Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1509682
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 28, 2023 13 UNDER THE DOME "I'm still optimistic about Marcus Freeman. All the things that people are saying about Marcus Freeman are the same things they said about Kirby Smart five years ago. 'He can recruit great. He's a good defensive mind. But he's messed up the quarterback spot' or 'in-game situationally hasn't been great.' "All those things were said about Kirby Smart a handful of years ago. He's a young coach that, unfortunately for him, is learning on the job. He didn't have a training wheel run at a steppingstone program. He went from coordinator at Cincinnati to coordinator at Notre Dame to the head coach at one of the most heavily scrutinized places in college football. "He's going to be fine. I'm not at all concerned about him. I think he's a great coach. I think his best times are in front of him. But he's absolutely got to get the offensive line going because that has been the heart and soul of this team for as long as I can remember." — ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy on comparing Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman to Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who is a two-time national champion after a rocky start to his tenure "Freeman was a play away from acing his first major exam for 2023 but couldn't find the final answer (or enough defenders on the field, as it turned out) against Ohio State. The coaching blunder on Ohio State's decisive touchdown run overshadowed an otherwise strong performance from Notre Dame on its home field against a more talented opponent." — ESPN senior writer Adam Rittenberg on giving Notre Dame head coach Mar- cus Freeman a "B" grade midway through the 2023 season "I think the biggest thing with Sam is he's con- sistent. He's experienced. He's been through wins and losses. He continues to be the same person, the same leader. "What happens the week before does not affect the way Sam approaches his preparation and ap- proaches his leadership. I've been really pleased with what he's done in terms of every single week of preparation and leadership." — Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman on what he has seen from graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman as a leader "I coached at Notre Dame and one of the prob- lems with not being in a conference — and I talked to Brady Quinn about this and it's real — is the human element is about being inspired and mo- tivated to play. "At Notre Dame, I don't know how much has changed, but when Lou Holtz hired me, we had a mission to go win a national title. That's all we talked about and when that became no longer real, motivation became a problem." — FOX Sports col- lege football analyst Urban Meyer on his podcast THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "I'm putting that in Liv's hands. I trust my performance team. She's done a really, really great job. She's right on track. Kind of just playing by ear to see. Each month, you make a lot of gains at this point of her rehab. Right now, it's more strengthening. She's starting to run now. That could speed the process up. I'm kind of just being there for her and us having great communication of how she feels. "I've gone through this twice. It's an individual decision of her comfort level being back on the floor. I just want to make sure she's comfortable, confident and ready." — Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Niele Ivey on the possibility junior point guard Olivia Miles, who is still recovering from a knee injury suffered near the end of last season, could redshirt in 2023-24 PHOTO COURTESY OLIVIA MILES TOP TWEETS