Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2022 21 actly what Freeman wanted — a wide variety of elite backgrounds and kids striving to reach the mountaintop. "I think it's cool because you see all of our players want to be at that level," Free- man said. "Any time you have a chance to put on NFL film, the players are like 'This is the best!' Well, it's the same thing we do in college, it's just NFL players. They think it's this extraordinary thing." WHAT'S NEXT? With just a handful of spring practices left before the Blue-Gold Game April 23, time is of the essence. While final prep- arations will come late this summer, everything completed, ingrained and run now sets the team up for Labor Day Weekend against Ohio State. Golden and Laurinaitis are working with a very versatile, talented group, it's just a matter of where everyone is placed. Right now, the linebackers — four of whom are early enrollees in Jaylen Sneed, Niuafe "Junior" Tui- halamaka, Joshua Burnham and Nolan Ziegler — are being flooded with fun- damentals, packages and terminology. "We have been trying to get them the information, whether that's through in- person meetings, virtually, whatever we can do to keep moving ahead," Golden said in mid-March. "We don't have a lot of time left. We're learning a lot about our team, and hopefully they're learning about what we're trying to do." Message received, loud and clear, evi- denced by Bertrand's response to a similar question about what they want to accom- plish before the clock hits zero on April 23. "I think we're trying to make sure we get a lot of packages in and we're very comfortable," Bertrand said. "We get all of the install done up front so we can draw on these things throughout the season as we adjust to what a team is giving us." Between Golden and Laurinaitis, the hope is that they have already seen what- ever Freeman's alma mater throws at the Irish come Sept. 3 in Ohio Stadium. They've seen a lot. That's the point. ✦ Laurinaitis, a former Ohio State All-American and NFL linebacker, brings a pro player's insights to the line- backers' room — a strong complement to Golden's decades of pro and college coaching experience. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER