Notre Dame will kick off their 2024 season on August 31 with a top-20 showdown against Texas A&M in College Station. As is the case every year, there are lofty expectations on the Fighting Irish, particularly in the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
With a preseason ranking of No. 7, the Irish are supposed to be a factor for a playoff position, but will need to finally get over the hump against other top teams if they’re going to be a real threat in the title race. That is the challenge for Marcus Freeman in his third year at the helm, as he’s gone 19-7 in his first two seasons but is still looking for the kind of signature win that shows Notre Dame is ready to be a contender.
For the second year in a row, Notre Dame has brought in a highly-touted transfer quarterback to lead them offensively, as Riley Leonard comes in from Duke to replace Sam Hartman. This year, fans will not only get to watch Notre Dame’s journey on the field, as a new Peacock documentary titled “Here Come The Irish” will follow their progress all year and give everyone a look behind the curtain with insight and access to the players and coaches throughout the season.
The first episode will release on August 29, two days before Notre Dame’s opener against Texas A&M. We got a chance to sit down with Freeman to talk about what he’s excited for fans to see in the doc, the lessons he’s learned in his first two years as a head coach, his leadership style, what he’s been most impressed by with Leonard since he’s arrived on campus, and much more.
What do you hope that Notre Dame fans, in particular, can get out of this show and learn about this team from getting a peek behind the curtain here?
Well, I think they get a chance to see, most importantly, these young people as people and as individuals, not just football players. I think everyone has such a unique story to tell. And I think that’s what the follow doc is going to be able to capture is the life of young people, not just what the work they put in to achieve great results on a football field, but some of the events that life brings. And you’ll see, you know, one of our players, his mother passed away from cancer, and we have other players that are in their sixth year, maybe getting married, and dealing with other things. And so I love that the follow doc can truly capture, yes, the work they put in to achieve the results they want on a football field, but also how they really deal with the events of life.
I feel like that is something that is particularly unique to college sports. You see kids grow up. For you, is that a thing that is a separator for you in terms of being a college coach, is getting to watch these young men go through such a critical stage of their lives?
Yeah, 18 to 22 years old, it’s such a vulnerable period of life, and to help them along this journey, to be an example for them, but also to be somebody that can help navigate them through life, through the struggles they have in football, through adversity which they’re going to face in school, in life, and in football. Like, there’s so many parallels between the game of football and reaching your goals, and also in life. So that’s why I love being a college football coach, because you get young people from so many different backgrounds that have to really handle so many different expectations. From their personal expectations of what they want to be as football players, from the educational side, from the expectations that people outside of football put on them, from social media, from their family. And I love that I can be a part of this journey to try to continue to keep them focused on the things that really matter.
I talked to one of your guys that’s gone through that journey last year going into the draft in Joe Alt, and was just incredibly impressed by him. When you look at a guy like that, and you have an example you can show guys of what it looks like to follow the steps, how important is it to be able to point to guys and to show examples of, you know, this is a guy who came in, obviously he had pedigree, but he had to learn a position, and he had to go through the steps and go through the process to get to that NFL level, to get that top pick level? What does it allow you as a coach to talk to guys about not skipping steps, going through the process, and what it takes to get to that level?
I think it’s important to point out the things that Joe Alt intentionally did to put himself in that position. Everybody’s talent is different, right? But, but Joe Alt did some intentional things every day to maximize his ability, which ultimately made him a top five player chosen NFL draft after three years.
But what I want our young people to aspire to be is not just Joe, number five overall pick, but to be him, the guy. What traits did he possess that helped him put himself in a position to do that. And that’s so important, because everybody’s journey is different, right? You could be a guy that comes in and after four games or five games, like Joe, starts as a freshman. Or you can be a guy like Xavier Watts, who won the Bronco Nagurski award last year as the best defensive player of the year. That took him four years, and he started as a wide receiver, and then he had to move to safety, and then he didn’t even start. Then he started and he won the Bronco Nagurski award. I try to point out, everybody’s journey is different, but there’s things that Joe did intentionally every day to put himself in that position, and that’s the traits that I want to make sure we use as examples for our players.
As a coach, what have you learned about being able to tailor things to — you mention every kid’s going to be different, and you have 85 kids on the roster, and if each one’s different, what is the challenge as a coach to making sure that each one of them gets what they need individually, while also considering, obviously, what you have to do as a team?
Yeah, I think no matter where you come from, the example you’ve had in your life, there’s still daily actions and choices that you have to make if you want to be great right now. I tell it all the time, you have an option to choose easy, choose hard, but your choices reflect what you value and it’s important that they understand those things. Then I think you have to be able to pour into them as an individual, to continue to earn their trust and develop that connection that I think a great leader must have with their players and their young people. But we have a great coaching staff that does a great job of pouring into their room, right? You have a head coach that’s, really, in front of 120 players, and then you have position coaches that, from anywhere from 10 to 15 guys, they’re responsible for. And so it’s important that every person pours into the individual, because they’re all different. They learn different, they perform different. Their talent level is different. So in order for them to trust you, they have to know you care about them, right? It’s so important. But they also have to be challenged, and that’s where you have to challenge them every day you’re with them and to really make the choice to do the things that it takes to be great.
