By John Brice
Special Contributor
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Flanked by a veteran group of starters but a new head atop the strength and conditioning program, Marcus Freeman had his second-ever first day of fall camp as Notre Dame head coach – and Freeman largely was pleased with what he saw from the Fighting Irish, who open their 2023 campaign one month from today against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.
Freeman candidly addressed the resignation of veteran strength coach Matt Balis earlier this week, acknowledging that he was “hurt” by Balis’s decision but focused on navigating the “bumpy road” through camp to kick off a season in which the Irish are expected to be a top-10 team and College Football Playoff-contender.
“Change is inevitable, and that’s what I told the group,” Freeman said. “I was as hurt as anybody by losing someone I respect and enjoy working with. That hurts. But time doesn’t stop. That’s the reality of this thing. We have to continue to move forward.
“Leaders lead. Leaders continue to lead. I don’t care if Matt Bails is our head training coach or Marcus Freeman’s the head training coach. Leaders lead, and that’s what they’ll continue to do because time is not slowing down. We understand that we have an objective in front of us in making sure we’re ready for Dublin, Ireland. Our guys did a great job of refocusing themselves.”
Freeman pointed specifically to the veteran starters on both sides of the ball for his second iteration of Notre Dame football.
The Irish have one of college football’s most experienced quarterbacks in Sam Hartman, who appeared in 48 career games at Wake Forest and threw 110 touchdowns but will make his Notre Dame debut against Navy. Tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher are generating plenty of preseason All-America buzz, and the linebacking trio of JD Bertrand, Jack Kiser and Marist Liufau has appeared in a combined 107 games in their Irish careers.
Freeman also acknowledged he believed he did a better job of being a head coach Wednesday than he did August 5, 2022 – the date of his team’s first practice prior to the 2022 campaign.
“I try to structure practice in a way to get the results that I want,” said Freeman, whose first full season as a head coach culminated with a 9-4 ledger that included a top-5 win against Clemson and a season-ending comeback triumph against South Carolina in the Gator Bowl. “I thought back to last year, my first practice. I was just like the kids. I’m not saying I’m not excited. It’s first day of practice. Everybody’s excited. But I was probably like the players in terms of (saying) ‘Oh, my God! It’s the first day of practice. Go, go, go, go!’
“I looked back at the results of that practice, and it probably wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to structure practice in a way that really could get the results I wanted. I think experience for myself was most important.”
Freeman’s personal experience afforded him the chance to relay a more specific message to his players in terms of what they needed to ascertain from this opening session – and players’ returning knowledge of the bedrock-elements that Freeman commands in his program also shined.
“I reiterated to the players, ‘Guys, there’s periods that are meant for this and periods that are meant for that,’” Freeman said. “’This is a run-through period’ or ‘This is a full-speed period.’ They understand the expectations. It is a mature group.
“A lot of those guys, especially the older guys, have been here with me through one season, so they understand the expectation. I thought they did a good job of practicing today.”
Notre Dame returns to LaBar Football Practice Complex Thursday for the second session of preseason camp, and it will do so again Friday.