Notre Dame Football: Marcus Freeman's New Found Way of 'Scouting' Texas A&M

Notre Dame head coach has found a way to scout opponents while playing with his kids

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman greets players during a Notre Dame football practice at Irish Athletic Center on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK

Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame are getting ready for the marquee matchup of college football's first full weekend of games as it travels to Texas A&M to take on a talented Aggies team.

Notre Dame has a pair of the most respected coordinators in the game in play caller Mike Denbrock and defensive mastermind Al Golden, but Freeman isn't using only them or his other assistant coaches to get ready for Texas A&M.

He's instead using his own children.

Marcus Freeman on Using the EA Sports College Football '25 Video Game

Marcus Freeman was on the Pardon My Take podcast and was asked about if he ever plays the popular video game.

He shared that his kids play the game a bunch and that he tends to find himself playing it with them. When asked about if he always plays as Notre Dame though is when things got interesting.

"Funny story, last night I was telling somebody that I get home late and the kids are playing and one of them is using Notre Dame and he's like 'dad, do you want to play?' and I'm like 'sure' and he was like 'I'm Notre Dame, you can't use Notre Dame!"

"So I end up getting Texas A&M and after I'm playing with them I'm like 'you know, this is a good way to scout your opponent, I want to see who the stars are and all those different things and how they work"

Freeman and College Football '25 as a Scout Going Forward

"So I don't know if I'll continue to do that but most the time I'm Notre Dame but maybe during the week we play a new opponent I'll start using them on college football."

Freeman went on to discuss the rivalry he had in the video game with his former Ohio State teammate James Laurinaitis. Freeman said that Laurinaitis won more often in those matchups than Freeman, but that the one-sidedness Laurinaitis claims is far from true.

Notre Dame and Texas A&M square off on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Here's to hoping Freeman and company get Mike Elko and Texas A&M to "put down their sticks".

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Take:

I know Freeman was speaking kind of tongue in cheek about the scouting part of playing the game with his kids but I'll certainly say this:

When I played the game rather religiously in high school and college I felt like my overall knowledge of players all across college football was greater than at any other point in my life. It's one thing to watch highlights and read about guys, but its another to be playing Texas and having Nathan Vasher intercept three of your passes and quickly learning he had a bright football future.

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