Notre Dame Fall Camp INTEL | Are Marcus Freeman, Riley Leonard ready to CATAPULT the Irish in 2024?

Intro we welcome Tyler horka of blueandgold.com Tyler the best Jersey scrimmage that Marcus Freeman has seen in three years at Notre Dame before I let you tell us what that means what's a jersey scrimmage like what does that Offense vs Defense mean yeah I don't know if this is unique to Notre Dame but definitely when I got here in 2021 so this is my fourth season covering Notre Dame I had never really heard of it and basically what it is is offense versus defense and we don't know what exactly this looks like because we are not privy to watching this but Marcus Freeman usually holds a press conference right after these things and yeah it's offense versus defense so like ones versus ones two versus twos and and maybe you even see some ones versus twos on both sides and somehow the offense gets a point total tabulated and and so does the defense and this one ended up being 42 to 40 again we don't know exactly what that means Marcus Freeman himself in his press conference said I'm not sure EXA L how we got there but we got to 42 to 40 and yeah basically the winner of the scrimmage gets to wear the blue jerseys for the next however long it is until there's another Jersey scrimmage so the entire time that I was here the defense had the blue jerseys Andy and that's kind of been typical for Notre Dame lately right really good defense the offense is trying to catch up the offense won this one so the offense gets to take these blue jerseys back and that is very encouraging news if you're a Notre Dame fan because we haven't talked to you since Charles Jaga got hurt but obviously the the biggest question around Notre Dame is what do they do at left tackle how then does that affect the rest of the offensive line if they have to move somebody from a different position where are they at on that that front yeah it's it's Offensive Line interesting because we are now less than two weeks away from the Texas A&M game and as soon as Charles jagas saww went down you assume that TOS Baker the Elder Statesman in this Notre Dame offensive line group he's a fifth year senior would get the nod and and he was battling Emil Wagner at the right tackle position they ended up moving Tosh Baker over there exactly like we would have anticipated and Joe Rudolph the offensive line coach even said hey yeah I think he's the answer there well the next time that we got to see practice which was some five days later Anthony knp a true freshman was taking first team left tackle reps and a sophomore actually Sam Pendleton was taking first team left guard reps over a couple of seniors who started a combine 23 games last season in PAC huggan and Roco Spindler so Andy that left side of the offensive line right now is looking very young but I have to remind people Charles Jaga highly rated guy big guy he looks like a tackle at this level and maybe even the next level but he still only started one game in college football so if you're saying holy cow we might go start Anthony knp at at Kyle Field and college station in front of 100, people and this is this kid's first college football game Charles jaasa has really only played in one as well and it was the sunbowl against Oregon State and obviously bull games if you're not in the college football playoff these days they don't mean a whole lot so it's just a youth movement all around for Notre Dame's offensive line yeah and know the stadium pulse will be jumping at Kyle Field obviously I I I guess we all just now look at it like in terms of the college football video game like you're gonna see that are we gonna see is Riley lonard gonna see squiggly lines when he looks at each receiver but yeah your heart's going to be and vibrating a little bit you know all that stuff exactly exactly but you're right I mean that's something that we had kind of just baked into our heads that jagas saww is the starter and that was known in Spring practice but you're absolutely right he didn't start in these environments last year either so whoever it is is going to be dealing with something for the first time and it's not just obviously the crowd the noise it's Nick scorton who everybody knows is Defensive Line an excellent pass rusher it's a defensive line that that may that might be the best D line Notre Dame has on the schedule I we'll see how Florida state turns out but that might be the best one they see I have some agies fans in my mentions Andy who are saying this is the best defensive line in college football and they might be a little bit biased but there might be some truth to that as well so yeah Nick scorton all of these guys up there for for A&M and I I go back to the fact that now they're being coached by a defensive head coach defensive minded head coach who justo happens to know the quarterback on the other side for Notre Dame very well maybe some of his Tendencies they say hey if this happens Riley Leonard is going to try to do this and it's all adding up to a precarious situation for Notre Dame going in there in in game one because like you said and like I said don't really know what Notre Dame has in these guys they think they have very talented players in Sam Pendleton Anthony knap Ashton Craig even a guy that's only started three games at the center position but until you get in that