Notre Dame 2024 Preseason Football Special

Notre Dame pitball is making a push for the playoffs in Marcus Freeman's thirdd season under the golden dome the Fighting Irish head coach looks to follow in the footsteps of Legends and Lead Notre Dame to its 12th national championship our approach to the season hasn't changed we we prepare to win every game we play tonight wsbt22 Sports takes you inside the Irish for the most in-depth look at the roster we'll visit with new quarterback Riley Leonard who has a stockpile of weapons in his Arsenal the Irish defense returns major depth and projects to be among the nation's best and we'll sit down one-on-one with Marcus Freeman to get you ready for the 2024 season this special presentation of wsbt22 sports Starts Now good evening and welcome to tonight's special presentation of WSBT Sports I'm Pete burn alongside Eric Hansen co-publisher of inside IND Sports and over the next hour we will get you ready for a new season of Notre Dame football which kicks off a week from Saturday at Texas A&M Eric first thanks for being here always enjoy your company thanks for having me and uh we've had about a half dozen opportunities to watch this team in practice training camp officially over as they turn their preparation to Texas A&M what are your overall impressions of how the Irish have looked in the opportunities we've had to see them well when I go into Camp I kind of have a checklist of how expectations are meeting to what I'm seeing real it on the field and I was able to check a lot of boxes off you know there's one prominent box I know we're going to talk about that didn't get checked off but I think the rest of it you think about the defense that looks like a playoff team you look at special teams that looks like a playoff team most of the offense there was no quarterback drama correct uh but then there's one piece where it has a lot of people scratching their heads that's called the tease we bring him here for a reason excellent work and we will get to that very soon but first as Marcus Freeman enters his third year as a head coach at Notre Dame he now has his third offensive coordinator in his many years and the voice of new offensive coordinator Mike Den Brock has been a noticeable addition to the soundtrack of practice certainly fun to have him back out there isn't it Den Brock now in his third stint in Southbend and his presence around the offense at practice has been unmistakable he brings a sense of urgency to every drill the Irish run and he says his primary goals during this training camp have been to solidify a starting five on the offensive line grow an overall understanding of the offense among his players and then there's this developing what our identity is going to be offensively um what is that I'm not quite sure exactly what that is yet I mean I have an idea of where I think we're headed um but the guys in in the way they execute and the way that they play will dictate ultimately what we look like when we line up and play it just being being here is uh you know a blessing every day I just I I I love Notre Dame and I love an opportunity to be part of this program and and a part of this University and then obviously uh the student athletes themselves are uh kind of what gets me up in the morning and gets me roll coach denrock brings a a an intensity but leadership um to our offensive side of the ball and and I think great leaders understand when things need to be said right it's not just yelling and screaming over and over and over you a great leader it's understanding okay at this point this needs to be a point emphasis I need to get these guys going hold him accountable and I think he has a great feel for that and uh you can see you can see our offense respond to that we've heard him a lot early in training camp but then he also told us recently that he's having to say less and less as they progress which is probably a great sign it is a great sign and I think Marcus made a good point about it's not just the volume and the loudness and intensity there's gears to Mike Den Brock's personality and I think he is really settled in to being one of the elite offensive coordinators that's why you saw him lead LSU offense to the number one spot in scoring and yards per game last year it's it's a real contrast I think from the last time he was here I think he was a really brilliant offensive mind you're really seeing him assert himself and assert his ideas he's not deferring necessarily to the head coach although he knows who's boss but I think he's not afraid to say what a good idea is what a bad idea is which is probably a good thing given how young of a head coach Marcus Freeman still is and the fact that he comes from a defensive background now on the topic of leadership Notre Dame named its captains over this past weekend uh not necessarily A surprised but it certainly shows where the strength of this team is and that we have four of the five captains on the defensive side of the ball and also three of of them are graduates yeah you know I can never remember this kind of imbalance between offense and defense and I think it was a gutsy move to kind of do that and yet when you looked at the offense there weren't a lot of obvious captains now maybe guys down the road like Jeremiah Love would be a captain down the road this is the first time since I