Marcus Freeman Praises Notre Dame’s Maturity, Depth and Physicality After Win Over Rice

Marcus Freeman’s main takeaway after Notre Dame’s win over Rice was the way his team handled both the week and the game. “I’m just proud of the way they continue to focus on the opportunity at hand,” Freeman said, calling it “a reflection of maturity of our team.” He also pointed to the opening tone-setters — Adon Shuler’s forced fumble that led to a defensive score and the offense’s quick touchdown drive — as evidence the Irish came out with the physical edge he wanted.

Freeman also spent time on Notre Dame’s depth, especially the young players who got live work. He said it was “good to see a lot of those young guys go and compete,” mentioning Noah Grubbs, Teddy Jarrard, the young wideouts, and offensive linemen, while adding that those reps matter for both development and evaluation. He praised CJ Carr’s decision-making as “impeccable,” welcomed Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa back with a simple, “He’s back,” and said the Irish still have things to clean up, especially penalties that “beat Notre Dame.”

• Freeman said Notre Dame was intentional with its defensive rotation because of Rice’s offense and still came away with four takeaways.
• On Shuler: “He’s playing extremely physical,” Freeman said, adding that not everybody chooses to play with that kind of “velocity and violence.”
• Notre Dame got production from the wide receiver group, with nine different receivers going for at least 20 yards.
• Freeman said the touchdown screen to Jordan Faison was a direct result of finished blocks from Ty Washington and Jaden Greathouse.
• Freeman said Styles Prescod was the first tackle off the bench this week because of Rice’s defensive looks, not as a statement about last week’s performance.