Notre Dame Football: Marcus Freeman Talks Tyler Buchner, Lou Holtz, Oklahoma State Lessons

Game week is here and Notre Dame is gearing up for Saturday night’s primetime matchup against 2nd-ranked Ohio State in The Horseshoe. First year Fighting Irish football coach Marcus Freeman shared his thoughts on several topics in advance of this titanic matchup.

First Nine Months

Freeman made his head coaching debut nine months ago, when the Irish played Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl. So, with nine months between games, how is Freeman most different now?

"The biggest thing for me is being very intentional in everything I do and really looking back and reflecting and saying okay, what exactly does this team need in terms of coaching staff in terms of practice schedules in terms of wavering all those different things,” Freeman explained. "I try to be very intentional as a leader and make decisions that I've thought deeply about but what are best for our program in my heart.

"And use those guys around you know, that support staff that you have a support system that you have around you to bounce ideas off of, but you don't think you can get in a habit of saying okay, this is what I've done in the past," Freeman continued. "Let's just do this same thing where we say okay, let's be very intentional and looking at what it's going to take to build this team to get it ready for the season.”

Notre Dame led Oklahoma State by three touchdowns late in the first half (28-7), only to lose 37-35. How much will that game serve as a motivator for Freeman as he begins his first full season?

“It’s going to be there for a long time,” he said. “It’s always gonna be there.”

Tyler Buchner Ready To Go

After playing in 10 games as a true freshman last season, quarterback Tyler Buchner enters 2022 as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback. He was named the starter about a week into training camp and has continued an upward trend since.

"He's done a really good job since we named him starter, just getting continuing to be consistent,” Freeman noted. "That's what we're looking for out of him, is that consistency and I think there's a little bit of that confidence in the offense in terms of knowing who's the starting quarterback. That's why we named him starting quarterback when we felt like it was right. The earlier we can name it, the earlier you can build that confidence that consistency amongst that offensive unit.

"He's done a really good job these past couple of weeks and making good decisions, taking care of the football and making plays,” Freeman continued. "He's done a good job of making plays. He's been in a red jersey so he hasn't been hit yet. But again, it's been good to see his growth. ... I look from last year to spring ball to now in again, his growth as a quarterback as a leader as a decision maker has been really good to see.”

Could Avery Davis?

Veteran wide receiver Avery Davis tore an ACL early in training camp and is lost for the season. The wide receiver tore an ACL late last season, prompting his return for what would have been his sixth year playing for the Irish. Freeman addressed Davis being named a captain as well as a possible seventh year.

"Let's start with the captain question,” Freeman began. ".... It's something that when I sat in his house the day he tore his ACL, and I knew that's what he wanted. He was a leader and he wants to have the ability to help this team whichever way he can. Him being a captain, him being a voice is a way that he can help this team and so his teammates, obviously respect him. We as a coaching staff respect him. And so we're grateful for him to step into this captain role again in a second year.

"(A) seventh year, that's up Avery,” he continued. "If Avery Davis came and said I want to come back for a seventh year, absolutely. I don't know many people that have but if that's something Avery Davis wants to do, we would welcome him with open arms.”

Competitive Coaches

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and defensive coordinator Al Golden both recently remarked how competitive they were at practices. Freeman has instilled more competition at Irish practices and he likes when the competition between his coordinators brings out in his players, but there is still balance to be found.

"I think it's a mindset,” Freeman explained. "We have, as a program, competitive spirit is part of our golden standard. Players can feed off of their coaches when they see they have ultimate competitors as coaches. I think they have no other choice but to develop that competitive mindset. So, I challenge our coaches all the time to be competitive man, win or lose situations, but what the difficulty is to be able to differentiate development time versus win or lose situations. That's what our players and our coaches have got to continue to understand.

"They've done a great job in fall camp, there's certain periods of practices for development,” he continued. "When every day you're preaching win, win, win, win, win, compete, compete, compete, there's times during development situations where those players can't turn it on and off. And those coaches can't turn it on and off. So it's my job as the head coach continue to stop and say, okay, hey, this is a development situation. I love that. I got to sit here and say we got to go harder. We got to compete more. That's a bigger issue. But for me to be able to say hey, stop, hold on.”

Lessons From Jim Tressel

Freeman played for Jim Tressel during his playing days at Ohio State from 2004-2008. He discussed some of the lessons he took from his former head coach.

"The best thing I've observed from him is the ability to make everybody in your organization feel important, but also make it so that they are important,” Freeman began. "That's what I want to make sure we reflect here is everybody in our program has to understand that their role is just as valuable as mine as the head coach. I don't care who you are, it can be a scout team. You can work in the cafeteria, you can be on the support staff. You can be the defensive or offensive coordinator, (or)you can be a starter. Everybody's role is important. And they have to believe that. It's not just me saying that like our scout team guys have to believe their role is as important as mine for us to accomplish our goals.

"It's a message that has to be preached every day, because some days you can come in here say I'm on scout team and I'll go through the motions,” he continued. “But if they don't understand their role, and those looks on scout team are just as important as mine and we're not going to achieve or reach the maximum potential that we can possibly have.

Lou Holtz’s Impact

Freeman was also asked what he’s learned from Notre Dame coaching legend Lou Holtz, who the Irish head coach has connected with since taking over the role Holtz used to hold

"The best thing I got from Coach Holtz wasn't what he said was the ability to go with him to the Holtz's Heroes dinner and see the way his former players embraced him,” Freeman said. "For me, that's what it's about. It's about being their head coach longer than just three, four or five years as being a head coach for the longevity of their life. And that's why I do it.

"You know, a part of that is winning games, a part of that is winning championships because that's what they want,” Freeman continued. "That's what they aspire. That's what they that's why we're here. I mean, they hired you to win games, but at the end of the day, I hope to be these guys whose head coach for a long time and it's much longer than the time we spend together at Notre Dame.”

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