believe 2011 you haven't had an offensive Lin it's been a long time well we don't necessarily knew who all the offensive linemen are going to be yet um but there were a lot of great candidates on the defense and I think Marcus Freeman said this the other day you don't have to be a captain to be a leader and I think there are a lot of other leaders well you have led us right into this um obviously the uh offensive line and the Dilemma as to who plays has kind of been the underlying tone of training camp the goal for Notre Dame was to solidify that top five and it feels like with the season opener basically a week away we still don't know who those five are when Charles Jack agasa went down to a season ending injury that obviously opened some things up on the left side the last time we saw the Irish play what did that line look like to you when I say play practice yeah I would say a work in progress I would say somebody that it was a good thing it wasn't a Texas A&M game and yet I thought they were learning I mean I thought they were absorbing what Joe Rudolph had to say I think the one thing that we need to kind of throw in there is you know they've been uh the NFL open its doors to underclassman in 1989 never has an offensive lineman left as a true Junior until this last draft cycle then you lose two of them in one Blake fiser and Joe Al can you imagine how different this team would be and how different our special would be today if we were talking about Joe Al and Blake fiser being on this team yeah the depth chart would be totally different I mean right now if you go to your website you guys keep track of the dep chart and you have the dreaded or at left tackle you've got Tosh Baker or Anthony knp who's a true freshman by the way I think it's probably been a long is Sam young the last true freshman to start in the season at left tackle well there have been uh three there have been uh there was Blake fiser was one of them okay and then I'm blanking on who the other one was but there have only Stanley didn't start as a fresh no no no there there have been three oh Sam young was the other one he started at right tackle Blake fiser at left tackle there have been 10 true freshman to start for Notre Dame at least one game only one of them started every game in a season and that was Sam young in 2006 so all of them have maybe come at the midseason and we may yet see that we may see Gabby Lambert at some point starting a game the big 6'7 318 lb R tackle that looks much more like a guy that would start as a freshman than 6'4 291 lb Anthony knp and I give Anthony knp a ton of credit a three star recruit worked as butt off to put himself in this position does a lot of things right what he's lacking is that big imposing length and big imposing size that you got with the Joe wall and even to a certain extent with Tosh Baker 68 320 and I think it's probably safe to say that we're going to see a mix of seven eight guys on that line over the course of the Season provided there's no injuries and then obviously if there are injuries that that obviously extrapolates all right we need to take a quick time out but when we come back Notre Dame has a new quarterback running the show this season we're going to get to know Riley Leonard when our preseason look at the Fighting Irish continues what does Riley Leonard bring to this team when he steps on that field he is as competitive as anybody I've ever been around um but he's a great teammate and um any great quarterback to me has to be a great teammate first and then you become a great leader welcome back to WSBT is Notre name for football preseason special All Eyes entering the season are on transfer quarterback Riley Leonard the senior who spent last year at Duke is now a captain at Notre Dame and the presumptive starter for the Fighting Irish Leonard does have 21 career starts under his belt all of them coming at Duke he's as dangerous with his legs as he is throwing the football over the past several weeks his coaches and teammates have praised his play and his growth as for Leonard himself he's quickly developing a good rapport with his new offensive coordinator Mike denrock it's it's similar to what I've done in the past uh the quarterback has a lot of control and is able to extend plays in so many different ways I think we're able to spread the ball out we got weapons now like all over the place even at running back tight end obviously receivers um I think being it you know adjusting it was too hard for me uh you know being a a fourth year guy who's been in a similar system my whole career has been it's been it's been good it's been an easy adjustment I think the question that Irish fans are most curious about is can you take a dynamic quarterback like Leonard put him with Mike denrock and get anything remotely like what we saw last year at LSU with Jaden Daniels in denrock right I actually asked that question on Saturday because I saw similarities and I was happy that Mike denrock also saw them you know Jaden Daniels is last year at Arizona State pretty average numbers his pass efficiency is in the 130s which is below average last year he set an NCAA record for passing efficiency at 208 so what happened and I think Mike denrock was able to coach to his potential and scheme to his potential and I think that's what he's seeing in Riley Leonard and one of the big