Marcus Freeman Outlines Permanent Notre Dame Practice Schedule Change
Notre Dame got to Ireland and took care of business in a big way on Saturday afternoon, but now the attention turns to Tennessee State coming to South Bend this weekend.
Sure, Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish should handle the Tigers, but it will still be a challenge for Notre Dame to lock in early this week as they adjust back to being in the USA.
Freeman changed the practice schedule last week to make life easier for his players with a long travel day last Wednesday and also he made the decision to move away from Sunday practices during the season earlier this year.
It’s a schedule most of the team should be used to as Notre Dame didn’t practice on Sundays prior to the 2022 season.
“Yesterday was obviously the flight home and we weren’t able to do a normal Sunday,” explained Freeman. “Right now, the plan for this season is not to do what we did last year. Sundays will be their off day and Mondays we’ll meet and have our practice, which is a similar schedule to what it was like before I became the head coach. It’s not a huge change for them.”
The decision to do away with Sunday practice was an educated one and not just an impulse decision because of the unusual start to the season. Freeman sought out feedback, but also saw how the university schedule impacted his team a year ago.
“I have to make a decision about what I think is best for Saturday,” Freeman said. “Each place is different and that’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned in a year of experience. You can’t just take a plan and say it worked for me as a player or it worked at a previous place I was at and it’s going to work at Notre Dame.
“You got to take into consideration what they’re asked to do on a Monday here compared to what it was like somewhere else. I wanted them to truly have a day off on paper. I wanted them to be able to take Sunday and really work academically. You don’t have anything mandatory from us on Sunday.
“Academics are so important and they have to have time to really work at that and also the lifting part of what we’re asking them to do. A lot of things went into that decision. It’s not just one thing.”
Notre Dame got back to its hotel in Dublin after midnight and Freeman didn’t believe his team got much sleep as the first bus left for the airport at 5:15 am.
“They probably thought they were going to sleep on the plane, but to sleep on a plane is not an easy thing to do,” stated Freeman. “We decided to give them yesterday off. We encouraged them not to sleep all day because we wanted to try to get their cycles where it needed to be. Try to stay up. Try to go on a walk and do some different things when you get back.
“I know a lot of them got good sleep last night, but even me and our coaching staff, you don’t feel 100 percent until you get two nights. The same thing as when we went there. When you’re changing time zones, it’s going to take two nights to really get adjusted.”
Freeman is also aware he may have to change the practice schedule later this week once he sees how his team responds during Modnay’s practice.
“We have to be smart about what we’re going to do today,” Freeman explained. “We’re not going to do a whole bunch. We’re going to meet, watch the game, put it to rest and start moving forward to Tennessee State. We’re going to go out and have more of a jog-through instead of a practice on a Monday.
“As I look at Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, the work is the work. The scout work is the work, but where I could tweak it in terms of maybe (taking off) an individual period, taking off a couple minutes of practice - everything we do is to make sure Saturday they’re ready to peak and perform at 3:30.”
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