Everything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said following fall camp practice No. 1

Notre Dame football is back. On Thursday, the Fighting Irish opened up fall practice, and coach Marcus Freeman addressed the media afterward. Here is everything Freeman told reporters in his 30-minute news conference.

Opening statement

“Welcome back. It’s exciting. It’s exciting to get out there. I think as you get more experience in this position, you understand Day One is Day One and it’s a progression. 

“But to be back out there, it means it’s football season. I love that our guys were in shape and had a good physical day. We didn’t have any injuries; those guys are ready to go. We’re going to continue to progress forward.

“It’s just great to be back out. They had a great summer, really good in terms of the strength conditioning. Coach [Loren] Landow and our strength staff did an extremely, really good job getting those guys prepared for this season, and they worked at it. 

“There are times in the summer when coaches are gone. What you see is that some of the leadership amongst our players showed they’re ready to — they’re at a level that’s ahead of where you usually start if you don’t have the leadership that truly gets the group going. So it was good. It was a good first day. 

“Again, we’ll go a couple of blocks, right? We really look at this thing in terms of blocks. In terms of a couple of normal morning practices, three normal morning practices. Then we’ll have a night practice and then a day off. So this is just the start of block one. We’ll progress, we’ll start putting pads on in a couple of days. And we’ll go full pads in probably block two.”

On the criteria he will use to choose the starting quarterback

“Again, it’s going to be consistency, right? I’ve always said, ‘They will determine who’s the starting quarterback, right?’ We want to see guys that are consistent. We want our quarterbacks, all of them, to be consistent. But who can be the most consistent? Who can take care of the football? Who can continue to keep our offense moving forward? And again, that play happening consistently.

“So, I’ve always said this, ‘That they’ll determine who’s the starting quarterback.’ Today was Day One. We’ll grade it every day. We’ll put them in similar challenging situations. They’ll rotate between groups. At some point, when a starter’s ready to be named, we have to name one.”

On whether the criteria are the same for determining starters at other positions

“Oh yeah. Consistency is the number one criteria for any position. Because I’m a firm believer that consistency builds trust, and coaches are going to play players they trust. At the end of the day, no matter how athletic you are, how highly recruited you are, if the coach doesn’t trust you, we can’t put you out there consistently. 

“So that’s the number one key to being on the playing field, is being consistent every single day, every play in terms of what you’re asked to do.”

On whether there is a timeline for third-year OL Charles Jagusah or TE Cooper Flanagan’s return, and DE Boubacar Traore

“Yeah, Boubacar is more of a progression. He’ll be ready to go. We just want to slowly increase the load we ask him to perform in practice. 

“With Coop and Charles, they’ll be back during the season. I don’t know — there’s not a hard date that we’re going to say, ‘This is the game they’ll be back. But they’ll be back this year.

“Charles just had a procedure to clean up to sew back his wound. We had to close up his wound. But that’s not going to delay his return more than a couple of days. So, it’s a progression. But we don’t want to put a timeline on it.

On what things they thought they did well preparing for Texas A&M last year, and lessons learned from the victory

“We can’t control the weather, but we can control hydration. We can control supplements and all those things. So we have to continue to do that.

“There were a couple of hot days, Monday and Tuesday, when our guys were out there running in the heat and working out. Today wasn’t a crazy hot day, but hopefully Mother Nature gives us some hot days where we go practice in the heat. But more than anything, it’s just going to be about the hydration over time. 

“It’s not game week, we’ve got to start hydrating. This is something that has to be a habit and a routine for every player in our program.”

On redshirt sophomore OL Sullivan Absher and what gives Freeman the confidence that Absher can pick up where Jagusah was going to start

“Yeah, we have a lot of confidence in Sullivan. Without hesitation, when Charles went down, we made the move to put Sullivan in there.

“He’s earned that trust through multiple years, but through the spring. He’ll be in a competition like everybody else, right? At the end of the day, you’ve got to play your best five. Right now, he’s one of the best five, and he’ll be out there, but it’s a deep room.