things is being able to trust your teammates you know a lot of times when you have that dual threat skill set you're like nobody's hoping I'm taken off instead of trusting that receiver to get open and that's very lately what Mike denber is seeing a little bit of glimpses of Riley trusting his teammates let's talk a little bit more about his teammates audri ese left big shoes to fill it Notre Dame and sophomore Jeremiah Love would love to be the guy who steps in and carries the load but he's also got company in the race for the top spot in the Irish backfield love and jaran price had been battling for the starting role throughout fall Camp love showed flashes of greatness last year as a freshman playing in all 13 games averaging better than five yards per carry but price is older he was second on the team in touchdowns a year ago he really shined in the sunbowl rushing for over a 100 yards in the absence of estim and I think in all likelihood both of these players are expected to get a healthy dose of opportunities early on here in 2024 shoot it was really important to me you know coming out as a young guy and then playing against shoot people I used to watch I used to watch them play so coming out and just being able to perform and you know kind of uh take what I did in high school you know do it a little bit on the College college level um it was really is really great anchoring down being more physical in the in the past game um you know breaking breaking more tackles being more physical in the running game I feel like I've done a lot in the space uh last season but I think I could do even more when it comes to short yardage game JD's change of direction is super special but so is Jeremiah so it's almost like you flip a coin on what you get Jeremiah's probably a more Dynamic guy if you say look I want to line you up as a receiver as a true receiver and he can do some things that the other guys can't do but even J is very special out of the back field with the ball in his hand so it's a great situation to be in as a coach because you got two guys who are super super high level that you can intermix in there we'll see them both do you think love has the higher ceiling that's the sense I get early on I think he does and I think he's put himself in a position to have the higher floor too when we saw the sunbowl the one thing that price had an edge was between the tackles and breaking tackles and and Jeremiah couldn't do it you could see kind of that home run speed and somebody would grab an ankle and he he would go down or he would just not be able to break a tackle well he was a little under 190 pounds in the Sun Bowl he's 210 now with the same speed so I think he brings the best of what both those backs bring plus the Elite Speed so I think he has an edge there plus in the spring he was working at wide receiver he he widened his skill set I think jerem love is going to be you know the star player on the offense outside of Riley Leonard when you take any of the other 10 I think Jeremiah Love is going to be the guy we're talking about most during the season I think that's something that'll make Irish fans happy as well hey it's time for us to take another break but when we come back Marcus Freeman is gearing up for his third season as the Fighting Irish head coach so how is he grown talks about that during part one of our conversation which is coming up next [Music] as a head coach you have a plan but there's also a feel that you have to have when you're going through a practice that okay hey do we need to live this up do we need to be a little bit more physical do we need to pull back and I think great leaders are able to have that feel for what that mean what the need is welcome back to the WSBT Notre Dame football preseason special Marcus Freeman is entering his third season as a college head coach and he has the number seven ranked team in the nation I Rec ly sat down one-on-one with the Irish head coach to get his thoughts on his team as he heads into the season opener so you're 38 years old which makes you one of the younger D1 coaches but you're not a rookie anymore right you you've gone through this a few times so I'm curious as you enter this year how do you feel more comfortable and more prepared than you did in the first couple years yeah Pete there's no substitution for experience and and I think you know when I look back to year one and the things you probably didn't know um that you know now going into year three and and you know every year you're going to get better you're going to learn different things and so I think the the focal point this year and and for me might be I know it's different than certain year one and so um the ability to just understand hey here's our process and in our plan and what terms We Believe will will to produce the outcomes that we want how do I look for different things to enhance what we're doing but it's not like year one we trying to say what is our process what what exactly are we going to do to try to a these desired results you have an a great idea for what it is now the opportunity is to to enhance it and you feel pretty comfortable in that process I assume yeah I mean it's a couple years now that um you know I feel I feel like I have a obviously a great feel for what we need to do to um prepare for this upcoming season and uh yeah I definitely