environment you're not entirely Game Time sure game time has tickets to every game also every concert also every play every comedy show that you might want to go to and you say oh it's sold out I don't know how to get tickets game time is how you get tickets you download the game time app you look exactly at where your seats would be on the app you turn your phone it's like you're turning your head inside the stadium it's an amazing thing two Taps three Taps ticket is yours of course in the process of those taps if you use the code Staples you will get $20 off your first purchase terms apply so use that code Staples 20 bucks off your first purchase terms apply of course and get those tickets maybe you want to see Old Miss we're talk about old Miss later today with with Ben Garrett from om Spirit you can get into the Old Miss tan game that's that that excuse me the Old Miss Ferman game the Ferman Old Miss game uh Billy Napier not walking through that door for Ferman unfortunately bear Reinhardt the lead singer of need to breathe former great firman receiver also not walking through that door but you can get into that game for 14 bucks right now on game time so download the game time app any game you want to see they got tickets use that code Staples for $20 off your first purchase so Mike Den Brock takes over for Jared Parker at offensive coordinator the last we saw Mike Den Brock he was running the LSU offense helping Jane Daniels win a Heisman Trophy uh Brian Thomas Junior Malik Neighbors first round receivers how different is this offense going to look Tight Ends oh it's going to look very different and I I liken it to a quote that Notre Dam's defensive coordinator Al golden actually gave us this weekend on Saturday and he mentioned Mitchell Evans obviously the number one tight end for Notre Dame one of the best tight ends in the country and then he said and the other two tight ends too well Notre Dame has six scholarship tight ends and and we've been used to seeing sometimes three or four of them on the field at the same time I mean you're going all the way down to Davis Sherwood playing the HB back role with two other tight ends on the field now I think you're going to see Mitchell Levens out there by himself you might see Cooper Flanigan Eli Ren out there by themselves two tight ends maybe but Andy this is kind of the difference in a Mike Den Brock offense compared to what we saw with Tommy Ree and Jared Parker you're going to see some wider splits you're going to see pass catchers all over the field you're going to see running backs lined up as pass catchers tight ends obviously you're gonna have to put your your hand in the dirt sometimes but I think they want these guys to to catch passes from Riley Leonard and be a part of the the you know part of the offense that moves the ball down the field not just blocking guys down the field so it's different and and I think that quote kind of stuck out to me well and that's interesting too because one of the issues last year like especially after Mitchell Evans went down is who catches the ball they just they didn't feel like they had a lot of dynamic pass catchers now they're gonna need him and obviously Den Brock going from where he had two first rounders to throw to to this situation who are the guys who do make those catches now that they're in an offense where they're going to be WRs available it's funny you ask because I've been asking Mike Den Brock this question since we got a one-on-one with him at blue and gold I want to say back in like miday so just after Spring ball and at that time he didn't know if Notre Dame had a dude a guy a number one wide receiver and I asked him this past weekend as well does Notre Dame have a guy and he said I don't know if we have a guy but we have a collection of guys that can do what we want to make this offense go and make this offense hum so who are those guys I think you're looking at Chris Mitchell the Florida International transfer who caught 64 passes for over 1100 yards last year you're looking at Jaden great house if he's healthy had two touchdowns in his very first college game then you didn't hear a lot from him after that but that's because he was dealing with the hamstring those two guys Jordan fa on the lacrosse player that everyone knows obviously he's a national champion with Notre Dame men lacrosse I think those are probably some key guys and then you have Bo Collins the the Clemson transfer as well if you're trying to look for some things on the outside you're looking at Bo Collins probably Jaden Thomas uh the guy that comes back for Notre Dame that has the most experience in a Notre Dame uniform but I think you are looking at these transfers those guys who can do a little damage as well I love that Jordan fison is now the lacrosse player because we're gonna remember him as aall player last year yeah yeah he's a lacrosse player because that's you know we have recency bias Andy and that's did w a national title yes won a national title but I'm pretty sure people will be reminded that he's a football player very soon so you and I have talked about this before but Marcus Freeman still a relatively new head coach this is year three as a head coach we saw the learning process kind of laid out in Stark relief last year at the end of the Ohio State game with 10 10 guys on the field no way