“It might not be an old room, but it is an experienced, a deep and a talented room that competition will figure out who’s the best five.”

On redshirt freshman safety Tae Johnson’s progress

“Yeah, Tae Tae is, man, he’s one of those guys you just love to coach. He enjoys it. He’s grateful for the opportunity. He’s an extremely athletic player. If you listen to Tae Tae, he’ll be the best wide out and the best DB. And he was pretty good in high school with both, too.

“He’s learning the skill set that is just not natural, right? There’s a natural skill set that he has, but there’s also a skill set, the consistency, the trust, those types of things that it takes to be an every-down player. What you saw today was a reflection of how he’s prepared. From the spring, you go back again, and you do it in the summer, and you’re doing it again in fall camp. 

“So he’s learning what’s expected, and it’s helping him play fast so he can use that athleticism that he has.”

On how running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider has grown into his role and interacts with the room

“Yeah, I think when you become the leader of a room with a lot of experience, a lot of expectations, there are two different ways you’re going to go about it. You’re going there and saying, ‘Hey, I’m the coach and this is what I’m doing, this is standard.’ Or you’re going to go in there and say, ‘Listen, I have to earn the trust of those guys that I get a chance to lead.’

“That’s what he’s done. He’s earned the trust of that room, so that they trust him as a person. They trust him as a coach. He’s going to make them better, but he cares about them as young men. 

“I knew that about him. I’ve known Coach Seider for a long time, and I’m not surprised. That’s what you’re most pleased with, how he’s developed that relationship intentionally. It doesn’t happen instantly. You’ve got to really work at developing relationships with guys that have been with a certain individual for three years, right? He’s done that and really made them better.

“That’s the coach’s job, too now. We’ve got to earn your trust, but we’ve got to make you better. He’s done a good job at doing that.”

On the ways Coach Loren Landow was able to specialize in areas in Year Two

“Coach Landow’s experienced in the field of strength conditioning, but I love that he’s adaptable. He’s able to adapt to the young people that he leads. He’s able to adapt to the coaching staff, the strength staff. That’s what he does. 

“‘Hey, Coach, we want to do a little bit more football? How does that impact what we’re doing in the weight room?’ ‘Okay, Coach, we want to do more weight room time here and we’ll do less football.’ I mean, he’s a great teammate, but a great leader.

“The results are the results, man. I couldn’t be more confident in this football team in terms of where they are physically, but he challenged them mentally, too. They’re at a strong state mentally, but more than anything, he’s a great teammate and a great leader.”

On how much Landow’s NFL experience factored into Notre Dame’s offseason training after a 16-game season

“Yeah, as much experience as he’s had with that, it’s a different athlete. You’re talking 18 to 22-year-olds who have to go to class. You have to deal with a lot of different things that maybe the people in the NFL don’t have to deal with. 

“His expertise gave some great input. We have a great sports performance team that we’re able to put a lot of ideas together and come up with a plan. Then the challenge is after that season say, ‘Okay, how can we make this plan better?’ That’s what we’ve done. He’s definitely contributed to those conversations greatly.”

On what he’s seen from Luke Talich during the offseason

“Number one is I would say intelligence. Knows every answer. You can tell he understands the expectation; he understands ball. He’s a smart guy who is extremely athletic, fast, instinctual and you trust him. I’ve seen a huge growth from when he first came here to where he is now.”

On what he’s seen from new defensive coordinator Chris Ash

“He’s intense, extremely intelligent. I’m probably going to describe him similar to how I describe a lot of the coaches on our staff: He’s a great teammate. Again, you talk about a guy that comes in, and everybody talks about, ‘Hey, you have to fill Al Golden’s shoes.’ No, you just have to be the best Chris Ash you can be. And that’s what he’s done. He’s been Chris Ash.

“He’s going to run our defense similar to how he wants to do it in terms of what he feels it takes to have success. Part of doing that, you have to become a great teammate. You can’t do this thing alone. I don’t care if you’re a player or a coach. You can’t do it alone.

