Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Wideouts, Offensive Line, Defense In Navy Win

One down, eleven to go. Notre Dame’s 42-3 win over Navy in Dublin, Ireland came in resounding fashion and helped the Fighting Irish and head coach Marcus Freeman accomplish their first mission of Freeman’s second season. Freeman’s team was dominant in the two main phases of the game – offense and defense – and was good but not spectacular on special teams in the season opener.

Unlike last November’s narrow 35-32 escape against the Midshipmen, there was no doubt which was the better team in this one. That dominance started up front on offense, where first year offensive line coach Joe Rudolph started first time starters Pat Coogan at left guard and Rocco Spindler at left guard.

“I guess we found out those two guards can play, right,” Freeman quipped after the victory. “We knew three of those guys had game experience but both Pat and Rocco both stepped up. They did a real good job. Again, Navy’s defense is almost as exotic as their offense. You don’t see some of the things they do, so for them to execute, run the ball, play physical, man, credit to obviously Coach Rudolph and just really credit to those guys, man, for what they were able to do in their first game.”

Notre Dame’s line paved the way for the Irish to outgain Navy 191-126 on the ground. The Fighting Irish averaged 6.0 yards per carry to Navy’s 2.6. Navy had five sacks in last year’s narrow Irish win, but Sam Hartman went unscathed and was hurried just once in Saturday’s victory.

A Great Beginning

Notre Dame’s lack of returning experience at wide receiver was well documented (especially nationally) heading into Saturday’s game, but it was not obvious watching the lopsided victory.

Veteran quarterback Hartman completed 19 passes to eight different receivers and backup Steve Angeli’s first career pass was caught by a ninth (freshman Rico Flores Jr) late in the fourth quarter. Fellow freshman Jaden Greathouse made perhaps the biggest statement with three receptions for 68 yards in his debut. Two of those grabs went for 35 and 20-yard touchdowns.

"Consistently doing you job, especially at that position, you’ll be in a position to be rewarded and Rico Flores played a lot in his first college experience,” Freeman said of the freshmen. "But sometimes when you play well at the wide out position you don’t always get those rewards. So, to see Jaden Greathouse go out there and score two touchdowns today, it’s a reflection of hopefully what (receivers) Coach (Chansi) Stuckey has done with that room, because four wide outs caught touchdowns today. Greathouse had two of them.

"That room is continuing to improve. The protection was good. So, I think that’s going to be a great momentum builder as we get ready for next week, for Jaden.”

Notre Dame’s receivers made plays in space and downfield. Junior Jayden Thomas led the group with four receptions for 63 yards and a touchdown of his own. Fellow junior Deion Colzie made three grabs for 45 yards, including a 25-yard catch and run touchdown.

"I’ve seen it in practice,” Freeman remarked of his under touted receivers. "But to go and do it against an opponent, it shows that they can do it in a game when it matters. You can do it all the time in practice but the ability to do it in a game is so important. But it’s a deep room and for the most part we know who Jayden Thomas was and Tobias (Merriweather) got a catch last year but it’s still a really inexperienced room. So, this game experience is so valuable because they are talented.”

After tight end Michael Mayer led the team in receiving three years in a row, no Irish tight end had a catch on Saturday.

The Five-Headed Monster

Notre Dame employed all five of its running backs en route to the 191 rushing yards on Saturday. Last year’s bell cow, Audric Estime, led the way with 16 carries for 95 yards and the game’s first touchdown. Estime came out of the game in the second quarter after a fumble that went out of bounds. He didn’t reappear until the second half, but the timing was apparently coincidental.

"We wanted to rotate all those guys and you’ve got to be unselfish,” Freeman explained. “There’s one ball and there’s a lot of talented individuals and this is week zero. That’s what you have to be able to do is have a team that (is) full of unselfishness and it’s hard. It’s really hard. But I think (running back) Coach (Deland) McCullough has done a great job with that room in terms of making sure they understand before the game. That’s the worst thing to me you could do to a kid is tell him, hey you’re going to play, and you don’t play him. The ability to say all five you are going to play, they all played. It's really a great job by Coach McCullough. But you’re going to have to be unselfish and Audric is a great example of that.”

Sophomore Gi’Bran Payne had the second most carries with six for 31 yards. Freshman Jeremiyah Love carried four times for 40 yards. Sophomore Jadarian Price took his first career carry 19 yards for a touchdown on a bolt up the middle and finished with 25 yards on four carries and Penn State grad transfer Devyn Ford went two yards on his lone carry.

A Dominant Defense

The newfound diversity of the offense overshadowed a smothering defensive effort. There were missed tackles here and there, but Navy’s 126 rushing yards was a little more than half of what it averaged in 2022. Their longest play of the day was a 14-yard run by fullback Daba Fofana on Navy’s second play of the game and the Mids converted just 4 of 14 third downs. Irish linebacker Jack Kiser spearheaded the attack with a team best eight tackles and a quarterback hurry.

"He’s a reflection of really what the entire defense did, man,” Freeman proclaimed. "I’m really proud because what you saw in the first half was, offensively from Navy, we looked at everything we could find. I’m talking, we looked at Kennesaw State, we looked at everything we could find. They ran some things that we had never seen. So, the ability to hear the coaches say, ‘ok write it down and draw it up, let’s adjust on the sideline’, and then go out there and implement it. I mean, that’s what’s more impressive than anything. Kiser played well. He had eight tackles, I think, and he’s a leader. He’s a senior but man the adjustments today our defense made were tremendous.”

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

2023 Scholarship Chart
2023 Football Schedule

Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

2024 Commit Rankings - Offense
2024 Commit Rankings - Defense

2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Offense
2023 Recruiting Class Grades - Defense

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @SeanStires
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter