] drive — that was the difference, right? We knew it was gonna be a battle the entire game, and that was really the moment where we were able to say, ‘Okay, we have this. We got the game.’ And we did a good job defensively following that and then we finished with the field goal.
Special teams-wise with [graduate kicker] Mitch [Jeter] going three-for-three — that was major. And then I thought our kickoff coverage unit did a really good job of pinning them back a couple times, and those points are all key when you talk about winning the battle of field position.”
On being animated in the pregame tunnel
“It was intentional … I remember as we came out, I'm looking at [offensive linemen] Anthony Knapp and Sam Pendleton, and it's their first time. They're freshmen and they're playing in this big environment. And it's almost like you go into parent mode and you want to take that pressure off of them. Put it on me. Let's go, man. Like, ‘Let's go. This is what we talked about.’
And I remember in that moment saying, ‘We were right here. This is what we showed you in the meeting. This is what we just talked about. Right? We've been here.’ That's what I told them … We know exactly where we're at because that's what I want them to feel when we go through that during a week of preparation of showing them where we're going. This is what the crowd is going to be like. We've been here. And so I wanted to take a little bit of that pressure off of them … We're competitors, and I didn't want them to have any fear. And so it was intentional. I thought that's what they needed at that moment.
Obviously, I'm not always like that, but it wasn't just that, ‘Oh, man, I'm jacked up. I'm ready to go.’ Sometimes, as a parent or a coach, you’ve said, ‘All right, I'm with you. Don't fear. Have as much confidence in yourself that we have in you. Let's go. We're doing this thing together.’
My wife sent me that video [of the tunnel]. I was probably a little bit out of control, but it was what was needed at the time, I felt.”
On the young offensive line’s performance
“I was really proud of the way they performed. They did a good job versus a really tough defensive line, and they battled. There's some mistakes that maybe to the normal person's eye — like, ‘Man, that's an o-lineman's fault.’ But there's also some things as a coaching staff that we've got to put them in better situations [for] — make some different checks and things like that. But they continue to battle even after maybe you got beat, you got a holding call, you had a false start. They reloaded and they went back and performed and they really competed through all four quarters, so we're really pleased with the performance of our offensive line.”
On senior quarterback Riley Leonard’s Notre Dame debut
“He did a really good job in some of his decision-making. There [were] also some decisions that probably he wished he would have [seen] something or made a different decision, but he really played the quarterback position well, right? He did what we asked him to do, and that was to take care of the football. We weren't asking for explosive plays – and this had to be a complementary football game – and Riley did a really good job at doing that.”
On sophomore safety Adon Shuler stepping up defensively
“He’s got some God-given ability. I mean, he's a ballplayer. That's why we recruited him. He showed in high school that he was a playmaker … For Adon, it’s a reflection of a lot of young people. You're really, really good in high school. We evaluate you when you're playing fast and you're playing the best ball you can play. Then you come to college and you're learning a brand new scheme, a brand new system, so you're playing paralyzed a little bit in terms of how fast you can play. And so what you're seeing now in year two for Adonis — now he's playing at that fast, high level that we evaluated him [at] in high school. And so he's earned everything he's gotten.”
On sophomore cornerback Christian Gray’s game-deciding pass breakup
“He had a good game, man. Christian is a good player, and it's good for him to make some big plays in that game. It's a mentality to be aggressive on fourth-and-two right there and jump that ball because all of a sudden, it's a slant and go. That's six [points]. And so playing corner, you have to know when to be aggressive, when you can take chances and when you have to be smart. And so that shows you the confidence he had and recognizing the formation. And I know [defensive backs] coach [Mike] Mickens and him have spent endless hours working on formations and splits and down and distances. But you’ve got to trust it, and you’ve got to go do it. And he did it at the right time, and that was a huge play.”
On playing several young linebackers late in the game
“That's a reflection of the belief we have in all five of those [linebackers]. Anyone at any time could be on the field, and we're not batting an eye.[Graduate student Jack] Kiser’s your captain. Kiser's your vocal leader, but all of them can perform at the level that we believe they need to perform. [Sophomore Jaiden] Ausberry – shoot, he played well. He made a lot of plays, and Kyngston [Viliamu-Asa] is out there as a freshman making plays, [Sophomore] Drayk [Bowen] is playing well, [junior Jaylen] Sneed's being Sneed. He's doing some third-down things, but also doing well on base down.