“What he’s done is he dove in and gained the trust of the people that he works with. Now those coaches can implement the vision to the players. It starts from the top. He’s done a great job of that. I’m excited for what our defensive staff and our defensive unit are going to do.”

On his impressions of transfers wide receiver Malachi Fields, tight end Ty Washington and safety Jalen Stroman

“The two offensive guys, Malachi and Ty, they look really good. But we haven’t been able to do anything with them football (wise) yet. You can watch them run routes, you can watch them go through blocking techniques. But today is the first day we’re out there, and they can actually use a football.

“That’s part of it. How do you finish the play too? But we’re excited. They dove in to learn the expectations. They are physically in great shape. I’m really looking forward to what they do throughout this fall camp.

“As far as Jalen Stroman, he was here in the spring, so he got to learn the defense along with everybody else. Being back out there for him, he’s going to be just fine.”

On his initial reaction to the Jagusah accident and what he wanted the team to learn

“My reaction was devastation for the young man. The first reaction isn’t the team. It’s not, ‘Oh, my god, we just lost our starting right guard.’ It’s a care for that person who’s gone through a lot. You talk about what he went through last year with his pec injury, and now dealing with the arm fracture. Once I knew he was OK, I wanted to know what happened and how it happened.

“It was a group of 10-15 players. They were together. When I hear that, that’s what you want. They’re on a little break, and they’re together. I worry about the guys when you have a break, and everybody goes on their own, they don’t want to see each other.  We preach unit strength. That’s unit strength. You’ve got guys together hanging out.

“It was just an unfortunate freak accident. Had a little bit of bad luck, but he’ll be fine. He’ll be good. I don’t want to ban them from having fun; I don’t want to do that. I want them to hang out together, have fun and become a team. That’s probably more important than anything else. Part of becoming a team takes relationships and spending time together. That’s really how I feel about that.”

On transfer wide receiver Will Pauling

“Obviously, Will had a previous relationship with (wide receivers) Coach [Mike] Brown. Will’s a dog. I love the way he practices. I love the way he approaches the game of football. He is a yes-sir, no-sir, great kid off the field, but he is a dog.

“I watched him in the spring. He practices at a level that I’m like, ‘OK, some people need to see the way Will Pauling practices.’ I am excited to see what he does this season. He’s going to help us in the wideout room, but also on special teams.”

On the impact of the running back room on the quarterback decision

“That’s not going to have an effect on the quarterback decision. Their play won’t have an effect on that. It’s going to affect how we play offensively. We’re going to run the ball. How do we run the ball? That’s to be determined. But we’re going to be an offense that has to be able to run the ball.

“With that, when you can run the ball, now you can create some opportunities to take some shots down the field and do some different things in the pass game. But we’re always – we have to be able to run the ball. We have a lot of confidence because of our O-line and running backs, we can do that.”

On the depth of the defensive line

“It’s a comfort to have that depth, but also I think there are many guys in that room that can help us and will help us. As you look to replace the defensive tackle position, you’re not going to replace Rylie Mills and Howard Cross III with two guys. But there’s a lot of confidence that the depth that we have at the position will contribute to the production being what it was.

“That’s more important: The production has to be replaced. I’m confident. You’re going to have to find roles for those guys. How can they help us? You have a guy like (redshirt sophomore) Preston Zinter, who went from linebacker to the D-line room. If they can help us, we’re going to find a role to get them on the field.”

On the carryover of knowledge and approach from the 16-game season

“There are a lot of guys on this roster and this program, coaches and players, that weren’t here last year. More than anything, last year helps us in terms of understanding what it takes to play 16 games. They’re valuable lessons that you learn from last year. But I continue to remind them: 2024 has nothing to do with this 2025 team.

“Yes, let’s utilize the lessons. Let’s utilize some of those good and bad things that we learned from last year, but you do that no matter what the previous experience was. They understand that we try to stop talking about that ‘24 year. I guess it’s about the 2025 team and this journey to accomplish reaching our full potential.”

