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Notre Dame Football

Marcus Freeman & Eddie George Honored to Make Notre Dame History

April 6, 2022
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It wasn't the Ohio State connection Marcus Freeman and Eddie George share that set Tennessee State as Notre Dame's home opener in 2023. 

In fact, it's not part of it at all. 

"It's going to be, I think, a storyline that both of us played at Ohio State, but this is so much bigger than Ohio State," stated Freeman. 

"This is about Notre Dame and its first opportunity to play an HBCU and I think that's where our focus is going to be, obviously as a football program and that's something I'm looking forward to." 

George echoed Freeman's comments and for him, it's an opportunity to let his team experience college football history. 

"It's a calling for one," George said on Tuesday. "It's a great opportunity and a huge responsibility to be in this position.

"It's funny as I was walking on the field, I went to midfield and I laughed, My gosh, I'm actually going to be coaching on the sidelines in the stadium Knute Rockne built and some of the great players that have played here and some of the great coaches like Lou Holtz - and of course my good friend Jerome Bettis.

"It's just overwhelming to think I can help bring light to all the great things that we're trying to do at Tennessee State University and that we're going to do and expose our kids to this.

"Playing in this building and venue - this is the cathedral of sports venues, relatively speaking. To expose them to this is going to be a wonderful environment." 

The former Heisman Trophy winner didn't experience Notre Dame Stadium as a player, but he was in the iconic stadium a few years ago to watch his son. 

"I had the opportunity to come here as a fan as my son played at Vanderbilt," explained George. "Four or five years ago, they played at Notre Dame and it was an awesome experience as a fan and father. As a head coach, bringing my kids up here in September of 2023 is going to be great.

"I feel honored and I feel blessed to have this opportunity to play a storied program like Notre Dame. For them to make this happen - never played an HBCU or an FCS team in the school's history. It's just remarkable that they would choose us to try to make this happen. It's history."

The fact Notre Dame will play its first HBCU and FCS program has been a hot topic by Irish fans over the last 24 hours.

Freeman sees no debate as he called it an honor to face Tennessee State as a minority head football coach. 

"It's a huge honor," said Freeman, who is African-American and Korean. "I understand I'm a representation for many others and I think this game represents opportunities for all individuals and so it's a great honor. 

"I couldn't be more grateful for Jack and Father Jenkins for putting this thing together. But I take it with the utmost respect and utmost appreciation for this opportunity."

For Notre Dame, it provides the benefit of not taking a week one bye as the Fighting Irish open the season week zero in Dublin, Ireland. 

"A little bit had to do with the annual exercise that we go through of working with Marcus, in this case, to say, 'When do we want the byes to fall? What should that look like," stated Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. 

"We had originally talked about a bye on this date, but to take your bye so early in the season isn't a great idea. As we started to talk about this, we said, 'why don't we move the bye and use this day?' and it worked for Tennessee State and it worked for us." 

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