UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 15, 2021

Marcus Freeman

Press Conference

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, just want to make sure we start opening up with how excited I am about this class of 21 guys. I was named head coach less than two weeks ago, and my thought process was how do we keep this class together, right.

And when you have a change in leadership you open up a door for uncertainty, and that's what you saw with a lot of these kids. It's like, is this where I want to be, hold on, did I make the right decision, and all those different areas.

My job was to try to get to as many places as I could to see as many of these guys, especially the offensive guys, and try to at least start a relationship with them.

I met a lot of these guys, but we didn't have a relationship, and I leaned on obviously Tommy, our offensive coordinator, to just say, hey, let me get into those homes and let me try to keep this class together.

We did an unbelievable job. Our staff did a unbelievable job. What you learned about this class is the majority of these kids, they were committed to Notre Dame. It wasn't about one person. It wasn't about who was the head coach. It was about Notre Dame, and those kids that loved Notre Dame. We're so excited to have a part of our class.

It was a whirlwind last week. Obviously after the signing day -- I mean, after the press conference, I think I got to about 14 states, a little over 8,000 miles, and so again, it's been crazy.

We wanted to address really -- defensively going into this signing class, we wanted to address the linebacker position, and that's something we were able to do with signing four guys at that position, and then as you became the head coach, you had to get with Tommy and the offensive staff and say what do we need to do.

Obviously getting Billy to sign here was huge, but obviously keeping those four offensive linemen committed, too, was a big task for us.

We're extremely excited, and again, a note here, we have 21 signees from 17 different states. That shows you the brand of Notre Dame, the global coast to coast brand of Notre Dame.

A couple thank yous I want to make sure we mention is just one to the admissions office, especially Christy Pratt. Special thanks to Don Bishop who's retiring here soon in admissions. The academic staff and Adam Sargent and what he did in trying to help bridge the transition from these high school athletes to the transition to Notre Dame. And then our recruiting staff with Mike Elston as our recruiting coordinator was huge and kind of changing the way we recruit, changing the dynamics of it.

Aaryn Kearney, Chad Bowden, Dre Brown, Mackenzie Zanow, and Reilly Fangman, Dave Peloquin, and an entire host of others. There's an entire host of people that go into putting a recruiting class together.

Then Fighting Irish media did an unbelievable job with all these videos that are being put out. That's our own Fighting Irish media.

With that, I'll open it up to questions.

Q. The intent and the spirit of name, image, likeness has been thrown out the window here. How do you guys handle this? Where do you go with this?

MARCUS FREEMAN: You've got to show them that you have a plan, but there's certain rules within the NCAA that you can't do. We can't say we're providing this name, image, and likeness deal for you and things of that nature.

We know it's real, and they know we have a plan to try to help promote it, but we can't break the rules, and we won't break the rules, but we know it's a part of recruiting in the future and recruiting in the present.

Q. But other schools are stepping past that line, so how do you contend with that?

MARCUS FREEMAN: We do things the Notre Dame way. I've told this staff that we're going to do everything we do with integrity and do it the right way, and we're going to win by outworking people. That's going to be our mindset in football. That's going to be our mindset in recruiting. We're going to outwork our opponents.

I don't want to do anything that has to do with breaking the rules.

Q. When you start a recruiting process from scratch, which I guess kind of today you're starting to do that now moving forward, although you have the signing day in February, but procedurally what changes do you want to make or what's going to be at the forefront of your process moving forward?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, the number one thing is I have to be the lead recruiter for every recruit we have, and I've made that very clearly known to the staff. I'm going to be involved with every single recruit that we're involved with, and I want to be the bridge between myself and the position coaches and the coordinators, that, hey, you're going to utilize the head coach in whatever way you need.

That's just my mindset, and I want to make sure us as a staff -- I think last year strategically we were a little bit offense, defense. Hey, defense, take care of your side, offense, take care of your side. I want us to understand our positions, but no matter what we have to do, if we have to cross-recruit, we will.

Q. You mentioned the linebacker class. I'm curious how much pride do you have in that, and how can you wrap up how that came together for you?

MARCUS FREEMAN: It was good. Jaylen Sneed just called me right now, so I'm trying to end that one. But it was a position -- when Nolan Ziegler was committed when I got hired, and Josh Burnham was the next one, and then Junior and Jaylen, they were back to back kind of in the summer.

Those are huge additions to this class. We needed it. We're losing three or maybe four linebackers as we move forward. We knew that was a position where we had to bring in some guys that could be immediate help and the guys that could develop.

That's still to be determined which those guys are, but I think the talent level is there. The skill set is there for what we need in the future.

Q. You've talked about how these kids were committed to Notre Dame more than maybe just committed to a coach, but you're also wanting to take an important role in the recruiting process. How do you find a balance between selling Notre Dame and selling yourself as the head coach of Notre Dame?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, I hope they know that, one, there's always in college football the uncertainty who's going to be the head coach. Hopefully they know that I plan to be here for a long time, until maybe Jack or somebody forces me out of this place. I want them to know that, hey, you're going to know the head coach on a personal level. You're going to know the leader in front of the room.

But also, that's not why you come to Notre Dame. You come to Notre Dame because of the things Notre Dame will do for you and the things that Notre Dame will do for you on the football field and then once you're done with this place.

That's what I've always sold since I've been here. It's not me, it's -- maybe I'm the one communicating it, but it's this place and the football championships and the greatness you will achieve and the NFL development you will achieve here, but also the minute you're done.

And that's what you have to be able to get these guys to see, is that at some point this game is over. And it's hard to see. I remember being 17. It's hard to see the point where this game is over because they don't. They see National Championship, they see NFL.

But if we can get them to see this point where it's over and the rest of their life, which we're all experiencing right now, they'll understand Notre Dame will do things that nowhere else in the country can do.

Q. Having taken over so close to the early signing period, I'm curious if you ask or if there's guys that are maybe looking to make a decision, not sure what they want to do, do you ask them to wait until February or is that impossible to do in the current world of recruiting?

MARCUS FREEMAN: No, we wanted all of our guys to sign right now and get it done in December just so we know who's coming in, who's mid-year -- I think we have 12 mid-year enrollees, and that's huge for us.

And so we wanted to get the guys that were committed signed. If you weren't ready to sign today. We weren't probably going to view you as committed to this place, and so that was our intentions and that's what happened.

Q. Will you be pursuing more guys going into February potentially?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, I'm going to lean kind of on our staff and look at what roster needs we need to address right now, and this could be transfer portal. And so we have a little bit of wiggle room to look at, hey, what roster needs we need immediately. Is it another high school kid or is it somebody that we can go into a portal and address with a guy that has some college experience.

Q. This might be kind of clunky here, so hang with me. When you first were kind of on the recruiting trail you talked about your recruiting philosophy, and paraphrasing it, there's Notre Dame guys that naturally fit, but there's also guys that can fit that don't know that they're fits. Did I get that right?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Absolutely. You said it perfectly.

Q. How did that philosophy play out in this recruiting cycle for you?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, again, it's different in terms of these kids were committed. Now, when you talk as the defensive coordinator and trying to get some of these guys to commit, you had to utilize that.

I don't know if Jaylen Sneed and some of those guys were just dying to come to Notre Dame until you could explain to them, hey, here's really what Notre Dame can do for you. Here's the things -- hey, Junior, here's the things that Notre Dame can do for you that will change the rest of your life.

So that's to me the ability to just try to get into their head. How can I communicate this so they can see what makes Notre Dame different.

Now, when you talk about being a head coach, these kids were already committed, so it was about, hey, nothing is changing. The leadership might be changing; Notre Dame is not changing. You committed to Notre Dame because it's Notre Dame; the location is not changing.

It was just trying to get these guys to understand that, hey, it's okay; stay committed; let's sign; you made the right decision.

Q. When you had to make those visits in the 14 states and 8,000 miles, when people asked you about what Tommy Rees' offense would look like moving forward, because I'm not sure that it matches what we've seen, how deep in the weeds were you able to get with that, and what would you say -- do you feel like it's going to be different, significantly different in the future?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, I think if you're not enhancing, you're going to get passed by. To me, it's showing them what our offense did from the start of the year to the end of the year, the enhancement that it showed. That's going to be the same enhancement we do as we move forward.

That's not scheme in terms of run, pass, hey, this exotic scheme. It's more, hey, we're going to put on the field a really, really good product, and you can see it because of what Tommy showed this year from week 1 to week 12.

They're confident, right, and Tommy, you can tell these kids trust Tommy. They've already had a relationship. We talk about Steve Angeli, a quarterback. I met Steve once, right, and the ability to go in there and say, hey, I'm your new head coach. He's not committed to Marcus Freeman, he's committed to Notre Dame, and obviously because of the relationship he has with Tommy Rees.

That was very evident, that these kids on the offensive side of the ball truly trust Tommy and truly trust the future of our offense.

Q. Kind of related, you mentioned portal may be late signing and so forth, and especially where the wide receivers are concerned, have you had all the conversations you need to with the guys that might come back? Or are those ongoing?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Those are ongoing, and those are top priority for us, to try to recruit those guys to come back to Notre Dame.

Q. Marcus, what was it like to recruit most of this class as an assistant and then at the very end as the head coach in a new role?

MARCUS FREEMAN: It was a little different. You came in and wore a little bit different clothes. On Sunday right after the Stanford game we were in Tyson Ford's home, myself and Mike Elston as the defensive coach and defensive coordinator. The next time I saw Tyson Ford I was the head coach.

It was different in terms of speaking to them in a different role, but who I am isn't changing, and that's the thing that I'm realizing being in this position. The perception of you is different at times, the requirements, the responsibilities are different, but who you are as a person is who you are.

I thought maybe I'd become the head coach I'm going to feel different. No. You're the same person. I wake up the same person every day. I go into these homes with the same personality. I might be the head coach, but it's the same personality that I was when I was a defensive coordinator or when I was a linebackers coach at Purdue or Kent State.

I am who I am, although my responsibility and my position has changed.

Q. You've been around a lot of head coaches; what's the ideal way for a head coach to recruit in 2021?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Having a relationship, an authentic relationship, a personal relationship, not this figure that is very unaccessible. I want these guys to be able to access me at all times, communicate with me directly on my phone, and understand that this is going to be a very personable relationship.

This isn't going to be one of sell, sell, sell. I want them to know me and to trust me as the leader of this program.

Q. How do you think you'll look back at the last few weeks in your coaching career, maybe even in a month when you have some time to kind of look back? How are you going to see it?

MARCUS FREEMAN: A whirlwind. I mean, it's been nonstop. But I was thinking about it today, and I'm like, I don't know if I ever wanted to be where it's like normal. I don't know, because I think you'll undervalue, underappreciate this opportunity that you have.

I hope every day I walk in this office I'm like, man, I'm the head coach at Notre Dame, because that to me is what drives me to make sure that I don't ever look past this opportunity that I have right now.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with Jaylen Sneed, BJ Payne going way back? You were at Cincinnati. You may have not even been at Cincinnati. You may have been a GA at Ohio State when that relationship started.

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, BJ Payne is a guy that I knew as a player at Ohio State. I used to work his camps in the summer when he was at Lexington High School, and then I found out that him and my wife, they both went to Massillon High School, so my wife knew who BJ Payne was.

So I've known BJ for a long time, and obviously he's done a great job as a high school coach, and so the ability to recruit one of his athletes -- when BJ Payne calls me and said I have a guy, then I trust BJ Payne because we have a real relationship.

That was the introduction, but obviously we had to develop a relationship with Jaylen and his family, and we were able to do that and earn the trust of that family, and obviously that's why he committed.

Q. You referenced this already, but when you get with Jaylen Sneed, he's not one of those guys I think that was predisposed to look at Notre Dame. How did you sort of crack that a little bit? Do you think you could have done it without the relationship you already with his coach?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I think so, because he's a kid that is intelligent and cares about academics. You have to care about your education if you want to make it here at Notre Dame. You don't have to be a rocket scientist; you don't have to be a 32 ACT. You have to care about school. You have to care about doing things the right way. You have to want to work hard and understand that I'm not always going to take the easy route.

That's who Jaylen Sneed is, and that's who you've got to dive in and see, hey, does this person care about his academic future? Does he care about life after football? If you do, then Notre Dame is going to be a good fit for you.

