Marcus Freeman Talks Joe Wilkins, Lorenzo Styles, Notre Dame Facing Navy's Option And More

Coming off the high of the biggest win of the still young Marcus Freeman era, Notre Dame’s challenge this week has been to refocus and prepare for an unranked Navy team (3-6).

The Fighting Irish have shown all season that they can play with and beat ranked teams, against which they are now 4-1, but they are a much more modest 2-2 against unranked foes this season.

"Wins are short lived around here, especially during the middle of the season,” Freeman said during his Thursday Zoom media session. "It's the same thing after a loss in that you have to move forward. You have to learn from every opportunity you can from the game, but understand the next opponent is on the horizon.

"I think our team understands that we're on a destination for improvement,” Freeman continued. "We have to continue to find ways to get better and the win versus Clemson cannot be the ceiling of this football program, or of this season. We have to continue to improve. That's been the challenge is to continue to stay focused and not let praise or criticism really sway them one way or the other in how they work, not let a victory or defeat sway them one way or the other in terms of how to work but to continue to understand how hard and intentional we have to work to improve. We've had a really good week of practice and we want to go out there and have another good day hopefully today and we've got a tough opponent on Saturday. We’ve got to be ready to roll.”

This will be Notre Dame’s third time facing an unranked opponent the week after facing a ranked team. They are 0-2 in their previous opportunities, losing to Marshall a week after dropping a close game at No. 2 Ohio State, and then falling to Stanford the week after beating No. 16 BYU.

Freeman says there has been a sense of urgency from his team this week that emanated from the coaching staff down through the players.

"I really thought we had a good practice on Tuesday and a good practice on Wednesday,” Freeman gauged. "It was a little bit different this week, because you couldn't go as much good on good as you usually do, because the defense was so narrow focused on Navy - the triple option. It's one of those weeks where the defensive guys are truly just preparing for that specific type of offense. So, we missed a little bit of good on good this week, but we were able to reciprocate it in other ways in terms of the end of practice. Doing some scout team reps in front of the entire team and I think what that does is it brings a little bit of energy, added pressure, a whole bunch of set of eyes on you to execute your assignment. So, my job as a head coach is to find ways to create that energy to create that pressure that you have sometimes when you go good on good without going good or good this week.”

Lorenzo Styles Case Of The Drops

Sophomore wideout Lorenzo Styles had another unfortunate dropped pass in Saturday’s win over Clemson. The sophomore is Notre Dame’s top producing wide receiver with 24 receptions for 292 yards, but his five drops are also a team high.

"The moments right after he dropped the ball and he came on the sidelines, I told him, Hey, one play one life,” Freeman explained. "The next time you get the opportunity, then catch the ball. We believe in you. There's been no faith lost in Lorenzo. It's continuing to work on those things that help you execute at a higher level.

"Same thing we did with Audric (Estime) in terms of finding different ways in practice to address some of the ball security issues, the same thing with Lorenzo and all the wide outs," continued the Irish head coach. "The ability to continue to attack those different fundamentals that it takes to make sure you're executing; you're catching the ball or you're having ball security and all those different things. So, no faith has been lost in Lorenzo Styles. He's a tremendously hard worker. We just have to kind of tweak that work and that make sure we're really intentional on catching the ball.”

Joe Wilkins Jr In The Transfer Portal

Joe Wilkins Jr announced on social media this week that he has entered the transfer portal. The grad student wide receiver had not played this season. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Cincinnati game last year and injured his foot last spring.

“That's a decision he made,” Freeman said of Wilkins entering the portal. “There was no influence I really could have had on that. His mind was made up when he told me that he planned to enter the transfer portal. That was a decision that was totally up to Joe. As far as what could he have done, Joe worked tirelessly, he continued to work hard and continued to find ways to improve. At the end of the day, it's the job of every coach on this coaching staff is to put the guys on the field that we feel give us the best opportunity to have success. Joe was playing, probably not as much as he wanted. So, he made the decision to make a change. That's really all I have to say about that situation. But love Joe and love what he's done for this program and wish him all the best.”