You’ve gone through the process of going from position coach, coordinator, now head coach. And in the trailer it talks about how being the head coach at Notre Dame is such a unique job. And for you, what has been the biggest adjustment that you had to make that was either surprising or just took the most effort on on your part in adapting and going from coordinator to head coach?
I think that you have to be able to spend time where it’s truly needed, and you don’t know where it’s going to be truly needed every single day, right? That’s your job, is to be a master observer and know where you need to spend time. What areas need your attention and focus? And I think that’s probably something I’ve learned more anything, is that you can’t just worry about football, X’s and O’s, 24/7. That is such a major part of being a college football coach. But as a head coach, you have to make sure that every department and every part of your organization is truly functioning at its highest level. And I think that’s the thing that I’ve learned more than anything, is to spend time and to recognize what needs your attention. You have to be a master observer. You have to be able to see everything from a 500 level.
This will be your second year with a transfer quarterback coming in. What have you learned about Riley Leonard since he’s been in the building that has you particularly excited for for what he’s going to do?
Yeah, I’ve always known the talent he’s had. Obviously, we faced him last year, and you know, you can see the type of football player he was. But what I respect most about Riley is — there’s a couple things. One, he’s an ultimate competitor. He is one of the most competitive people you’ll meet. You’ll talk to him outside a competitive environment, you’re going, ‘Man, this guy is nice, like, is he really a competitor?’ And you see him in a competitive environment, watch out. But he’s also come in just trying to become a great teammate. He’s trying to get to know everybody on the team, spend time with everybody, which gains their trust, and then once you gain their trust, now you lead them. And now he’s becoming a great leader, and he’s doing great things on the field. He’s a very confident but humble individual. He understands he can handle the expectations that other people have, but he understands what’s important to him, and that’s being the best version of him, but also his relationship with God. And you know what? He’s a great example of not letting outside things affect who you are to core your heart
You mentioned the trust piece, and that’s so important for a QB coming in with the players and with the coaching staff. Going through that process with Sam Hartman, is there any way to accelerate that trust with between a quarterback and players, or between a quarterback and the coaching staff that you learned from going through it last year with a new guy?
Yeah, I think more than anything, you got to understand trust takes time, right? And I don’t know if you can accelerate it, but it’s intentional actions that you have to do to earn the trust of others. And that’s what I tell our quarterbacks, any transfer, any of our young guys, like our coaches, trust takes times, and it takes intentional actions to build it. But it’s easily lost. And so it’s a great reminder that you got to value delayed gratification. You got to value that, hey, the actions you’re intentionally putting in to build trust doesn’t build trust immediately. It takes time, and that you can’t rush it. So I think, more than anything, the encouragement of spending time with your teammates, to be intentional on your actions, but understand trust isn’t built in one day.
When you look at the this team as a whole, and know people are going to get a chance with this doc to get to know them as people and not just players, what are some of the things that you hope that not just Notre Dame fans, but anybody that comes in and watches this gets to take away about the young men on this team?
Well, I think you got to respect the work they put in to try to achieve the desired results that they want. They work tirelessly, and you’ll be able to see that when the series comes out, because the cameras are here 24/7, they’re seeing the work they put in, but also a respect for all the other demands they have. In terms of, class is going to start here soon, so now you’re going to be able to say, okay, they have class demands, they have football demands, they have study demands, and they have a life outside of football and school demands. And for them to handle all this is a huge challenge, and that’s where you see the difference between a freshman and somebody that has done it a couple years. There’s a huge difference, right? And the freshmen are trying to figure out. What’s my routine to really produce the results that I want? Whereas some of the older guys are saying, ‘Okay, I have my routine. How do I even make it better?’ The things that guys are worried about in year three or four, totally different than guys in year one. And I think that’s going to be things that you’ll be able to see with the follow doc.
Experience is the best teacher, but as a coach, how do you kind of toe that line of trying to guide guys and keep them from having to make some of the mistakes that others make, and learning those things and learning how to manage the time and the demands?
Well, I think everybody’s different, right? Some people, they have a great foundation through whatever reason, and they come in at a different level than some of the other freshmen. But what you can’t do is get discouraged, because maybe at this point as a freshman, this person’s handled it better and performing better than you are. And so that’s that goes back to that notion of trust your journey, and trust that every journey is different. And when you hear our seniors, we have seniors that give speeches that I’m sure it’s going to be captured on the follow doc. One part of that speech is any advice to the freshmen and to the team, I think all the seniors have a common message to them that time flies, enjoy it. Be intentional about the relationships you’re trying to make and the lessons you want to learn, but understand there will be frustrations. Like, there’s going to be highs, there’s going to be lows. You have to trust your process, and I think it’s important that every freshman understands that.