Q. The receiver position, one guy today in Tobias Merriweather, how do you figure out, okay, how does Notre Dame maybe get better at that spot? What was your takeaway in the compressed amount of time at that position?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, I know the minute we got done with the press conference Tommy said, We've got to go see Tobias. We stopped and saw Billy first on our way to go see Tobias, so to get him a part of this class is huge. It's huge. We were in his house at I think 9:30 West Coast time at night, so it was almost midnight here or after midnight, so that was a very important get for us.

We will go back after the season and we'll address and we'll look and say where are we at with the guys that can possibly come back for another year versus are those guys leaving, and what numbers-wise do we need to address in the wide receivers room.

If we need to go and look at the transfer portal we will. If we need to start recruiting more high school kids for the '23 class we will. Those are still something that's an ongoing process in terms of our current roster, in terms of guys leaving, and then, hey, is it a transfer portal situation or is it a high school recruiting situation.

Q. Being here for your first year, you sort of figured out how do you sell Notre Dame, like what are the positives you have to accentuate. I was curious when you're out on the road, what are some of the negative counters that you have to come up with? What do you hear about Notre Dame that you're like, I've got to be prepared for a kid to have this seed planted in his head by another place, and how do you combat that?

MARCUS FREEMAN: My answer to every kid that might have something planted in his head is, hey, we're going to do things the hard way here, and that's the only answer there is, is that whatever question they may have about Notre Dame, it's, hey, is there an easier way to do it.

I don't care if it's a living situation. I don't care if it's the location. Is there an easier way to do it? I make sure these kids understand we're going to do things the hard way. That's what makes us unique. That's what makes us special, is that everything here is a challenge.

But you know what, if you're here for three, four, five years and every day you wake up and you're willing to pursue that challenge, you're going to be better because of it on the long end, because you're willing to wake up and challenge yourself in the classroom, challenge yourself in society, challenge yourself in the football program.

When you get finished here after four years, you're going to be better and more prepared because of it.

Q. You've referenced a few times now I guess already how important it is that you're the lead recruiter on everybody. What kind of has formed that opinion for you? What do you believe are the short-term and long-term benefits of that?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Well, I think, one, your staff will follow the leader. If I'm the hardest working -- and I hope we're all hardworking -- but if I'm the most aggressive and try to form a relationship with these recruits, I hope I set an example for the rest of our staff that this is how we're going to do things.

We're going to outwork everybody in the country. We're going to do things that no one else has done. We want to be unique in how we develop relationships.

So I hope to set the standard. I hope to set the standard of the example. I'm not a guy that wants to just say, you do this, you do that, instead of, hey, I'm going to be the example.

That's my main thought process in doing that, but also just that, you know what, if these kids don't know who the head coach is and have a personal relationship with the head coach, you're at a disadvantage.

I've seen obviously people I've been around that have shown, hey, if they have a relationship with the head coach and they have a really good one, that you've got a chance to not only land the recruit but to get the most out of them.

That's what I want to do. That's the example that we'll set for me, and that's what I'll try to do.

Q. You referenced Tommy and the way that he evolved the offense over the course of this season. When you see a coach able to do that, especially in season, what do you learn about that coach, and were you thinking throughout that process whether it was Notre Dame or anywhere that Tommy Rees is a guy you wanted kind of on your team as much as possible?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, I knew from kind of the first couple months or the time I was around him that this guy is going to be successful. Just by the work ethic, by the way you go to work every day, and then by the way you enhance what you do.

You change. You don't say, this is the only way. That's what I believe in. The same thing happened to us defensively this year. The year didn't start the way we wanted, but the ability to go in and shut the door and say, hey, there's a better way to do it.

You lean on your staff, you lean on Elston and O'Leary and Minkins and say, hey, what's a better way to do it? That's the example that I saw Tommy set, and then you see the results, you see the production, and that's the people you want to surround yourself with. Guys that are saying, hey, is there a better way to do something, let's find it.

Our recruiting staff, is there a better way to do something, let's find it. I think if we all have that mindset, I have that mindset, that's where you'll see this program continue to grow and enhance.