Notre Dame Notebook: Marcus Freeman Talks Audric Estime, Turning The Page

Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman is 1-0 for the first time and looks to win a home opener for the first time this week

Notre Dame’s trip to Ireland was a resounding success. The Fighting Irish took their fight with the to the Emerald Isle and came away with a 42-3 victory over Navy to open season No. 2 under head coach Marcus Freeman.

Things couldn’t have gone much better, both offensively and defensively, for the Irish but in the end it’s still one game with 11 more to go in the regular season. After earning Freeman is first season opening win as head coach, the task of turning the page and refocusing on a new opponent is now at hand.

The opponent is Tennessee State. The Tigers will become the first FCS and HBCU opponent Notre Dame has ever faced, so part of this week’s focus is to avoid overconfidence.

"I talked to the staff about this last night,” Freeman said on Monday. "We all have to be saying the same thing, right, is that we don’t need some type of false narrative, some type of...don’t overlook any opponent. We don’t need that. Let’s talk about what really matters and that’s winning today. That’s going to take care of Saturday if we win this Monday. That’s what we all have to be saying in our meetings because I’ve said this to you guys before, their voices are so much stronger than mine because they’re with them so much longer. 

"So, our coaches have to be saying the same thing in that position meeting," continued Freeman. "Guys, don’t worry about Saturday. Don’t worry about ..... 'Hey, can we go 2-0, can this make us just start catapulting the season.' Why did we have success on Saturday, what do we have to do to have success today and really focus on that. So, that’s going to be the great motivation for me, can we have a great Monday? Can we learn? We say we win and we learn. We won the game, what can we learn in this hour or two meetings that we’re going to have?"

A Lesson Learned

Audric Estime came into the season as Notre Dame’s workhorse running back. He was off to a great start on Saturday with 42 yards and a touchdown on seven carries in the 1st quarter. His seventh carry was a 13-yard gain, but it ended with the ball being knocked out of his big right arm.

Fortunately for the Irish, the ball went out of bounds, they kept possession and the drive ended with Jadarian Price’s 19-yard touchdown run. But Estime did not play for the remainder of the half after the fumble.

"He was taken out of the game,” Freeman said of Estime. "I talked with (running back Coach Deland) McCullough about it. Because there’s a standard that he and our offense and our team has set for that room. You can’t put the ball on the ground and we don’t care if you’re Sam Hartman or Audric Estime. Like, if you’re not doing the things that we say are the standard for this program and this room, then there’s consequences. So, part of that was, 'Hey, Audric, you’re going to be pulled for a little bit because you can’t put the ball on the ground and then to me it’s also a credit to Audric Estime, who is the guy. He’s the guy. We all know that he’s the guy. To be able to say, okay, I’m going to stand here on the sideline for a couple of series or however long it was and when you give me my opportunity I’m going to go in there and do my job.

"To me it’s just a credit to Deland McCullough for the trust that his players have in him and a credit to Audric Estime that we all know is the guy; RB1,” Freeman continued. "To be able to accept that you know what, you’re going to be held accountable because you did not perform to our standard. You put the ball on the ground. I thought it was a great example to not just those two but to everybody in that room (and) even our entire team. Nobody’s bigger than the standard. Nobody’s above the standard and if you don’t perform to the standard, there’s consequences. We understand that. We know Audric Estime didn’t mean to put the ball on the ground, but the ball was on the ground, so we’ve got to hold him accountable to that standard. So, it’s actually a really proud moment to be able to see that. Like, there’s no pouting, there’s no guy throwing his helmet, mad because he’s taken out. Hold me accountable, coach. That's your job and when I get the opportunity to go back in I will, and he did a great job.”

Moving On

Finishing with Navy also means being done with the triple option offense. Notre Dame can now prepare for more traditional and modern offenses the rest of the season, beginning this week with Tennessee State.

"Part of that is in the preparation,” Freeman began. ".... We did not just go exclusively Navy-only defense. Within our Navy personnel, we were able to play, as I call, normal defense and we saw some normal formations out of Navy. So, we were able to really do that in our preparation. So, I think the adjustment from where we were to now won’t be a big one because we’ve been able to do it through camp. Even when we go against our offense, it’s good on good and we’ve got to be able to play normal defense versus their offense. So, I really think that the transition back to just playing normal defense will be tremendous.

"The other thing is, we have to be smart in terms of our preparation,” Freeman continued. "You can’t go from that Navy game plan to a game plan this week that’s super complicated. Our only objective for our coaches I said make sure our great players play great. So, in order to do that, that is a coach and a player challenge. As coaches you have to give your great players an opportunity to play great by making sure you do things that they can execute. Players, you have to embrace that and understand okay here’s the game plan I’m going to study and I’m going to work it so that on Saturday I have a chance to go out there and play great.”  

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