feel more comfortable on the flip side what what if anything concerns you at this point well you know for me as a head coach injuries always concern you right is that um you have to physically prepare to to play a 12 game season um you have to make sure you're physically ready to go well part of that is going to entail some injuries as as we've seen happen here over you know one or two guys gone down that that that it happens and so that to me is is always something that I'm concerned about um but I I'm I'm really pleased with with overall the health of this team since you brought that up where do you draw the line between the need to prepare the guys for a physical sport but not wanting to get someone hurt I mean where's The Sweet Spot and it might be different for each coach yeah I think there's never just it's not black and white right there's always a little bit of gray but you have to tackle you have to go live some but and but you also got to be smart you can't just to me be overboard and maybe that's one of those things we talk about we've learned maybe from year one to year three is okay where do I need to be intentional about the physicality of practice and where can we be um probably more intelligent how we utilize this time we have to prepare and so um there is no just fine line and it's almost a feel thing I think as a head coach you have a plan but there's also a feel that you have to have when you're going through a practice that okay hey do we need to live this up do we need to be a little bit more physical do we need to pull back and I think great leaders are able to have that feel for what that what the need is this year in the portal you got a quarterback and a bunch of Veteran wide receivers how much more explosive through the air do you expect you guys will be this year I think we're going to be explosive we have to be explosive we have to throw the ball over the top of a defense and and we have the The Playmakers to do we have the quarterback to to can be able to do that and so um coach Den Brock's aggressive person and uh he he doesn't shy away from trying to create big plays and so that's something that we definitely will will be intentional about trying to do it's pretty clear watching practice that coach Den Brock is in charge on the offensive side and he's he's got a handle on that what does coach Den Brock bring your offense and what do you think the identity of that will will be uh I think there's a there's an edge there's a grittiness to it um there's a confidence uh but they're also grateful for this opportunity that they have and and um there's an intensity to to what they bring what he brings to our offense and so it's going to be successful and that's what I know about Mike denrock in our times that at Cincinnati together and then seeing what he did at LSU like Mike Dem br's going to make sure that offense successful and and put his Playmakers in position to make plays and this age where you have to bring in guys sometimes several guys is is your role as much like a GM as it is a a coach is that fair there's so many different things that entail being a head coach and part of that is um the the transfer portal part of that is recruiting part of that is managing adults part of that is managing players like there's so many hats you have to wear but um I think the the most important part of being a head coach is making sure you're where you need to be right what place needs your attention and that's to me what what I've learned in in these three years is that you have to be able to observe that certain areas need your attention at certain time so you have to be there this time of the year do you feel like you can't wait for games to start or do you feel like there's not enough time to get everything done between now and day one um it depends what time of the day you ask me that question right now it's just staying in the moment and I feel like we have enough time we'll be ready to go um you know but I don't want to continue to just think about game one because then you're wasting this moment that you have now and that is what we got to focus on because if us thinking about game one doesn't help us prepare for right now we got to think about what opportunity we have right now in front of us and how do we make sure that we're putting ourselves in a position to have success and and to win that moment that we have and and that's what we're going to do Marcus Freeman feels like he's certainly grown in his two plus years as a head coach I'm curious where you've seen it the most yeah and we all know year three is historically the defining year for Notre Dame head coaches I think where I've seen in a couple places one is his understanding of the offense it felt like when he was first a head coach he was more kind of a bystander or a passenger and now he's a lot more involved he's got a lot more ideas and vision for what he wants the offense to look like he still listens to the voices that are important but his voice is important now too I think the other thing is building the infrastructure for this program and some of these are are hires that go under the radar the director of analytics that he just hired Anthony Tres um Matt Jansen last summer director of scouting they're already building a database for the portal for this December Chad Bowen elevated to General Manager all