Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman Talks Rees/Pyne Viral Moment, Steve Angeli, Bye Week Plans

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - With Notre Dame’s game at North Carolina this Saturday closing in, Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman held his Thursday call to field questions from the media, and the questions were varied. Here is a transcript of that discussion.

How can using two-back sets like you did last week against Cal challenge a defense?

"Well, I think it's the ability to use one of those two backs in a different position. That's what creates the mismatch. You can use Chris Tyree in the backfield or use him in the slot. That to me is, do you treat him as a running back, do you treat him as a wide receiver, is it 11 personnel, is it 21 personnel. Those will truly change the way you call defenses, depending on what they do. And so, I think the ability for us to use Chris in so many different ways, it really can present some challenges to a defense."

How can Drew Pyne avoid repeating the slow start he had last week?

"I think he was just trying to force the ball force plays early in the game. He was making uncharacteristic mistakes and that's a reflection of maybe your first start. Everybody talks about the case of the yips that you see amongst all sports and it was just one of those, to me, the start of a game man, he was...you know, easy throws that he usually makes he was throwing a little bit low and we weren't helping him. That's the other part is that, we have to help him as an offense, make sure we're catching. The ball might be a little bit low, (but) we've got to catch those balls. Some of the balls were uncatchable but, that was just something that we have to make sure we're helping him. Now, getting the snap, that's on him. So listen, I know Drew feels strongly about his performance and about how he starts a game and I know he's working on it. I don't think you'll see a repeat performance to start a game. We have the utmost confidence in him."

Tommy Rees said this week that Pyne is 1/11th of the offense, but how do you balance the quarterback being just 1/11th of the offense, considering how important the quarterback position is?

"I think obviously, the quarterback position, there's a lot of value. It touches the ball every single play. So in terms of you are 1/11th of the offense, but you truly impact the play, because you touched the ball every single play. I think what Drew has to do is just continue to feel like in his head, I'm just 1/11th, I've got to do my job. When you talk about 1/11th It's just about doing your job. And I think that's what Coach Rees is trying to convey to him and everybody. It's about doing your job and whatever it is your job to do, you got to accomplish it. And so, all 11 people have to do their job, being the quarterback too, even though he touches the ball every play."

Is tight end Mitchell Evans close to returning from injury and did Kevin Bauman get injured this week?

"Mitch, he's not ready yet. I hope he's able to get back, hopefully by the BYU game, or soon thereafter. I know he's out of the boot. He's making his progression towards return. So we'll see. Kevin, he kind of got twisted up a little bit yesterday. And so we're still waiting to see how he feels today day in his return today. But, that's still to be determined depending on how the day goes."

How will you handle the bye week next week?

"I hope after four weeks or four games, we're not tired. I don't plan to rest of them a lot. We've got to get better. We've got to develop in that week and we'll have a couple of practices, three or four practices, during that week to continue to...we'll find ways to develop as individuals (and) as football players. So, we'll utilize that. Again, it's not like it's after week six or towards the end of the year. We're talking about the first third of your season will be complete as we hit our bye week. And so, if the guys are banged up, obviously, we've got to be smart and try to get them to return to play, but the majority of guys, it's the development time, it's practice time, it's ways to get better. And that's the only way you get better is out there in practice. So, we'll do that during the week. Coaches will be recruiting early in the week and later in the week. We've got to use his time to go out and see some of our guys and evaluate some prospects. So, a lot of that week we're going to be busy. We'll be busy as a football program here with our current team and then also out recruiting."

Have you addressed the tough coaching situation between Tommy Rees and Drew Pyne that was caught on camera during last week’s game?

"No, I think it's something that might have been a bigger issue to those outside the football program than it was to us inside the football program. That tough coaching is what you get every day. I've always had a strong belief (that) you can push guys as far as they trust you. And to me that is a reflection of Coach Rees and Drew Pyne's relationship. And Drew Pyne's the first say I want tough coaching. I want that type of coaching. And obviously Tommy and myself and everybody in this program, we've got to be cautious on the language we use. And I've got to remind myself, I have six kids and I'm sure little ones are watching you got to use, be careful on the language you use. But that's an intense moment that we had to try to find a way to get Drew to snap out and to be able to perform at the level we expect.

"And again, you don't treat every player the same in terms of how you coach them. You treat them in terms of what will help them respond in a right way and for that moment, that's what Drew needed and Drew will be the first one to tell you that. But I hope people understand that that is a reflection of the relationship they have and plenty of other coaches have with their players, is that hey, they know it's not personal because of the relationship we have. There's a trust issue. If you don't trust your coaches and all sudden he's screaming at you to do your job, then all sudden, you know what, that's not going to get the results that you want, okay? But if you have a strong relationship with the guys in your room (and)they trust you, those moments that are intense are never personal. It's all about making sure we get the job done."

Tyler Buchner was in the coaches booth in the booth during last week’s game. What are you looking for from him the rest of the season?

"I think (it's) twofold, just one to be another coach...to be an extra set of eyes to be able to help our quarterback room. I think he might have been maybe charting a player two and write things down to be able to kind of for himself. There's two things right how do you make yourself better even though you're not playing? Right, and that can be watching the play go on, charting things for yourself to write down and to learn, but also being a teacher, being able to communicate after a game or after a practice or during practice with some of those quarterbacks and say hey, here's what I saw, what did you see? And so, that's been a challenge I've kind of presented to Tyler is, how do you make yourself better when you're not playing? You know you're not going to play, but you're here and you're a part of what we're doing. And so, I think he's done a good job in one week...not even a week, of being out and to help himself improve, but also help that quarterback room improve."

How comfortable would he be going to Steve Angeli if he had to, due to an injury to Drew Pyne, considering Angeli was on the scout team less than two weeks ago?

"There's no other option. We have to be comfortable. That's, Coach Rees and all of our job is to make sure that we have a package (for him). Listen, you can't ask someone to do things that they're not capable of doing. I don't think you're going to ask Steve Angeli to run every single play that you're asking Drew Pyne to run. It takes time to learn the entire package, the entire offensive system. But guess what, Steve Angeli, if he's presented with the opportunity, has to go in there and execute and he has to go in there and be able to do what we need our quarterbacks to do. And so, we have to meet him halfway.

"We've got to be able to ask Steve Angeli to do the things that we know he can do, but it also has to be enough that you're not running one play. And so, I feel really strongly about the way he's prepared. He's prepared not as the scout team quarterback but as a quarterback that can be ready going into the game and he has the greatest example in Drew Pyne being in that room. I've also challenged Drew Pyne, and say hey, man, anytime you're watching film, anytime you're getting extra film in and studying, you've got to drag Steve Angeli with you or you've got to bring him with you. Because he's got to learn what it really means to prepare as a college quarterback. And I think you're seeing a lot of growth between those two in this week. And again, I'm confident because he is our option. He's our next option. If something happens to Drew, he's got to go in the game and he's got to do his job."

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