A Rough Beginning Against Navy’s Option

Freeman’s first experience against Navy’s option attack was forgettable. As defensive coordinator at Cincinnati, Navy pillaged Freeman’s defense for 569 rushing yards en route to a 42-32 victory over the Bearcats. He learned from the defeat and Cincinnati held the Mids to just 124 rushing yards the next year, helping Cincinnati to a 42-0 victory. That 2017 pummeling is one Freeman will never forget.

"To be exact, we gave up 569 yards rushing versus Navy in 2017 when I was at Cincinnati,” Freeman recalled. "That will be a number that I'll never forget. It was a long day. What I didn't have that day is answers and that's a helpless feeling. It's something that personally, I wanted to make sure that I continue to find different answers to really try to figure out how they think offensively or not just how they think but how the triple option really works and the different things we're looking for. They're not just running the triple option. They do a lot of different things. Their offense has expanded. But the ability to just understand a little bit more the offensive side of the ball in terms of what they're looking for and in turn, help us defensively to make sure we're finding better ways to defend it.

"But for me the biggest thing was we needed answers,” he continued. "I needed answers to say okay, if this isn't working, if they're having success on this play, what are different ways that you can attack it and challenge it. That's kind of how I've grown from 2017 to now. The great thing for me was last year, being able to come here and really collaborate with a group of guys, with Mike Elston and those guys that were here, that have played Navy for many years. So, we enhanced our package last year and then this year to add Al Golden's expertise and what he did at Temple and at Miami, Florida; to add that to what we did last year, again hopefully that will enhance our package and in turn, help us with our execution on Saturday.”

Local Scout Team Standouts

Chase Ketterer and Justin Fisher are both local walk-ons on the roster who have option experience. Ketterer played quarterback in a hybrid option attack for nearby New Prairie High School and Fisher was the QB in a more traditional Wing-T option attack at Mishawaka.

Ketterer was last year’s scout team player of the week during Navy prep week for his work as the scout team quarterback and the junior filled that role again this week, with Fisher at fullback.

"They both have been extremely valuable and important this week,” Freeman said of the duo. "Chase was here when I got here last year but ran the scout team quarterback for Navy last year and did it this year. And then Justin was our fullback this year, but Justin was specifically sought out for this being one of the reasons. We know we play Navy every year and you need guys that understand that offense and that type of system. So, both of those guys have been extremely valuable this week.”

On Nana Osafo-Mensah

Senior Nana Osafo-Mensah has given the Irish good depth at defensive end this season. The junior from Ft. Worth, TX had one tackle when he played against Navy last year, but tackles don’t always tell the story of a defensive end’s play against the option. The willingness to stay disciplined and set the edge and keep the quarterback in check is important as well.

"Nana has really improved the way he practices,” Freeman said. "Nana's a talented football player that is practicing at a high level and in turn is helping them play at a high level in the games when he's getting the opportunity. This will be a big week for Nana. I was just watching back through last year's game. He played well versus Navy last year and we're going to need him to play well this year. But in terms of him in a holistic approach, he is continuing to enhance the way he practices, enhance the way he studies the game, enhance his own personal attributes in terms of how he becomes a better football player. It's really, really showing on Saturdays.”

Veteran’s Day Weekend Means More For Freeman

Friday is Veterans Day and playing against a service academy this weekend is not lost on Freeman. His father, Michael, spent three decades in the Air Force and that gives him a different feeling for this weekend than many.

"I think there's a whole bunch of different things that kind of go into this game,” said Freeman. "One, the history of the rivalry. The meaning behind it and how it came about but then also it being veterans weekend and obviously it's personal to me with my father serving and being a veteran. But, it's just a great reminder of the bigger picture, in that we're fortunate to play this game and coach this game that that we love. We're fortunate to live in this country because of those many people that fight for our freedom. So, there's a lot of meaning behind this game. For many different reasons.”

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