those things help you be better on Saturdays I think where he still has a ways to go though is Game Day Management that's where we need to see the jump in Marcus's performance this year interesting thoughts we need to take another break but when we come back tonight Notre Dame's defense is loaded with Playmakers and preseason all-americans Eric and I will take a Clos look at the Irish on that side of the ball right after this every year we just get better with the same stuff if you just do the three or four basic things right near perfectly like nobody can be [Music] you welcome back we just heard from Howard there noted Dame's defense Eric is expected to be the strength of this team that's no secret I think the fact that four of the five captains are defensive players probably tells us an awful lot it does and I think that the fact that the offense won the Jersey scrimmage the other day I think is a fluke I think the defense if they're doing everything that they're capable of doing they're going to beat everybody in a scrimmage and be able to carry Notre Dame in most of these games which and uh we all know that having a an elite defense is one of the ways that you put your team into the the playoff conversation which we'll get to in a little bit uh Benjamin Morrison one of those players burst onto the college football scene as a freshman pulling down more interceptions than any other freshman in the country and earning All-American status now his sophomore year perhaps less spectacular statistically but still very impressive and now as Morrison prepares for what could be his final season at Notre Dame he's healthy and he is once again on everyone's radar Benjamin Morrison is racking up the accolades as opening kickoff to the 2024 season near the junior has been named a first team preseason All-American by the sporting news ESPN and the athletic but despite all the attention Morrison is keeping things in perspective last year I was named on some of that stuff and uh I didn't I post I was on any so I mean that just shows that like that stuff doesn't really matter um just put your head down and work and just understand that that stuff comes and honestly I I I'm I'm happy um the growth I've made from my sophomore junior year growth in his game and also his health Morrison had surgery on his right shoulder in March forcing him to miss most of spring practice however as you can see he's been on the field in training camp and looking more and more like the shutdown Corner the Irish need him to be having that having that injury um was a little set back for me um but understanding that I I can get back to uh full goal before game one was big for me um and once I learned that information I just attacked every every single day um and just uh putting my head down and working he approached the game as a pro so uh it was good for him to get the middle side this spring uh he worked hard in his rehab and he hasn't missed the beat since he got out part of Morrison's preparation this training camp has been lining up across from Jaden Thomas and the new stable of veterans in the Irish receiving Corp what his game uh allows mine to kind of grow um his his strengths um kind of can expose my weaknesses I mean but that's what practice is for I mean at his top of the route has been has been really uh beneficial for my developmental my development um as a DB and beneficial to the growth of the Irish secondary as a whole in Morrison's absence Jaden Mickey and Christian Gray both got starters reps during spring ball now the two are fighting for one job and Morrison believes it's elevating the entire group in the process the common mentality is that we all want to get better um that's that's all you can ask for as a as a upper classman now um and it's it's a competitive group so every sing everyone wants to come out on top um so I mean that's the biggest thing is them them competing over there is allowing me to compete them competing is allowing our whole defense is to to elevate a little bit I would say coming up next Notre Dame added three veteran wide receivers from the transfer portal we will take a closer look at how that Trio has for transformed the position for Notre Dame when our preseason look at the Fighting Irish continues coach Den Brock's aggressive person and uh he he doesn't shy away from trying to create big plays and so that's something that we definitely will will be intentional about trying to [Music] do welcome back to the program arguably no position on noted Dame's roster has been made over more thoroughly than wide receiver wsb's Bennett wise joins us now in studio with a look at those changes Bennett well Pete last year no Irish wide out or tight end eclipse the 500 yard receiving Mark then Chris Tyree transferred so did Rico Flores Jr and tobio Merryweather but Marcus Freeman and wide receiver coach Mike Brown handled the departures by bringing in transfers known for producing and hold just about every trait you would want in that room finish finish there's eight or nine guys that I would feel comfortable with like being in the game um so just trying to find the right combinations and you know who the kind of top six guys are that are going to be the main guys in the rotation half of Notre Dame's top six receivers last year are gone so Marcus Freeman and wide receivers coach Mike Brown elevated the