to get any sort of message to the team to to call timeout or well actually commit a penalty because they had no timeouts to figure out how to get more people on the field where do you think Marcus Freeman has grown the most as a head coach from year two to year Marcus Freeman three I think he's finally able to put some trust in everything and everyone around him at that point you have to realize that Jared Parker who we mentioned earlier in this video for all intents and purposes that was his first go at being the all-encompassing offensive coordinator I know he calls some plays at West Virginia but he really wasn't the guy there he was the guy for Notre Dame especially because Marcus Freeman is a defensive-minded head coach so he was comfortable in what Al golden was doing for sure and they held Ohio State to 17 points should have been 10 should have never gotten into the end zone there at the end of the game but now he says okay I have Mike Den Brock who's also been doing this for a while let me kind of dig into the things that I should be doing as a head coach and that's you know some of those I wouldn't call that intangible you should have 11 people on the field at all times but you know he's thinking about those things in a way that he couldn't before because it never crossed Marcus Freeman's mind Andy that Notre Dame only have 10 people on the field for that play and it happened and now he's thinking okay how can I make sure that stuff doesn't happen again what do I have to do in the 365 days a year that I can be thinking about not just Ohio State or USC Florida State Texas A&M I need to be thinking about this football program what I need to do to make sure it's humming what I need to do to make sure it is like in Ohio State a team that is always on the cusp with the college football playoff if not in it I know Notre Dame's made it twice in the last handful of years but right now it doesn't feel like Notre Dame is on that level of an Ohio State or you know Michigan last year Marcus Freeman is is finally digging into the things that that can get Notre Dame there because he knows he has a couple of coordinators that he doesn't really have to worry about the ex's and knows as much well part of that is is creating the the level of depth that allows you to be there every single year and that was during the Brian Kelly era we kept wondering is that even possible at Notre Dame because they are fishing from a smaller pool because of academic standards and some various factors that you know Notre Dame controls but they they like it the way it is so the question was could they build that depth I feel like at least based on our on three recruiting rankings under Marcus Freeman they've been able to build some of that depth but let's let's start let's go to the defensive side of the ball because this is one we I haven't asked youo many questions about it because I don't feel like there's a lot of unknown they bring back so many good players but like that side of the ball how deep are they very deep and I asked Depth on defense golden this question on Saturday there's a couple of competitions that us on the beat have been following closely and you know Benjamin Morrison's going to start at one corner spot but you don't know if it's going to be Jaden Mickey or Christian Gray at the other and then at safety you don't know if it's Rod herd the Northwestern transfer or a Don Schuler a sophomore who didn't play much football for this team last year I think it was like 50 snaps he red shirted so you look at those two competitions and I asked golden where are those at and are you at the point where the competition doesn't matter as much as hey we have two really good guys at both of those positions and both of them are going to play and can you do that can you rotate in and how golden said yeah we we are going to do that and we want to do that at every single position I think Notre Dame especially on the defensive side of the ball has gotten to a point where it's comfortable in the two deep and that wasn't always the case like you said under Brian Kelly you wanted your starters out there at all times because you didn't know what the guys behind them were going to do now Notre Dame is at a point where you're like okay I I like the fact that Adon Schuler can get in there with Rod herd and Christian Gray and Jaden Mickey it's basically no drop off from either of those guys and I'll switch it to the other side of the ball for a moment as well Mike Brown the wide receivers coach has said hey we're gonna play six guys and that's it Andy Notre Dame is finally at a point where you don't know who those six guys are because maybe you have eight or nine or 10 and the seventh guy is gonna be looking like man I think I should be playing out there and he probably could but Mike Brown's like we're going to roll with six and if if the seventh guy feels like he can do what the top six guys are doing then the top six guys are probably doing something really special and that's where Notre Dame hopes to be probably couldn't have counted to six second half of the season last year last year I think you could only count to four you could definitely use one hand yeah exactly so that's the part that that intrigues me because I remember watching them in in the playoff against Clemson Clemson wins the national championship this 2018 