Marcus Freeman Notebook | 10.17
Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman spoke for the final time before Saturday's game against Georgia Tech. Freeman discussed a variety of topics, including the secondary and the scenario if Mitch Jeter can’t go.
On what DL Rylie Mills brings to the defense:
”Rylie’s been a staple in the center of our defense. I’ve always had a belief you have to be good up the middle if you want to be good defensively. He’s actually a guy from the time I’ve gotten here in ‘21 to now, the improvement has been tremendous.
“He was a raw football player when I first got here, but had so many traits of being able to be a great football player. He’s really developed on those traits and he’s practicing and performing in games at high level. He’s doing a great job in terms of his leadership, too.”
On Georgia Tech backup QB Zach Pyron:
”We went back and watched all of his clips from the past few years. There’s quite a few of them. He’s doing a good job of going into some hostile environments and performing. I would say they use him very similarly as they do with (Haynes) King. He also does some things differently. We have a plan for both - probably not the exact same, but it’ll just depend on who is going to be back there. He has the ability to run the ball and create issues for your defense with his legs. He can throw it, too. He’s confident and he’ll throw it in tight windows. We have to be ready for both quarterbacks.”
On playing man coverage more than almost anyone in the country and if that changes with Benjamin Morrison out:
”To play man, you have to be confident in your defenders ability to play man. We’ve had a lot of confidence and we still do in terms of what our guys can do and do it well. The ability to have changeups and have the ability to go off of your tendencies is crucial. The ability to play man but it doesn’t always look the same. Those are things that have made this defense successful. It still starts with your guys' ability to execute man coverage and then your ability as a coach to not always just tell the offense what you’re doing.”
On CB Benjamin Morrison's leadership:
”Right now, he’s recovering from surgery. He’s eager to get back here. Once he’s able to get back around our guys, his leadership skills will continue to show. He’s just taking care of his body, recovering from surgery and we wish him all the best. He’ll be back before we know it.”
On DL Jason Onye’s status:
”It’s still the same status that I previously said.”
On positions (field or boundary) for CB Leonard Moore and CB Christian Gray:
”We feel confident both of those guys can play field or boundary. They can do it at a high level.” (laughs)
On the impact of DL Gabe Rubio returning:
”You have a big human. A big body who really plays at a high rate. He has a lot of velocity with the way he plays. We absolutely missed the presence he brings to this defense. The thing with Gabe is he’s continuously learning how to control that aggression. To play with details - and he’s doing a much better job at that. He’s going to be a guy who continues to improve because he plays with the effort, motor and a disruptive mindset. Now, he’s continued to improve on the details of the position. He’s only going to continue to get better."
On plan for the kicking game if Mitch Jeter can’t go:
”I’m confident in Zac (Yoakam) and Marcello (Diomede). I think they’re different kickers, and their range might change. Again, they’ve done a really good job in practice. We have a lot of confidence in putting those guys out there. Yoakam is a guy who has kicked for us before. The range always changes based on pregame. How are we kicking today? You can do one thing really good or really bad in practice, but we have to make sure as we get into the game, the confidence in terms of where that range is is determined probably the closer we get to game time.
“The way you call the game will always be determined based off where the line is that we say is for the kicker. The same thing if we decide to punt, go for it or kick it. Those final decisions are really made after pregame warmups.”
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