room with speed size and better production than the guys they're replacing transfers Chris Mitchell Bo Collins and Jaden Harrison being with them is um I learned something from them every day you know they're bigger guys more physical guys it challenges me to be more physical you know going against guys that are just as way as just as much as me a combined 121 college games played between the three transfers mixed in with the experience from Jaden Thomas and Deon KY plus the promising young stars like Jordan faan and Jaden great house coordinator Mike Den Brock's quick motion and deep threat offense has all the pieces vertical vertical through the defense his offense has everything Expos to this creativity I mean it's been fun being a part of it you know you're motioning all over the field you're running rids from different spots I mean you know it has you confused sometimes and if you're confused the defense going to be confused you know what I'm saying so it's it's been really fun the offense definitely has some capabilities to to be explosive I you know but ultimately it's up to the players right and uh and making plays and um you know we're going to do our best to put them in position to do so and then we'll let it play out as the uh as the year goes along now a couple other white out names to watch for freshman Micah Gilbert who haul in five catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns in the blue gold game and cam Williams four-star wide out with size and upside to Pete and Eric overall a lot more depth and versatility in that room compared to last year Bennett thanks that's certainly refresh for a Notre Dame fan because that's a position that's really it felt like a position of Need for years I feel like at Notre Dame um and then in addition to the guys that we just heard about of course Notre Dame's still very deep at tight end as well entering the year they have six healthy ones now which is the healthy part is the big part and Mitchell Evans at the top of that rotation I think Eli Reen is in the line for a big year and I look out for Cooper Flanigan but the Feelgood story is Kevin Balman coming back from three season ending or almost season devouring injuries the last three years all right we're going to take one more break but when we come back Notre Dame added a punter unlike any we've seen before at the position I'll explain what I mean when the WSBT Notre Dame football preseason special continues oh James he's awesome man um glad to have him he's going to be a weapon for us welcome back Pete burn alongside Eric Hansen of inside Indies Sports Eric not him got some unexpected news in April when veteran punter Bryce mcferson announced he was transferring with about a week to go in Spring practice mcferson leaves for Maryland and he left the Irish without a punter so they went out and found one in a rather unlikely spot I've always sort of had that natural skill growing up we kick the ball in the backyard if at first glance James renle doesn't look like your typical punter it's because he's not at 6'6 22 pounds renle is built more like a defensive end and despite being 24 years old he's never played a game of football in his life American football that is and I grew up playing Australian Rules Football which entails a lot of of kicking the bowl or pting As Americans would say renle spent several years playing Australian Rules Football professionally in his native of Melbourne in recent years he decided to enhance his skills in the hopes of Landing an opportunity in the US um I always thought I had a big kick and it would be something worth trying so um yeah I joined up with Pro kick Australia and fortunately they recognized some potential in me and when Notre Dames pter hit the portal um there was a spot opened up and yeah they reached out to the pro kick guys a few weeks later Rundle was in South bent and the 24-year-old graduate freshman as he refers to himself is preparing to play for the Irish this fall you know being out here on the grid IR with my teammates over over the past few weeks it's um it's been awesome obviously the skills are quite transferable um but at the same time proi you know that the coaches really do a good job of breaking down your old habits the aim with punting an American ball is to try and kick up for Hang Time a quick glance at ryle's highlights are enough to see he's got a strong leg although he declined to share how far he can actually kick a football as long as I put the ball um as far and as high as the team needs me to put it um then I'm happy and everyone's happy and unlike most of his punting peers across the country renle won't be shy about delivering a big hit in coverage should the situation ever arise I hope I don't have ever have to make a tackle um cuz that means that the punt hasn't gone to plan but if I have if I have to I'll be ready um and my eyes will light up I want to see what Notre Dame Stadium sounds like when he knocks a guy through the sideline that one time they get around the end I want to get him to say shrimp on the Bobby I'm sure he can say that he's going to be a cult hero for this team this year right he is and and his teammates have kind of given away his distance we were talking to Jordan Faison who will probably be the punt returner and he said uh I need to back up I need to back up I need to back up and he's