Live updates: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman pre-Ohio State press conference
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is set to address reporters via Zoom at noon ET on Thursday. Among other things, Freeman should provide an update on whether junior tight end Mitchell Evans (concussion) will play Saturday against Ohio State. Evans is expected to play, Freeman said Monday, but he stopped short of saying Evans is definitively in.
Here are BlueandGold.com‘s live updates for Freeman’s press conference as Notre Dame prepares for the Buckeyes.
**Keep refreshing this page for real-time, written updates of Freeman’s press conference.**
What Freeman is saying
• Evans practiced all week and will play. Junior defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio will play as well.
• Asked if he’s planning on tightening the defensive rotation for Ohio State, Freeman was noncommittal but said he has a plan for each game.
• Freeman said he has no clue what Notre Dame graduate quarterback Sam Hartman’s nickname, “Steez,” means.
• Asked about his impression of the offensive line: “I’ve been extremely pleased.” Acknowledged the high expectations entering the season, but Freeman likes how well they’ve played and gelled together so far.
• Former Notre Dame graduate assistant James Laurinaitis on staff at Ohio State won’t affect things for the Irish, because Notre Dame continuously changes its signals throughout each season.
• Freeman’s biggest message this week is to control the noise. “Do what we do. What we’ve done is good enough, but do it better.”
• Freeman has been hard on Notre Dame’s players to make sure they’re “intentional” in their practice habits this week. He always is, but especially this week. He said he was really pleased with Tuesday and Wednesday’s practices.
• That wraps up the press conference. It was a short one, but not much more needs to be said at this point. Notre Dame takes on Ohio State at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday night in South Bend.
More from Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman
On Notre Dame hosting Ohio State:
“Obviously, we have a great opponent coming in. We’re excited about the chance to go against a top-tier opponent, for sure. We’re excited about the atmosphere and the experience that’s going to be here with College Gameday, the Pat McAfee Show, NBC. We finally get to wear the green uniforms. They talked me into wearing a green jacket today. I said I’ll wear it.
“We expect to see a lot of green in that stadium. I think it’s going to be a really cool opportunity, a great opportunity on Saturday night to play a great opponent in Notre Dame Stadium. …
“I am looking forward to seeing Ryan Day again. He’s done an unbelievable job leading that program. I’ve told him every time I talk to him that he’s just done a tremendous job of really leading that program. We know it’s going to be a really good opponent with a great coaching staff. We’re looking forward to that.”