season Julian love goes out it's over the game's over when he goes out and they were in it they were hanging didn't you know they might not have won it but they were certainly in it and it does feel different now in terms of depth so I I do have another recruiting question for you that's a little more uh little more recent so okay obviously we've seen some uh some Fong bombs of late about Duce Knight the quarterback Mississippi who's been committed to ning for a long time so looks like he's a potential flip to Auburn how are they handling that situation are they are they working on a plan b or are they just trying to make sure he stays in the boat how does that work out no it's very much Plan B and Quarterback situation and I don't know if I have some names that I could rattle off as well as my cooworker Mike singer can so you're gonna need to get him on there but I mean if you're following his coverage as you should be at blueandgold.com you know it feels like a matter of time as much as I don't want to say that to all of you Notre Dame fans but you guys are thinking the same thing and you know that so the deuce night situation has deteriorated over the last month and Notre Dame knows that and it is looking at Plan B and C and I go back to the 20 I think it was 2022 recruiting class where Notre Dame got Kenny minchie at the 11th hour and I don't know if Kenny mchy is ever gonna play meaningful football for Notre Dame he might end up starting somewhere else next year you don't know how this quarterback room is going to shake out Andy but I do know he's a very good quarterback and Notre Dame pulled that off in November or it might have even been December it was right before Signing Day a couple of years ago got a quarterback of Kenny MCH caliber I think Notre Dame is out of place like you said with Marcus Freeman to where it could do that again Notre Dame could pull a rabbit out of its hat and say hey we didn't get Duce Knight we thought we were gonna get Duce Knight all along up until we didn't but we got this guy and he's coming in and and I think there's also some you take some comfort in the fact that Notre Dame also has CJ Carr on the roster and I'm we talked about Fong bomb I don't know if it's like a HK of blast or something but I think CJ Carr is this team starting quarterback in 202 25 and that I this is coming from a guy that likes Steve vanelli as well and Kenny mchie I think CJ Carr starts in 2025 and maybe 2026 and maybe 2027 Andy I think he's a really good quarterback and you take some comfort in that well and that's the part that I I was thinking about as we were talking about this and now Mike singer doing a great job by the way he was at my alma mater Friday night in Suburban Orlando watching Noah grubs who is the class of 26 Notre Dame commit uh a Great Lake Mary Ram probably the greatest quarterback in Lake Mary Ram history I say that as someone who uh has seen a lot of it uh but it is uh it is amazing when people think about the quarterback recruiting process and I I I love how wrapped up everybody gets in and I understand fans are passionate but let's do the math here you're G to take a quarterback every year y if things work out and you have a multi-year starter which is what you'd want that means that there are going to be guys who don't start who probably transfer so getting all wrapped up into one or one deciding he's not gonna because like if if you're right and CJ Carr is the guy whoever they sign in 25 is probably never going to start for them and you have to think that Duce Knight is thinking about that a little bit I know Auburn's probably gonna start recruiting at at a nice rate as well with Hugh freees down there but you're exactly right it if I'm saying that I think CJ Carr is the guy there's a lot of other people up here in South Bend and and who Bleed Blue and Gold and all those different things who are probably saying the same thing I think du sight sees that and he's like well if he's the guy then what am I and look du Knight could very well come in here and beat CJ Carr in a quarterback competition and Steve angelli and all those other guys but I do know that C.J Carr is a really good quarterback and like you said no rubs is also a very good quarterback so if you're Notre Dame you just you have to keep stockpiling them because at some point you're gonna start one that's very good and maybe it's CJ Carr or Noah grubs or whoever and you're going to be fine with that especially if you can get multi multiple years out of that guy and I think that's what Notre Dame's looking for well and Notre Dame seems like the kind of place people get there they want to stay they want to get the degree so the chances of of getting a Carson Beck who's willing to wait his turn or a Garrett nus who's willing to wait his turn they actually seem higher at Notre Dame absolutely in most places but you gotta be care because like you said du snight is probably looking at the situation and if they really do like CJ Carr and it looks like he could be the guy 2025 and Beyond D's looking at Auburn and going well pton Thorn is definitely gone after this year so unless Walker white who's a freshman this year you know has to go in there and becomes you know the guy suddenly like there's a there's definitely a competition for that job next year whereas Notre Dame there might be this dude