On senior tight end Eli Raridon getting married

“I think I played with a couple of guys who were married when I was playing. I can’t off the top of my head know if I’ve coached anybody who was married.

“It’s a sign of maturity. That’s a big step. But I often, when I talk to the players and I talk about choosing a love, I talk about being selfless and putting somebody else, which ultimately is your teammates, in front of yourself, I often compare that to being married. And to being a parent. There are a lot of similarities.

“That’s a sign of, to me, what Eli committed to: ‘All right, hey, I’m putting somebody else in front of myself and I’m committed to making this thing work.’ He’s been with his now wife for a long time. He’s a mature kid. I want to say he’ll have less distractions, but listen, sometimes being married, you have more distractions. But he’s a mature individual. I’m expecting big things out of Eli.”

On why it’s important his players nominate themselves to be a captain

“I think everybody loves the thought of being named a captain and being chosen by their teammates, but not everybody really wants to lead. It’s important that our captains are leaders. They’re leaders and they’re expected to solve problems. 

“They’re expected to make decisions that maybe their teammates and their brothers don’t like. So it’s important to understand, to me, before what a captain is, what a leader is. That’s my job as a head coach is to explain to the entire program, this is what a leader is. I don’t care. 

“This is what a leader is in the Notre Dame football program. That’s probably what you saw a little bit in that documentary, is me explaining what I believe a leader is and what I expect a leader in the Notre Dame football program to be. If you want the opportunity to be named a captain, here’s the responsibilities, come on down. Some guys came that you weren’t expecting, some guys didn’t come that you were expecting, but it is what it is. 

“Then you know what? Your teammates can vote on a captain, but to me, all these guys are leaders. I don’t care about the title, who got chosen to be the captain as much as you guys came down here and said, ‘You want to be leader, we’re going to hold you to that standard. We’re going to hold you to that standard of being a leader.’”

On how to earn trust

“Yeah, it starts with consistency. I said all the time, ‘I don’t want to judge you off of a good day or a bad day. Everybody has a good or bad day, but more so, I’m going to evaluate you and judge you off of who you are consistently.

“That’s as a person, that’s as a football player and that’s how you earn trust. It’s not you had a good day today, I trust you, or you had a bad day today, I don’t trust you. It’s like, ‘Who are you consistently?’ That’s, to me, how trust is earned. Who you are, your actions consistently.

“That’s how we’re going to gain the trust of our players. That’s how the players are going to gain the trust of their teammates and their coaches. So that’s more important than anything. It is an action that consistently doing something?

There’s also—we also say trust. There’s a part of trust that’s a noun, right? It’s a choice. We say that to choose to trust beyond knowing before we go out and take that field, we have to trust that … make a choice to trust each other, that we’re prepared, we’re ready to go out here and win this game. I often challenge ’em with that before we go take the field.”

On why trust is so important

“I think because, more than anything, right now we have to double down on team. We have to double down on this as a team. When you have a team, everybody has a role, and that role has to be important for us to achieve the results that we want. 

“So for certain individuals to trust that, to believe that role is important, they have to trust the person that’s giving ’em that role. That’s the only way we’re going to have success, is if we’re a team and we believe that our role for today or our role for that game is important. 

“If we only believe (junior running back) Jeremiyah Love’s role’s important, then we don’t have a team. Outside of our facilities, a lot of people don’t talk about the team unless we win or lose, right?

“They don’t. I mean, you say we won the game, you say we lost a game. You say we had a good or bad draft. But the reality ithat s most people talk about individuals, they get the individual recognition. So my job is to make sure everybody in our building, every coach, every player, every staff member, understands the value of team and the value of every role is different.

“It doesn’t make your value greater or smaller than somebody else’s. To believe that, you have to have trust. That’s why I’m so big on trust.”