got different ways to kick too he can do the rolling rugby kick he can do really good directional kicks with a traditional spiral his location is really good and I think the big difference between Bryce mcferson and Jack James is you're going to get better net punting Notre Dame was 83rd in the country I think you'll see them in the top 10 that'll be exciting and again it's not often you hear a coach refer to a punter as a weapon um but that's what Marcus Freeman said you could see why all right we're going to take another time out but when we come back how good are Notre Dame's chances to make the playoffs we discussed that in part two of my conversation with Marcus Freeman right after this the more opportunities you have to make the playoffs the better and um that's something we're we're definitely excited about there is a new playoff structure this season in college football 12 teams will now make the postseason a huge jump up from the four we've been used to so how does that shape How the Irish approached this year that's the topic of conversation in part two of my conversation with marus Freeman 12 teams make the playoffs now it's probably the biggest change in college football it's going to create a lot more inclusion for teams as it comes to a national championship Chase is that exciting for you and for your team Yeah the more opportunities you have to make the playoffs the better and um that's something we're we're definitely excited about our approach to the season hasn't changed we we we prepare to win every game we play and um that's the ultimate approach of any college football team um but you understand the depth of your team has to make sure it's ready to go because of the extended season that that could entail four extra games and and and then in that time period between between Game 12 and and the first round of playoffs you got to have a great plan for that but um it's exciting for us to know that there's there's 12 opportunities to make the playoffs instead of four um but then we got to refocus on the things that it takes to to get that opportunity and and that's taken care of the preparation and what we have in front of us seems like an 11 and one record would be a playoff team and possibly 10- two does that seem fair I mean I think if you look at the history um if you're an 11-1 team and you're probably going to be ranked in the top 12 if you're 10- two it's you're really close to being ranked in the top 12 so um I think if you look at history yeah that's that's the case but who knows what's going to happen this year um and and we just got to focus on doing what it takes to win every opportunity we have and and that's it no matter what happened last week no matter what team's up next like focus on the moment um stay in the moment win the moment and let the rest of the stuff take care of itself at a school like Notre Dame where you can't throw a conference Championship out in front of the guys as a carrot does having that buffer help do you think over the course of a season having a buffer that if you were to lose once it's not all gone yeah um but I don't know if it was all gone in previous years true one loss doesn't mean you're out of playoffs in previous years so um again it's it's you let let college football playoff committee figure that stuff out right let let those that are going to tell you who the top 12 teams are figured out let's just focus on preparing to win and at the end of the season we'll look back and say are we a a playoff team or not but we got to make sure we just focus on preparing to win every game we play and and I hope we did that last year um even if we when we knew we weren't going to make the playoffs well guess what we're going to prepare to win because you you work 300 days a year and you get 12 guaranteed opportunities these guys love to compete they work too hard not to and so we can't worry about the pass are we in the playoffs focus on this opportunity we have in front of us this time of year what excites you most uh today this this group trying to be present with them getting ready for practice tonight um that that's what excites me and and that's what our players have to do we can't look I have to answer questions about the future but that's not my concern my concern is right now and and we have a plan for what's going to help us get these desired results but in order to get those we have to focus on now we have to execute right now and and that result will will be determined based off what we do today and so that's what excites me man I get excited to be around these guys to practice to to challenge them challenge myself watch us overcome challenges daily and uh and I mean and I do it with great men great coaches great young men um great people another guy you're working with now is uh Pete Baka your new boss what have your uh conversations with him been like so far I been great you know it was it's been cool for a whole year this whole transition has been going on and um you know it's been such a smooth transition as just Jack who's done a wonderful job for Notre Dame athletics has phased out and Pete has really taken over and uh again we've had great communication we got a great relationship any to me any great partnership is built on trust in a relationship and and me and Pete have a great relationship and I know he's positioning us