Live updates: Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman Nov. 3 press conference before Navy game

Press play on the video above to watch a replay and/or scroll down for notable updates from the press conference.

He says there’s no option to add another player because rosters are set before the start of the season, per NCAA rules.

Notre Dame isn’t getting too fancy with its scout team with Navy and its option offense on the schedule this week. Freeman says there are more and more traditional offensive elements that show up with the Midshipmen every year.

Blake Hebert will operate ND’s scout team offense.

“We’ll figure it out during the week.”

Marcus Freeman said most of Notre Dame’s field goal kicking struggles are isolated to games, not necessarily practice.

“A lot of it is mental. … We have to have a plan of attack for the human element. … It’s a challenge, but we have to fix it.”

“I’m going to use Saturday’s opportunity to motivate us. Me using [CFP ranking as motivation] is wasted time. I need to use that time to prepare for the game on Saturday. That’s all we need to spend time thinking about.”

As Freeman evaluates the issues in the kicking game, he said the issues are trending more toward mental than physical.

“What does that mean? It means we gotta put more work into the mental side of things.”

Freeman mentioned they’ve “spent a lot of time the past 48 hours” on the kicking struggles and how to improve it.

“I’m confident the kickers, coaches and all the people invested into fixing the situation will get it done…”

Marcus Freeman says Notre Dame DE Joshua Burnham is someone who’d rather play at 75% than wait until he’s fully healthy.

“That’s just who he is.”

Burnham is close to 100% now and it’s showing. He played his tail off vs. Boston College.

“I’m glad he was rewarded.”

“We’re having a lot of success with what we’re doing. We experimented with that earlier in the season. If there comes a game where that gives us an edge, we’ll try it. We have to keep doing what we’re doing better. We’re greedy people — we want perfection — but what we’re doing right now is really good. We have to continue to make it better.”

“Teams last year could stack the box and you still have the element of the quarterback run … That’s not CJ’s strong suit, but if you stack the box, he can throw the ball over the top of the defense and put the ball in good areas. That has to be a staple of what we do — we have to run the ball but if teams won’t allow you to run the ball, then you have to throw it over the top of the defense.”

“Their offense is probably even more challenging to prepare for this year than it was last year.”

He said Blake Horvath is a special player as both a runner and a passer.

Cooper Flanagan, Christian Gray, Micah Gilbert, Jaden Greathouse and Styles Prescod are questionable for the Navy game.

Charles Jagusah, Peter Jones, Gabe Rubio and Billy Schruath are out.

He said Saturday’s game was a reminder that football is always unpredictable.

“I know it wasn’t perfect. … Too many missed opportunities.”