Freshman reporting date was changed some years ago to not make it four days ahead of the varsity. I think the thought process behind that was good then, and it continues to be good now. One of the things with the old schedule is that four days for the freshmen on campus alone was entirely too many. Now it’s a two-day program, which is much more efficient.

To make the freshman-only practices efficient, the coaches need to have done a good job over the summer keeping contact with the players. In a sense, the coaches need to have had kept recruiting these kids and making sure that they are keeping on top of their workouts. You can’t just forget about them. You’ve got to make them feel welcome when they arrive because the first impression of enrolling at Notre Dame must be a positive one.

The coaching staff must know exactly when every player is going to report, who is coming with them and where they are staying. I always prepared a spreadsheet to keep everyone informed on those issues. You want that transition from high school to college to be as seamless as possible, and that requires the football program doing its homework.

I assigned a manager to each incoming freshman to make sure all the logistics of reporting were taken care of. If the players hadn’t been fitted for equipment, that was taken care of. They also needed to have a head shot taken wearing a suit and tie. They needed to check into their summer dorm. They have to get a physical. And if the parents didn’t accompany the player on his recruiting trip, you need to make sure that they were introduced to the campus and people on the academic side of things. And of course you’ve got to give the families some free time to run errands. So as you can see, if the football program doesn’t remain efficient with its time, it can become very difficult for these players to get everything done.

Lastly, the first night the team usually has a dinner for the players and whomever accompanied them to campus. The head coach usually spoke at the dinner and introduced all the assistants just in case there were some people in attendance who didn’t know them. And while that dinner was important to bring the team together, it also serves as a send off to the players because when that meal is over, they are officially football players at Notre Dame. That transition is not always an easy one, because once the parents leave, sometimes homesickness can set in. The first football meeting was usually after that dinner.

There were of course exceptions with parents. I remember one mother staying three days and always showing up to practice. But there comes a time when enough is enough and people need to go their own way. I would always stay in the dorm the first three or four nights because when the parents finally do leave, it can be a shock to the players. Some one from the football staff needs to be available to make sure the players feel comfortable in their new surroundings.

When it comes to the freshman practices, all you really want to do is get the players orientated to the meetings and the playbook. In addition, you want the freshmen to understand how you huddle, how to listen to cadences and how to read certain formations. That might not sound like an awful lot, but when everything is new, it can be.

I don’t think there’s any reason to work them hard or run them. You don’t want coaches drawing conclusions about freshmen after two days. I remember one young linebacker coach saying that one particular freshman would never end up playing college football. That defender ended up in the NFL. There’s not much to be learned on the field by the coaches from freshman practice.

Bob Chmiel served as Notre Dame’s recruiting coordinator from 1994-97. He worked as the Coordinator for Football Operations from 1998-2000. Before joining the Notre Dame staff, Chmiel was the University of Michigan’s recruiting coordinator from 1988-1993.