Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Syracuse, Jaylen Sneed, Prince Kollie, And More

For the second time in four games, Notre Dame will face the No. 16 team in the nation when the Fighting Irish travel to Syracuse on Saturday. BYU was also ranked 16th when the Irish beat them in Las Vegas.

The Orange have a balanced offensive attack that starts with quarterback Garrett Schrader. The 6-4 signal caller has completed nearly 70% of his passes for 1,601 yards and 13 touchdowns But he’s also the team’s second-leading rusher with 371 yards and shares the team lead with six touchdown runs.

Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman knows his team will face a tough test with the Mississippi State transfer at the helm this weekend.

"You're just going have to try to limit their big plays and that's what I think you see, really studying that Clemson game is, he's going to get yardage,” Freeman said of Schrader. “He's going to get yardage running the ball, he's going to make some throws but to eliminate the big plays and truly, make sure you have a hat for him and you have to be physical with him. You have to try to make physical tackles on him. He is a talented football player that we can't just say we got to stop running, because he can throw the ball well and you can't just play eight man drops because he's got the ability to run the ball and they got the ability to run the ball with (running back Sean) Tucker. It's a really good offense. It's going to present a huge challenge for our defense.”

Guarding Oronde Gadsen II

Another tall task for the Irish defense is wide receiver Oronde Gadsen II. He is similar to former Notre Dame and current Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Chase Claypool in size and production.

Gadsen is 6-5 and 220 pounds. He leads Syracuse with 37 receptions for 593 yards and five touchdown grabs.

“He's a guy that I know they listed as a (receiver) but he can be a tight end, he can be a wide out,” Freeman said. “He can be a mismatch at times. So we have to try to be physical with him. You're going to have to win some jump balls. He's got great body control and the ability for him to go get the ball in the air. He is a tough, tough guy to defend.”

Prince Kollie’s Learning Curve

Prince Kollie’s playing time continues to climb. The sophomore linebacker has played in each of the past three games after seeing mostly special teams and some spot duty at linebacker as a freshman last year.

He was a four-star recruit, but his adjustment to the college game has been slower than many fans might have expected.

“With any high school football player trying to come to the college level there is (an) adjustment,” Freeman stated. “It's a mental adjustment in terms of, depending on what type of system you played in, in high school a lot that a lot of kids we recruit defensively they play a lot of what we call see ball good ball. It's the ability to get lined up and go play and go find the football and they'll play one or two coverages. Well in college, there's so much more that goes into it.

“For Prince, he has so much natural ability, what you're seeing for him is the development of understanding the schematic part of it and understanding how it aligns where it fits, and he's doing a much better job,” Freeman continued. “He's playing well. Those reps that he's getting, he's earning more reps. He's a guy that couple weeks ago, I kind of challenged our staff like, let's find a way to get Prince Kollie more reps and he's doing a good job.”

A Similar Curve For Jaylen Sneed

Freshman Jaylen Sneed came to Notre Dame with an even higher five-star rating, but his time hasn’t come just yet. Sneed nearly got in at linebacker vs UNLV last week when Kollie was briefly hobbled, but Kollie stayed in the game and Sneed’s reps never materialized.

“He's very similar to Prince in terms of extremely highly recruited linebackers,” Freeman explained. “Extremely talented. They have physical gifts that are second to none. But the mental aspect, Sneed was a guy that played defensive end, played linebacker, played safety, played quarterback. He did a little bit of everything in high school and he's adjusting to just learning one position at the college level. But he's doing a heck of a job. He has some physical tools that are really impressive. He still has to gain some weight. He's always been a thin body brain type player. A lot of guys that were here with (Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah) say they have similar body types, similar athletic traits. But he's going to be a good player.

“It's just mentally and physically continuing to develop to play at this level,” Freeman continued. “But he's getting reps with scout team and with the guys that are going to be playing in the game. He's doing both. I think there's a confidence that the coaches do have with him that if an injury or two happens, if he can be ready to go in a game and that's why he's traveling and getting some reps with the guys that are playing. But the other part of it is what we're doing defensively right now is, verses certain offensive personnel using just two linebackers on the field. Whereas last year, we the majority of time, had three linebackers on the field so it is harder to get on the field versus your normal 11 personnel offenses, because we're using two linebackers to match up defensively. But Jaylen Sneed, I'm excited for his future here. He's going to be a heck of a player.”

Punt Block Success

New special teams coordinator Brian Mason brought an aggressive mentality with him from Cincinnati and it’s already paying off at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish already set a program record for punt blocks in a season with four through seven games. Isaiah Foskey also became the first Notre Dame player to block two punts in the same game last week against UNLV.

“I think it's the ability one, to be aggressive,” Freeman said. “You can't block times without rushing the punter and rushing the punt team. Coach Mace is an aggressive personality, aggressive person. He finds different ways to attack punt protection. But also, with that comes the...at times you can be vulnerable to a fake and he does a good job of finding different ways to make sure we are protected against the fake and that's my only thing as a head coach, is let's be aggressive. I want to be aggressive, but also don't want to get the ball faked against us. Some people might say you can't do them both, but I believe you can and what you've seen is an aggressive block unit, but also the ability to deter some teams out of trying to fake it against us.

“It's a mentality,” Freeman continued. “One, they really work on the technique of blocking punts. Coach Mason spends a lot of time talking about there's a technique to it. It's not just rushing back there becoming a free and finding way to get your hand on the ball. There (are) techniques to where you're placing your hand and he's a heck of a coach. The buy-in from that punt block unit has been really good.”

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