Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman Focused On What Matters
Marcus Freeman appeared a bit puzzled at times during his press conference on Monday.
The Notre Dame head coach wasn’t completely sure he heard a question right about whether his players would leave for Christmas a week before a College Football Playoff Game against Georgia.
“Get away? Like go home?” he asked to be sure he understood. “No. No. We’re going to celebrate Christmas together.
“It’s an honor, it’s a privilege to celebrate Christmas together with your football program, with your football family and to be practicing for a College Football Playoff game. There are a lot of college football teams that would want to do that. We’ve got to make sure we understand that. Our guys do. None of those guys are thinking about going home - at least they won’t tell me if they are. We’re going to have Christmas together and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
He also seemed confused when asked what impact the 1981 Sugar Bowl between the Irish and the Bulldogs would have on his team’s preparation. After prompting reporters for a bit of a history lesson, he acknowledged, “I've been preparing for Georgia without the history of the 1981 Sugar Bowl.”
He also acknowledged that he wouldn’t be leaning on linebackers coach Max Bullough’s time as a GA at Alabama, which overlapped with now-Georgia head coach Kirby Smart for any additional help in prep.
“Probably not something we’re going to talk about much,” Freeman said. “What this Georgia program does is what Georgia does.”
That’s been Freeman’s focus since the weekend, what this year’s Georgia team does.
“We have one guaranteed opportunity as a football program to try to go and earn another one,” Freeman said. “We're excited, looking forward to playing in the AllState Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1st versus a very good Georgia football team who's 11-2 and the SEC Champions.
“We all know the challenge that lies ahead. So, preparation will be as critical as it is every week as you prepare for an opponent.”
Preparation will be a little different than it would have been a couple weeks ago with Georgia’s starting quarterback Carson Beck out after suffering an elbow injury in the SEC title game against Texas.
Backup Gunner Stockton will get the start for the Bulldogs. Stockton played in mop-up duty in two games before the SEC Championship, against Tennessee Tech in September and UMass in November.
Playing the second half against the Longhorns, Stockton completed 12 of 16 passes for 71 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He was credited with eight rushes for eight total yards, but did have a nine-yard rush.
Freeman said in general, the Irish will prepare for what the Bulldogs have shown all season.
“Then you have a separate tape of what Stockton, the new quarterback, has done,” Freeman continued. “I think we have 80-something plays of him playing quarterback. He can run their offense. He does some things a little bit differently. He can extend plays with his legs. He's a good athlete.
“The thing I probably notice more than anything, in watching those 80 plays, is he's an ultra-competitive individual. You can just tell by the way he celebrates, by the way he goes and finishes plays, he's a competitor. I don't see it being tremendously different than what they've done all season, but we'll prepare for anything.”
On the other side of the ball, the Irish will be well aware of Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker.
“He is one of the — if not the best — linebacker we’ll face all year,” Freeman said. “He's a problem. He does some really good things in the run and the pass game. He's physical. [He’ll] strike. Good instincts.
“He's a really, really good football player and you can't run around linebackers. You’ve got to go in. You’ve got to attack. He'll be a great challenge for us. I think he's a heck of a football player. Got a lot of respect for him.”
Freeman has a lot of respect for the entire Georgia program and we’re sure to hear more about that over the next week-plus, even if he can’t offer any history lessons from before he was born.
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