Thoughts on Marcus Freeman’s press conference wrapping up Texas A&M and previewing Northern Illinois (2024)

Yes, the offense came up clutch in the final quarter, but what got the Irish there was the defense and special teams. Freeman singled out Mitch Jeter for making all of his attempts, while noting that holding A&M to field goals in their territory was a huge part of winning the game. It was a complete team effort to come away victorious.

The iPads helped, but Freeman gave credit to the players and coaching staff for making the proper adjustments during the game. He mentioned that the first game is all about that, making changes to the play-calling, which is exactly what the Irish did. Freeman also believed that the coach-to-player helmet communication went well, but they did have issues with the timing when it was turning on.

The sophom*ore wide receiver left the game against the Aggies during the second quarter and never returned. Following the Irish win, Freeman said he didn’t expect the injury to be major. It seems like he was correct, as we should expect Faison to miss 1-2 weeks with an ankle injury.

It very much looks like for the former Ohio State head coach is becoming a friend of the program. He called Freeman just about 10-minutes prior to meeting with the media and told him “the greatest danger is the illusion that all is well, when indeed all isn’t well.” Tressel has been there, and knows the job isn’t done and reminded his former player that there is still plenty of work to do.

Freeman knows that wins and losses don’t always tell the whole story, but the film does. He mentioned that preparation is the key to success, and while the Irish did get the victory on Saturday night. The need to continue to be ready will be huge as the season continues.

They competed during all four quarters, even though there were some mistakes made. It seemed like Freeman was happy with their performance, and room to grow. They want perfection, not just on the line, but the offense as a whole. Freeman said “it’s a chase for improvement” and that’s one of the main goals in-season.

Smith is now the starter, and Micah Gilbert could get some playing time as well. Freeman said he has a lot of confidence in everyone in that room. This weekend we could see more of a deeper rotation of the wide receivers, which could turn out to be great for the other players to get experience and establish more depth.

The offsides penalties irked Freeman the most, but so did the pre-snap penalties on offense. He wasn’t quite as concerned about some of the holding calls, but knows all of those areas need to be cleaned up. Freeman will use different ways in practice until the issue is fixed. This will be addressed immediately.

It was a decision that was what they felt worked best for this team. When Denbrock and Freeman were together in Cincinnati, he was on the field. When the offensive coordinator was at LSU, he was in the box. Freeman did say that eventually Denbrock may make it up to the box, but that depends on how he feels about the offense. He mainly stayed on the field during this game to have a hands on approach to the offense.

The plan the whole time for Freeman was the be aggressive in certain areas of the field. He singled out himself, “I wanted to be aggressive, I’m asking those guys to be aggressive, and attacking. I just didn’t want to be cautious at that moment of the game.” It helps that he felt the defense could back him up if the offense failed. I loved seeing this, and hope to see more of it in the future.

”There’s no place like home,” said Dorthy, err, Marcus, as he thanked all the fans that went on the road this past weekend. The crowd has to be an advantage, knowing that the atmosphere can have an impact of the opponent. “You have to practice against that,” as they just did last week. Freeman wants that same environment at home in South Bend.

Botelho finally got a chance to be the guy and did a great job against A&M. “His performance was a reflection of the way he prepared,” as it looks like the light has fully turned on for the senior. Freeman noted that even when Botelho wasn’t making a play, he was doing his job. That’s been the biggest difference from last year to this one, and his coach was beaming while talking about him.

Shuler needed the first year on campus to get used to the speed, but now he’s earned his spot as the game has slowed down. Freeman loves his practice habits and was very proud of his performance on Saturday night. He’s always believed in his skill set, even if it didn’t happen during year-one.