Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson spoke very highly of Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame on Monday afternoon.
On Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman:
“I think the world of Marcus Freeman was blessed to be able to meet him this offseason at an event. Obviously, the success speaks for itself in regards to him as a coach and him as a defensive coordinator, him as a leader. But it was just from meeting him and just seeing him from afar seems also just like a phenomenal leader of men and that he cares about building young men to be champions in life. They've had a ton of success. They've got a great football team, but a lot of respect for Marcus Freeman and how he does it, not just the results on the field.”
On Notre Dame’s offense:
“Offensively, I mean, their two running backs - Jeremiyah Love, two of the best we'll see all season, period. End of story. Two, in my opinion, first-round draft picks and we got our work cut out for us stopping them. They got great schematics.
“Their offensive line is really good. They have receivers that can beat you consistently. We got our work cut out for us defensively. It starts with tackling the running backs.
“And then CJ, their quarterback, man, he's going to be a future first-round draft pick. I don't think I'm the first one that will say that. He has that type of potential and he has that type of leadership, accuracy. That's who he is as a quarterback. So offensively, they're loaded. They're coached extremely well. They're not going to make mistakes. We got our work cut out for us defensively.”
On Notre Dame’s defense:
“Their front seven is one of the best front sevens we're for sure going to see all year. Well coached. No. 5 (Boubacar Traore), one of their edge rushers is a dynamic football player. 34 (Drayk Bowen) is a really good linebacker, captain. They're able to rotate and play a lot of guys. Very physical, the point of attack can run. Very sound.
“Their back end, man, they don't give up a lot of explosive plays because they play really well together. They can lock you down in man. They do a good job with some zone switch-ups. They're going to be really, really well coached. We know that going in. Marcus Freeman does a phenomenal job holistically, defensive guy. Coach (Chris) Ash has coached a lot of defense in his time. We got a lot of respect for their coaches.”
On Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock:
“It’s funny, Coach (Tyler) Stockton, who is an alum of Notre Dame, said that Coach Denbrock was the offensive coordinator when he was there. Obviously, Jayden Mickey's an alum, so cool to see a lot of different connections.”
On Notre Dame’s special teams:
“I think the phase that needs to be talked about more, even with their team, is how good they are in special teams. They play relentless on special teams. It's inspiring to me just to see how much, how hard they play on special teams. They will fake it every opportunity they can, from punt to kickoff. They are going to find ways to steal possessions and they do a really good job of it.
“That is going to be a premium for us this week to make sure that we can align to everything and do a really good job stopping their fakes. It is going to happen, and we have to be ready for it. So a ton of respect for Notre Dame, ton of respect for Marcus Freeman and what he's been able to build there and how successful they are.”
On the plan to stop Jeremiyah Love:
“I was talking to a coach who played against him. He said, ‘The second you think you got him, all of a sudden you look up and it's first down again.’ I think that speaks to who Jeremiyah Love is, right? I mean, he's going to be a top-10 draft pick, and that's earned and deserved. Elite catching the football, too. An elite receiver had two catching touchdowns last weekend. He's extremely hard to get down, very, very quick on his feet, strong, powerful, so he can go through you if you're high, but he also can one-cut and he can get out and he’s gone.
“We have to practice our tail off. It's going to be really, really hard to simulate that in practice, but we got to do our best as a defensive staff, making sure we continue to work how we leverage these formations. They're going to give you a lot of different formations in 11 and 12 (personnel). We got to leverage formations. We have to do a good job tackling low and finding a way to get them on the ground.
“Jeremiyah Love's going to get his, right? You go into a game with elite football players, there's not a schematic call that all of a sudden is going to take Jeremiyah Love out of the game. It's not. We got to play sound. We have to play discipline, and we have to be relentless. This cannot be a one-tackle, one-tackler-type game. We got to gang-tackle Jeremiyah Love because he's an elite football player.”
On QB CJ Carr:
“First off, he can make every throw. He's extremely athletic, can run, can make every throw, but for a freshman, I'm extremely impressed with his decision-making. He gets the ball exactly where it should be, on time, where it should go. He runs a pro-style offense that has a lot of shifts and motions and complications to it and he operates it at a very, very high level. He's obviously played in big-time games and played really, really well, so I'm very, very impressed with CJ He's going to be a first-round draft pick when he leaves college. That's not just my opinion and he deserves that.”
On how growing up around coaching can help a player like CJ Carr:
“I think when you're around it consistently, like he was growing up, I think you fall in love with the game. You fall in love with what it takes to play this game, where it's not just going out there and throwing the football. He understands coverages. He understands how a defense is leaning, what you're getting and how to take advantage. He understands it, right? He's hard to throw off. I think a lot of that comes from, one, he loves football because he was raised in it.”
On Boise State CB Jaden Mickey, who was carted off the field on Saturday:
“ In regard to Jaden Mickey, he's doing much better. I saw him after he was released from the hospital on Saturday night. I was able to get some time with him and he was doing much better. Even talking to him about the moment itself, when the hit happened on kickoff and everybody saw kind of what happened on the field and he was just back and forth saying, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
“I was telling him this and he started crying, chokes me up because he said my dad told me that every night before I went to sleep. Once again, this is a young man who obviously an alum of Notre Dame, but I mean he's lost his mom. He's been through a lot and seeing him even come back from that injury.
“He's going through concussion protocols, but all tests and everything are negative for everything else, which is thank you Jesus for that. He's going through concussion protocol still day-to-day in regards to if he's going to be able to play this game or not. We'll walk that path accordingly.”
On Jaden Mickey regaining functional abilities and wanting to play in this game:
“The hit happened where he was out of sorts, but I'm not the medical expert to give you that. I know even in that moment, he was leaving the field putting his arms up and moving. We do everything the right way. We go to the hospital and he had all the scans and checks to make sure from skeletal, muscular, brain, everything is good and all that was clear. And so that's why now we are in concussion protocols and he's doing much better. He's going through a lot right now in the training room and riding the bike and going through all of our concussion protocols that are mandated through the NCAA, which are a good thing to protect players.
“Yeah, as an alum, he's fired up to be able to go play this game. I had a conversation with him and his dad, even the night after. We are going to protect you. We're going to walk this path. We are going to always put our players' health and care in front of them going to play football, right? Period, end of story.
“If that means he doesn't play, that means he doesn't play. We're going to put the young man in front of him playing football. Obviously, as an alum of Notre Dame, he loves Notre Dame. A lot of those teammates are still there of his, but he had an injury and we got to walk this path the right way.”
On if Jaden Mickey will travel if he doesn’t pass concussion protocol:
“He's coming with us no matter what. Yeah, absolutely.”
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