And so [linebackers coach] Max [Bullough] has done a great job with those guys, and he has confidence [that] it's five starters. Those are five starters. And when you're playing with two at a time versus 11 personnel sets, you've got to be intentional about rolling them in the game, and you can't be emotional. You have to be intentional about who's going in this series. And I thought everybody in that linebacker room performed well.”
On cleaning up opening-game penalties
“We have to practice. We have to drill it. It's the lack of focus penalties — they are the ones that you get frustrated on. You’ve gotta see the ball snapped. If you're on defense, you can't jump offsides. And it's easy for me to say that, but we’ve got to continue to drill that in practice over and over and over … There's some other ones that, you know — is it a holding? Is it not? All those different things — that's football. You're never going to be perfect, but the pre-snap, lack-of-focus penalties are the ones that we have to clean up and really continue to attack in practice.”
On using sideline iPads and in-helmet communication for the first time
“I thought our coaches and our players both really did a good job at utilizing them. The iPad’s a teaching tool, a learning tool. It was efficient, and it's an operation, right? It's not just coach-to-players. Who's the manager? Who's picking up the iPad? Who's delivering it? How many are we taking to the press box? I mean, there's a whole logistical system and plan that we've had to put in place, and I thought they executed it really efficiently and the feedback was great from the coaches and the players.
In terms of the helmet-to-coach — the player communication — I thought it went well. The difficult part is, like, when does it turn on? It's not when it turns off. We know it turns off in 15 seconds, but exactly when is it going to turn back on so we can communicate to whoever has it? Because sometimes you want to go tempo and you’ve got to wait for it to come on … It wasn't a negative. It's just [about] continuing to get enough of that exact detail of, ‘Hey, when are you going to be able to do it and communicate to him?’”
On building on the Texas A&M win
“It goes back to watching the film with a critical eye. You can't let the emotions of a victory or defeat affect the way you evaluate what you need to do to improve, and we have to believe that our preparation is the key to us having success on Saturdays. And that's what we'll continue to rely on is that, hey, let's evaluate the film — really understand and own the mistakes that we've made as coaches and players and then come up with a process to fix it and go attack it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And then we get a chance to go out and play on Saturday, so we have to prepare and we have to have a critical eye.”
On sophomore wide receiver Jordan Faison’s injury
“Faison was the only major injury from that game. We expect him to be out [for] probably one to two weeks with an ankle sprain, but we'll see over the next week how he improves and when he'll be able to come back … With Faison being down, KK [Smith] will have an increased role, but there's a lot of confidence from Micah Gilbert on down to everybody in that room, and I think we'll see [Smith] on Saturday for sure.”
On the availability of senior tight end Mitchell Evans
“He just got cleared probably six or seven days before we played, so we were very intentional about getting him on the field and in the right opportunities. But without having a full training camp, he just physically wasn't ready to play 50, 60, 70 plays each week. He'll continue to increase his workload. It's a long season, and so we’ve got to make sure that we give him the best opportunity to succeed throughout the entirety of the season.”
On this Saturday’s opponent, Northern Illinois
“We have a really good Northern Illinois team coming here on Saturday. They've won seven of their last nine games dating back to last year, and they returned 18 starters, right? Nine on offense, nine on defense, and [they] have been very competitive. And Coach [Thomas] Hammock's tenure there versus power four teams … they beat Boston College last year. I think it was a 7-3 game [at] Nebraska in the second quarter. The year before there was a one-score game versus Kentucky … they beat Georgia Tech in ‘21. So they'll be ready to roll. They're gonna come in here ready to go, and they've had success, so we’ve got to be ready to roll ourselves really have a good week of prep.”
On Notre Dame fans
“Shoutout to our fans that did go to College Station, man. We felt them. They were loud. We just felt their energy. But to be back home — there's no place like home. That's what they say, right? To be back in Notre Dame Stadium — every time we practice in our stadium, I remind the team this has to be special. We can't take it for granted. It can't be another game. And so we owe it to each other [and] to our football program to perform at a high level. We also owe it to these fans that come here to support us — to make sure we're performing at a high level and a high standard. And so we're excited. Our crowd has to be an advantage.”
