14 NOV. 25, 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED
BY TYLER HORKA
W
hen Marcus Freeman arrived
at Notre Dame as the Fight-
ing Irish's defensive coordi-
nator in late winter 2021, he
received many inquiries from current
players wanting to connect and create
a bond right away. One of them came
from an unlikely candidate, at the time.
JD Bertrand was a third-string line-
backer back then. He had all of 38 de-
fensive snaps to his name. He wasn't
expected to up that total by much that
fall, either. Marist Liufau and Shayne
Simon were firmly entrenched ahead of
him on the depth chart. But then Liufau
broke his leg in fall camp, and Simon
sustained a season-ending injury in the
season opener.
Suddenly, Bertrand was a one-man
band at weak-side linebacker. All after,
of course, he went out of his way to get
noticed by the new defensive coordina-
Bertrand has set the standard for head coach
Marcus Freeman throughout their time
together in South Bend.
PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER
THE TOTAL THE TOTAL
STUDENT-ATHLETE STUDENT-ATHLETE
JD Bertrand has been one of Marcus Freeman's
most trusted players ever since they
teamed up almost three years ago