to to be successful in the college football landscape and uh um that's all I can ask him to do and and um just continue to just grow together we're going to do this thing together and it's exciting you guys have uh an easy attention grabber on week one right college game day hugee Stadium I mean you're you're probably the game that week is that something you like right out of the shoot what else would you want right what else would you want um the ability to have all eyes on you college game day uh huge matchup that's exciting that's exciting any any great competitive we can have that every weekend I would love it I would love that you know and and because you want that that's why you come to Notre Dame that's why you're a part of this place now that being said we know that's coming how do we make sure we're ready for that that opportunity and that's taken care of right now right taken care of right now but that's exciting to know that's in the future it's the ultimate coach speak to try and keep the players attention on the here and now but as the season progresses if noted Dame is winning how powerful do you think it is to to lean into the the playoff potential that this team has provided that it's real come say mid- October yeah I think you just turn on the television on a Tuesday night to ESPN and let let them look at the rankings and see what they have to do to make that 12 team playoff and preferably host a game in December right before Christmas if if Notre Dame is plays up to its preseason number seven ranking they would play the 10 seed which would be probably a really good SEC or Big 10 team in Notre Dame Stadium just before Christmas which would be a wild atmosphere so how does Notre Dame get to the magic number of 10 or 11 wins to make the college football playoffs we're going to take a look at the schedule and discuss that when our special presentation continues Notre Dame opens up this season on August 31st under the lights at Texas A&M Eric how big of a tone Setter is that opener given the fact that it's a ranked opponent it's National TV and and there's not a ton of meat on the schedule this year there's not and there's not a quick Redemption if you lose that game I think practically no Notre Dame is going to be at its best in November so if it loses that game it could run the table it's just you kind of have this Dark Cloud hanging over you with really no margin for error until you get to November but uh it it will set the tone but if they lose that if they win it they still have work to do sure I and there is meet on the schedule in November I think I I don't think there's a chance that 11 and one they wouldn't be in the top 12 do you think that schedule a 10- two team can make the playoffs it depends which two losses I don't think you can lose the two November games you can't lose Florida State can't lose USC because they're looking for teams that are improving not teams that are declining in in November I think in most Year's 10 and two gets them in not this year gotcha uh we've talked a lot about the the depth of this team and the experience of this team there's also a few impact freshman that we're keeping our eye on as we head into the season um I don't know if any of them will start but if there is one it's probably the linebacker Kingston vamu Assa right on defense and he's going to play a lot they're playing a fiveman rotation at linebacker Max B the linebacker's coach says we don't have starters he's one of the five that'll play I think the other guy that has a chance to start is on offense it's Anthony Napp at left tackle sure but um there's a lot of them on defense Leonard Moore you have Bryce young at defensive end the two freshman running backs Bennett brought up some of the wide receivers that could get into action so there's some really talented fresh and how important do you think these guys will be for the team by the end of the year you can't predict where injuries will be but at some point is there a spot where they need one of these guys to step up and and kind of flash well they need Anthony nap to flash he's going to be the starter uh I I think over the course of the Season you're going to need Leonard Moore to play well of the guys that we didn't mention I think gby Lambert could end up being a guy that helps you down the stretch at tackle and Tay Johnson at safety again if they're there's some injuries and so forth I would say those would be the two guys to watch all right we'll keep an eye on that in meantime we're going to call our final time up but we'll be back to wrap up the program right after this [Music] [Music] Notre Dame football is one week away Eric thank you for joining us tonight it was a pleasure working with you and our viewers can see more of you throughout the year on your website yes and we're going to have a live show after Road games with former Notre Dame offensive lineman Bob Morton if you want the Insight on what's going on with the offensive line you want to tune in to that that's right all right tune in inside IND sports.com for that and WSBT all season long that's our show for this evening Notre Dame we'll kick off the season at Texas A&M next week until then thanks for watching and enjoy the season [Music] I'm Pete burn from wsbt22 news for more Notre Dame stories like And subscribe to the wsbt22 YouTube page thanks for watching