who has a leg up and all of a sudden it's blocked off for a while the thing about that though Andy is I'll use steveen jeli as an example loves Notre Dame can only Envision himself playing here and and let's use Drew Pine as an example of this as well Drew Pine play stayed played but then he got to a point where he had that degree that you mentioned in his hands and he said okay I have this now this is what I've been working for now I can go play somewhere else and probably play right away and that's what Drew Pine was thinking with Arizona State and if we get to this time next year or you know in the next eight months even or whenever it would be time for Steve angelli to say am I staying here or am I going somewhere else if he has that degree in his hands he might be thinking I've done all I can at Notre Dame it's looking like it's CJ Carr or maybe even still Duce Knight and Noah grubs is coming in in a couple of years maybe I go to this school and I know I'm gonna start because I am a Notre Dame caliber player and if I go over there I'm probably the best that they got and and I'll play there so it's toold it's you think that Steve angelli is gonna stay forever but until you right when you lose him you're like man we had that guy and now he's gone so there there's a little bit of of both factors in there yeah it is fascinating and and at least with not Dame the idea of a guy coming in and just bailing after a year probably unlikely because they do want to graduate from Notre Dame for the most part guys who go there yeah do it with the intent of of getting that degree I see it all the time on both sides of the ball where like this you know some guys that you can pinpoint to and say okay he's not playing a lot right now and maybe he'll never play a lot at Notre Dame but he's not bailing until he gets his degree you can go up and down the depth chart and say that guy's staying because he wants his degree and the numbers actually really high that's why it's so easy and because so many of these guys want to do that and the cases of like a RICO Flores Jr or Tobias Maryweather leaving th those are fewer and farther between than the guys who stay to get their degrees and and that only happened because the wide receiver situation was a mess and chansy Stucky got fired and and they didn't feel comfortable in in their particular position unit that is also something that doesn't happen a lot at Notre Dame there there's generally some stability here even with like you said a head coach who's only going into his third year as the head coach it feels like a very stable coaching staff Andy from top to bottom and that usually provides stability for the players as well one more before I let you go and it's about the quarterback and Riley Leonard we didn't get a chance to really see exactly what he could do in the spring because he was hurt he has to start against his Old Coach Mike Elco who coached Muk last year how much how much fun is that for for all of us and for these guys going into that matchup well you see these magazine covers over my shoulder over here I wish I had the one that we just printed most recently because it literally has Riley Leonard and Mike Elco side by side with Kyle Field in the background I think it's one of the best artworks that we've ever done on one of these covers and that is kind of the storyline and that's what I wrote in the preview for that magazine was look these are probably two really good teams Texas A&M might take a little bit to get there under Mike ELO but it could happen pretty quickly it happened pretty quickly for him at Duke as well so two really good teams but when you dig into the storyline of two guys that knew each other very well for two years and and had one of the most successful seasons in Duke football history together I mean those guys are thick as thieves man they they love each other they've expressed that in the media over the last couple of month or last couple of months I think in the next couple of weeks you're going to see a little less of that because this game is right around the corner and it it just makes it very intriguing and and like I said earlier Mike Elco knows Riley Leonard Riley Leonard knows Mike Elko there's definitely some tidbits being shared in both uh athletic complexes and I don't know if you're going to see any plays out there andy where you're like oh yeah that's because Mike Elco knows what Riley Leonard's going to do but you know that they're they're going to be talking about it as it goes on on the broadcast and I think a lot of people are going to be drawn in for that fact if you if you just stumble upon that game which you're not just going to stumble upon that game it's week one of college football you're gonna be locked in for sure it's the game day College Game Day game absolutely but if you're a casual who doesn't know like if it just pops into your mind that night oh my gosh the these guys were with each other at the same program the last two Seasons I think you're going to maybe grab a bag of popcorn and lock in a little more just because that storyl line is so intriguing all right well I can't wait to see it Tyler thank you so much absolutely thank you Andy thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on three and oh by the way watch all the other great videos on the Onre Sports YouTube channel and