On how each quarterback performed Thursday

“I try not to be result-driven. I was with Spot No. 1 most of the practice, and I know they had a couple of interceptions, and people are going to say, ‘It’s bad. It’s on the quarterback.’ I’ve always said, ‘There’s nobody to emulate the head coach (more) than the quarterback.’ They’re going to get blamed for that interception, and it might not be their fault.

“I haven’t watched film, I don’t know what happened. I move on to the next play like I expect them to do, but we could sit there and watch, and there’s an interception and yell at the quarterback, or we don’t know if the wideout screwed up the route. We don’t know if the O-line messed up protection. We don’t know. Maybe the coach called the wrong play. So I try not to be result (oriented). They might throw a touchdown, and the DB fell down, and in the game, they’re not supposed to throw that ball.

“So I’m going to go back and I’ll watch and say, ‘OK, hey, let’s talk about what decision should he have made? Did he make the right decision?’ We’ll get to the delivery, the ball and all that. To me, it’s like, ‘What decision do we want him to make here? Did he make the right decision?’ That’s what’s more important than anything.

“Now, here’s what I love is that I heard both of ’em keep saying, ‘Reload, reload.’ Good or bad play, ‘Reload.’ Let that last play go because that’s the ultimate challenge for everybody in our program, but most importantly, the quarterback. You have to take: was that good or bad? What I said after, ‘Was that a good or bad play?’ Take the feedback and move on and reload for the next play. I saw them really working on that today in practice.”

On the next steps that he wants to see in sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore’s growth

“Probably more than anything, he’s in a position of leadership now. He’s not the freshman that nobody knew about, who just kind of came on the scene. There’s an expectation in his position now, being one of the returning starters, being a guy that people know how talented a player he is. 

“Your job is to bring somebody with you. I want to see him help (freshmen) Mark Zackery IV and Dallas Golden and some of those young corners become better players. Ultimately, that’s probably more important than anything, man. If you put pressure on yourself to bring somebody along and to make this guy better. I often say, leave this place better than you found it. That’s more pressure than any accolade, any opponent, anybody else can put on you.”

On Ash saying in the past that he wants to keep the Notre Dame defense going the way they’ve been going

“Yeah, I think you talk about his role in terms of obviously being a leader of the defense, but not truly coaching a position, kind of interacting with every position was very similar to Al Golden. His job isn’t to keep things the same. I’ve told him his job is to elevate this defense, and what I’m sure he means when he says to keep things the same is the expectations of being a dominant defense. 

“That’s the expectations that we all have being a part of this program. But how we go about doing that is going to be a little bit different because it’s what Chris Ash believes it takes to be a dominant defense, and how does it fit within the scheme? 

“But the players that we have, more so, the scheme fits with the players that we have. And so again, he’s being Chris Ash, and that’s what I want to make sure that I understand. We all understand he’s not trying to be Al Golden. He’s not trying to be, this ain’t Marcus Freeman. It’s Chris Ash’s defense, and let’s make it as good as it can.”

On fifth-year Tyler Buchner moving back to quarterback

“Yeah, he’s been itching to get back to that unit. If you watch some of the wide receiver individual drills last year, he was throwing the ball. When Steve (Angeli) decided to leave, we felt like we wanted a little bit of experience to go into that room.

“His job is ultimately to make the room better, make the room better and get better yourself. So I see him doing that. He’s helping Blake (Hebert), being a young freshman, working with Kenny (Minchey) and CJ (Carr) in terms of through his experience, but also becoming a better player himself. So I’m glad to have him back in there.”

On graduate student defensive back DeVonta Smith

“Yeah, Smitty is a guy that I’m fortunate to have a relationship with since I was in Cincinnati. We recruited him and couldn’t beat Alabama for some reason, but to get him back and he understands high expectations and he understands high standards. He didn’t have to learn that.

“He came in here understanding how to practice, how to prepare and he’s a really talented football player. He’s doing a good job of playing that nickel role for us, and he has experience playing other positions. But what I love most about Smitty is that he’s tough. He comes to work and he’s going to be prepared.”