It’s been an interesting week in college football and for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as the college football playoff talk is reaching a frenzy status. Still… Notre Dame has to lock in because they have
some work in front of them with the Navy Midshipmen.
On Thursday, Marcus Freeman spoke to the media via zoom and offered some updates.
A LOSS IN THE MIDDLE
Notre Dame NT Donovan Hinish will be out this week with a concussion. It’s a shame to lose a lunch pail guy for a lunch pail game, and Freeman had glowing words to say about Donovan as both a player and a teammate.
“I think he is a consistent person and high achievers are consistent, right? He consistently chooses hard. When I think of Donovan Hinish, I think of a guy that just from where he’s from, how he was raised from his parents, his brother and sister, he is a guy that that’s who he is. He’s a guy that consistently chooses hard.
“And when you do that enough in practice, then all of a sudden it happens in a game that becomes who you are. And he’s a tough, tough guy battling through injuries and continuing to put team first. Every week his role might change a little bit, but he puts team first while battling through tough injuries.
“I’m glad we have him. And his brother was another great example of that. That’s, that’s how he does it, right? He’s not a big rah, rah talk guy. He’s a go about my business every single day. And Saturdays are no different.”
REMEMBER REMEMBER THE WINNING OF NOVEMBER
Notre Dame has been remarkable during the month of November for a number of years now. The Irish have only lost 2 games since 2018 during the 11th month of the year, and Freeman spoke about the keys to success during the stretch run of the season.
“All those things. The people that put in effort to make sure that we are intentionally doing things that are going to help maximize the players throughout the entirety of the season is important and credit to a lot of people that put work in and thought into how we structure what we ask ’em to do and how we do things. They understand the importance of November.
“I remember when I was in college, coach (Jim) Tressel used to always talk about contenders show up in November and the importance of November, but I try not to group November as a month, right? Everything has a process, and this can be being good in November, this can be a game, but everything has a process. But in order to accomplish that process, you got to just stay focused on the present and then struggle in the presence. And so being good in November is a reflection of being good each week, each opportunity and each opportunity is a reflection of being good each day.
“And so I think for me it’s the ability to continue to remind ’em like this is about this opportunity, not the big picture in November. We know that, but this opportunity that we have right in front of us. And if we focus on that and then we focus on understanding that today is the most important thing we have, the way we practice, the way we meet, then all of a sudden you’ll look back and say, Hey, we had a good November, but it was in the moment. You just focus on what you have right in front of you.”
THE BIG KICKING GAME QUESTION GETS AN ANSWER — FOR NOW
One of the glaring weaknesses of this football team has been the place kicking. Missed field goals are one thing, but missing multiple extra points is another. Notre Dame is trying to fix the situation, and for the is week, Eric Schmidt takes over the place kicking duties.
“We’re going to go with Erik, Erik Schmidt, and a lot of things went into those decisions: How we feel about the health of Noah (Burnette) and what’s best for the team. And I think at the end of the day, that’s what’s the ultimate decision-maker, what is best for the team. What do we feel like is going to be best for the team to have the confidence to make the field goal when we ask our field goal kicker to make it — our field goal unit — to make it. That’s probably the best answer I can give you for that.”
