Marcus Freeman Updates Notre Dame's Injuries, Talks Ryan Barnes, Jaylen Sneed, Drew Pyne

For a second straight week, Notre Dame will be without at least one defensive starter. Defensive tackle missed last week’s game with an ankle injury and Marcus Freeman announced in his Thursday Zoom press conference that linebacker Bo Bauer will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Bauer's injury wasn't the only one that Freeman updated today.

TaRiq Bracy Update, Next Man In

Cornerback TaRiq Bracy suffered a hamstring strain in last week’s win over BYU. Freeman is hopeful for his return this week vs Stanford.

"I think he’ll go,” Freeman said of Bracy’s status. "I hope he’ll be able to go, but how long and how much is still to be determined.”

Bracy leads Irish cornerbacks with 16 tackles. He also had the team’s first interception of the season on the game’s first play last week. If Bracy can’t go, or if he is limited, look for sophomore Ryan Barnes to be the next man in.

"Barnes had a really good week of practice,” Freeman noted. "Which has always been my challenge to (Mike) Mickens and to Ryan is that, 'Hey, you have a lot of ability and a lot of traits.' He’s got to do it in practice for us to gain confidence for him to do it in a game.

"With the questions of how much or how little will TaRiq play, Barnes has to be ready to go, because between the corners, that field corner and boundary corner, who will be the next nickel, with Jaden Mickey playing nickel. Again, he’s got to be ready to go. But I feel confident that one, TaRiq’s going to be able to give us something, just from what I saw yesterday. If he can’t, the next guy up will be able to go. Ramon Henderson played some nickel this week, he's done a good job. Again, if we get to the point where Ryan Barnes has to play corner, there’s no hesitation, because of what he did this week in practice.”

Howard Cross III Update

Senior nose tackle Howard Cross III missed last week’s game with a high ankle sprain. He went through warmups in Las Vegas but could not go once the game started. Cross is tied with two other players with 23 tackles, the second most on the team, and it looks as though the Irish could get him back this weekend.

"Limited practice on Tuesday, but practiced all practice yesterday,” Freeman said of Cross. "So, we’ll expect him to play. We’ll expect to see him in there. (He) had a good practice yesterday and as long as long as there’s no regression from yesterday, I would expect to see him, obviously, today and tomorrow and Saturday.”

Drew Pyne’s Contagious Confidence

Quarterback Drew Pyne has always had swagger to his game. His game is now matching his confidence. The junior has completed 72% of his 91 pass attempts this season with nine touchdowns. Freeman has seen Pyne’s confidence grow since becoming the starter three games ago and it is also rubbing off on his teammates.

"It’s very infectious,” Freeman explained. 'Drew Pyne has never lacked confidence. Now that you’re adding the execution with it, that confidence can be infectious toward the whole team, the entire team. And you know what, it’s even more infectious, maybe, when things go bad.

"When things aren’t going your way, the confident quarterback that everybody believes in is now the one saying, 'Hey, everything’s going to be okay'," continued Freeman. "Then when you do have success, he’s the one saying, continue to pile it on, this is the way we play. So, it’s really good to see you now have some of the execution and production to go along with the confidence that Drew Pyne has always had. And that’s what you want out of your quarterback.

Stanford Slow Mesh RPO

Stanford ranks 69th in the nation in total offense at 400.2 yards per game. They currently rank two spots ahead of Marshall, four ahead of Cal and 10 spots ahead of next week’s opponent, UNLV, in that department.

Their rushing offense (138.6 ypg) ranks just No. 90, making them and Boston College (dead last at No. 131 at 68 ypg) the two lowest ranked rushing offenses the Irish will play this season. That said, they’ve gone to more slow mesh/RPO in their offense, which Freeman assessed.

"It’s two different dilemmas that it presents,” explained the Irish coach. "If you’re in zone coverage, the minute you trigger as a linebacker to go stop the run, you’re opening up space behind you that they can pull it and throw it. They’re creating space and trying to put your linebackers in a run-pass conflict. Well then, the answer is to say, ok, go play man. Well, now you’re playing man to man coverage with no underneath help, because the backers have to be able to respect that run game.

"So, you’ve got to do some different things up front to try to be able to have your backers play a little bit more patiently and you’ve got to be able to be able to play man to man coverage at times versus some big, tall, long wideouts," he continued. "And so, it’s a really good scheme that they’ve done a good job of being able to execute in games. It’s going to be a big challenge for us.”

Stanford Pass Game Presents Big Problems

The Stanford pass game presents a big problem to the Notre Dame defense .... literally.

Quarterback Tanner McKee stands 6-6 and his receivers have size as well. McKee has completed 63% of his passes, with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.

His top-4 leading receivers all stand at least 6-foot-2: Michael Wilson is 6-2, Elijah Higgins is 6-3, Brycen Tremayne is 6-4, and John Humphreys is 6-5.

"When you look at the wide outs and the length, they’re tall guys that are good at jump balls and they’re going to throw it up to them,” Freeman explained. "Then if you get too aggressive, they’re going to run some different routes that try to put you at a disadvantage. So, I think our DBs are definitely going to be challenged this week, in terms of being able to win the 50-50 balls and understand there is no, just run game. In terms of a lot of their run game is based off an RPO. So, the corners at every play have to be ready to have the ball thrown their way and be able to win those matchups versus some lengthy receivers.

"I think their running back, No. 2 (Casey Filkins), is just a really good player,” Freeman continued. "In terms of running the ball. He’s good in the return game, he’s tough, he’s powerful. For the most part, you’ve seen him take care of the football.”

On Jaylen Sneed

Freshman Jaylen Sneed was Notre Dame's highest ranked recruit in the 2022 class, but the talented newcomer has yet to see the field.

"Still to be determined,” Freeman said when asked about Sneed possibly working into the mix. "He’s continued to get better....don’t see him, right now, being a part of the defensive package yet, for this game, but he’s going to have the opportunity, hopefully as the year goes on, to be able to try to play some more.”

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