Some quick hitters
Notre Dame Fighting Irish head football coach Marcus Freeman met with journalists Thursday following the team’s 31-24 victory against the Louisville Cardinals and before the squad takes on the Stanford Cardinal. The coach talked practice, special teams and more.
A Read on Sneed
On Irish linebacker Jaylen Sneed’s status after appearing to leave the field before the Alma Mater against Louisville, Freeman said, “He’s had a great two weeks of practice. He has a lot of opportunities to learn from the previous game. Jaylen Sneed wants to be the best football player he can be and help this team be successful. He’s had a great bye week, a great week of practice this week and expect him to do good things in the game on Saturday.”
Buchner Business
On the role of Irish wide receiver Tyler Buchner following his return from the University of Alabama, Freeman said, “I think he’s done a great job at signaling for us. That’s so important. Everybody’s role is so important to get done for us to have success. He helps with signals. He’s still playing wideout. But, a lot of time, when you’re the signaler, or you’re one of the guys that are signaling during scout teams, you have to signal. He’s been a vital piece of this program and he’s done a great job in his defined roles in terms of us helping us have success.”
Screen Game Stuff
On the key to improving the screen game, Freeman said, “Practice. Practice. Practice. We’ve got to continue to practice it, work on those timing, work on our perimeter-blocking… different looks, that’s a part of running a screen; you don’t know what look you’re going to see defensively. There are certain looks that you like, there are certain looks that you don’t, but we have to continue to practice it. We’ve attacked it in practice and we’ll improve our screen game going forward.”
Strengthening Special Teams
On cleaning it up on special teams, Freeman said, “I think we are close. I think as you look at all five games, it’s probably a reflection of most of our single games. There’s a lot of really, really good, and there happens to be at least one detrimental play that we can’t have if we want to reach our full potential. We want to be a great football team. So, we’re continuing to attack that. It is one play, one life. We have to make sure we execute on that play, whatever it is, and get it done. And what we can’t do is we can’t have seven good and one detrimental play. And we;ve got to continue to prepare that way. When you practice, you’ve got to have that mindset. This play that we’re about to practice is the most important play of this practice, and we’ve got to get it done on that play. So, I’m really pleased that, the overall picture of our special teams, we just have to continue to make sure we’re eliminating those detrimental mistakes because they can cost you a game, and we can’t allow that to happen.”
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