Marcus Freeman Talks Jacob Lacey Leaving Notre Dame, Offensive Line, Injury Updates

Marcus Freeman discusses defensive lineman Jacob Lacey's decision to transfer from Notre Dame and other injury notes

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Four games and one month into Marcus Freeman’s first season, the Notre Dame football coach now has his first in-season departure. Freeman announced during his Thursday Zoom conference with the media that Jacob Lacey has left the team.

“He's no longer part of the team,” Freeman said. “He'll look to transfer probably at the end of the season after the semester is over. And that's about it.”

Lacey has played in all four games this season, but all five his tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss came against California. The senior’s playing time steadily dwindled after he played 29 snaps in the season opener against Ohio State. They fell to 24 snaps against California, 11 snaps vs Marshall and then down to nine snaps against North Carolina.

With Lacey leaving, others at the deep defensive tackle position will see increased opportunities in the near future.

"I think you'll see Chris Smith playing a little bit more,” said Freeman. "It's just a position that's extremely deep. And the defensive tackle position right now is one of the deepest positions we have on our team. So, Chris Smith will play a little bit more, but you'll see a guy like Gabe Rubio playing more. Jason Onye will now probably move from scout team. He's moved from scout team to getting reps with the defense.

"Lacey was a great player,” Freeman continued. “Lacey did a lot of great things for us, but it's a deep position and he made a decision that ultimately he felt was best for him and we respect that. We love Jacob and the best thing about it is he leaves here with a degree in his hand. And that's what I want for these young men is that if you decide to leave in hopes of going somewhere and playing more, don't, waste this opportunity to earn a degree from this university. “

Lacey he played four seasons at Notre Dame, but he still has a season of eligibility remaining because of the 2020 Covid-19 season. He is also eligible to redshirt this season since he only played in four games, so Lacey will still have two seasons of eligibility remaining when he transfers.

Freeman shared thoughts on a handful of other topics as well.

DJ Brown and Ramon Henderson Updates

Safeties DJ Brown and Ramon Henderson both had injuries two weeks ago. An ankle kept Henderson out of the North Carolina game and Brown tweaked a hamstring during the game.

"Both of them practiced (this week),” Freeman relayed. “(They) practiced the last two days, more yesterday than they did on Tuesday. I would expect them both to play (vs BYU).”

Bryce McFerson update

Freshman punter Bryce McFerson was originally slated to handle kickoff duties as he worked as a punting understudy to Harvard grad transfer punter Jon Sot this season. The extra work resulted in a strained hip flexor.

"He's finally healthy,” Freeman said of McFerson "Really, what we did is I think we were having him probably do a little bit too much in terms of punting and kickoffs, which is what ultimately led to the strain of his hip flexor or groin area. But he's healthy now, and so we've kind of just said let's let him focus on punting right now, until his body is in a position after a year of training in the weight room with (strength) Coach (Matt) Balis, to be able to handle punts and kickoffs. So we haven't done kickoffs with him. (We are) just really focusing on punts right now. We're really pleased with how Jon Sot is punting the ball, but Bryce will travel and he'll be the backup punter.

Five Offensive Linemen Working As One

Notre Dame’s offensive line has continued to gel under Harry Hiestand as the season has progressed. None of the current five starters on the line started next to each other last season and they were even limited in the spring, due to injuries, which led to last year’s center, Jarrett Patterson, moving to left guard and Zeke Correll taking over at center.

"You understand there's going to be some consistency in what you see,” Freeman began. "There's pros and cons to every scenario and there's some thoughts in the thought of rotating guys and keeping them fresh, but there's also a thought in having consistency with the guys you have in there. That's what I think you see in our offensive line is they're continuing to improve, because it's a consistency in knowing who's in the game who's beside you, the ability to work together and there's also a confidence (that) I think it builds in your quarterback.

"I've been really pleased with the development of our O-line,” he continued. "A change in coaching, a change in philosophy in terms of their position coach doesn't just create a magical picture overnight. But what you've seen is over the course of the four games, and now this bye week, is that they're continuously improving. They're playing at a very high level.”

Handling The ‘Mike Fires’ Up The Middle

Communication with the new offensive linemen led to various issues in picking up blitzes and pressures. Some were on the line and some were on running backs as well. Either way, they were pressures that weren’t being picked up.

"I think the biggest challenge, if you don't know what's coming, it's hard to adjust in time and be able to pick it up,” Freeman explained. "But what I think they're doing a good job of is trying to see some pre-snap tells. It's a double-edged sword for the defense, right? And you don't want to give it away, but a lot of times, if you don't cheat your alignment a little bit, you'll never get to the quarterback, you'll never hit the blitz fast enough where you can be effective and so you try to give it away just a little bit. Our offensive line, and Zeke in particular, is doing a much better job being able to identify it and when you know what's coming, then you got a better chance to pick it up.”

Director of Football Performance Matt Balis

"Coach Balis is a rockstar, man,” Freeman proclaimed. "He is a guy that truly implements the culture you want as a head coach. The mindset is so much more than just lifting weights. What he's able to do in terms of challenging a group of football players in that weight room mentally and physically and really being an extension of me and the ability for me and him to connect every single day to talk about where we see our guys at as a team as individuals.

"We look at every player and say, hey, tomorrow we need to back off this guy, or this guy needs to be pushed a little bit more so he can hit a certain miles per hour in terms of how fast he's running,” he continued. "So we really spend a lot of time together to really look at the physiological side of our players, but also the mental side of where their mindset is.”

Pregame Rituals

Freeman chronicled how he spends his time in the lead up to games, both home and away.

"I get to the stadium and, home at home and away are two different things,” Freeman began. "This is a home game for us but it's going to be a way in terms of what you're doing pregame. And at an away game you'll go and you'll do I'll do a radio show and go back in the locker room and look over really just the keys to victory the last minute reminders for myself as the head coach of things we got to emphasize. I'll end up meeting with the referees and I'll have some points of emphasis I've had from watching film or our coaching staff is brought up to me that I'll meet with the referees about. You go out to the field you meet the opposing coach and then you're ready to warm up and you go. And so, for me there's definitely a process of consistency in what I do.

"If it's a home game the majority of the pregame is meeting with recruits and spending time with those guys before I meet with the refs and then go out for pregame and stretch,” Freeman continued. "And so, at that point, man, it's really just about how the last couple of things you want to say to your team before you take the field. But it's time to go. There's nothing really that you're going to say the moment before you walk out of the locker room that's going to help them play any better. The performance is a reflection of the way we prepared all week and so it's really now just kind of letting his time wind down and let's go and get this game started.”

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