UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 12, 2026

Marcus Freeman

Press Conference

Notre Dame - 52, Rice - 0

MARCUS FREEMAN: Really proud of those guys. Short week, a lot of different excuses that could be made. Last game was obviously a physical, physical game.

You know what, they just accepted every challenge that we threw at them. The way they practiced on a Tuesday, the way they practiced on Wednesday, the way they came out of the locker room, they approached this game with the right mentality. So really proud of them.

Again, the score is the score. I'm just proud of the way they continued to focus on the opportunity at hand. It shows -- it's a reflection of the maturity of our team. I think we have a mature team.

Great win versus a really good Rice opponent. Wishing them the best as they continue to move forward. With that, I'll open up for questions.

Q. Your depth is a big part of the strength of your team. I'm wondering what impressed you about some of the guys you got to see in a game situation for the first time.

MARCUS FREEMAN: I thought we saw a lot of young guys. To see Noah and Teddy get out there and to see those young wide receivers with the young O-linemen, I think they got a series in.

Defensively, we had to be smart because, if you didn't practice against this type of offense maybe on scout team, we didn't want to put them in a position to fail. So we were very intentional about who we rotated in. They had to be guys who had gotten some scout work.

I'm just proud of the way they competed. The ball started driving down the field that last drive for our defense, and to come up with a fumble, four fumbles -- four takeaways was huge, huge for our team. It's hard to single out one guy, but it was good to see those young guys go in and compete.

Q. I'll single out one of your front line players. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa made his debut today. Can you share your impressions of him?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, he made that play in the backfield early. I don't know what down it was, but kind of just chuckled a little bit. I said he's back. He's a great player. It's great to have his energy, his presence, the skill set, the play making ability. It's great to have him back on that field where he belongs.

Really proud of him. He did a good job.

Q. I know we've seen some great things from Adon in the past, but how would you describe the way he's played these first two games, and how did his forced fumbles help set the tone today?

MARCUS FREEMAN: He's playing extremely physical, which is a choice. If you guys watch football and you watch teams across the country, man, not everybody plays the way Adon Shuler plays, and it's a choice to play with that type of velocity and violence he does.

As a head coach, you appreciate that. You appreciate the way he plays and the intensity and the focus he plays with. He knows he's got room to improve. We want to clean up some missed tackles and those type of things, but everybody does. Man, he is just playing with some velocity right now and causing some big plays because of it.

Q. You mentioned the young wide receivers, quarterbacks getting some work. You had nine wide receivers go for at least 20 yards today. How important was it to get them not only in the game but get real work running the passing offense as the game kind of unfolded the way it did?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I can't remember who asked me that question about spreading the ball around. It was too long ago, you know. It's good to see those young guys getting -- and different wide receivers. I know the last game nine different guys had receptions, but mostly running backs and tight ends, but to see all those wideouts get an opportunity to get their hands on the ball is big.

Again, it's a tough position because, number one, the game plan doesn't always dictate that we throw the ball to you. Two, the quarterback makes a decision of where he wants to deliver the ball. Those guys have to run their routes as hard as they can assuming they get the ball, and sometimes they don't. It was good to see they took advantage of their opportunities today.

Q. Two plays into the game you score on defense. Then your first possession you take it right down the field on offense. How important is that -- was that a tone setter for that, those first two possessions for you guys?

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, it was huge. I didn't want to -- I don't know. You don't ever know how a game is going to go. You want to come out of the locker room with a mentality of, listen, we have to attack this group. I felt we had to be aggressive up front. We had to set a physicality, a presence with our physicality.

When you see Adon's hit that forces the fumble with Boubacar -- I think it was Boubacar. Somebody scooped it up and scored. That's really a game changer because it sets the tone, and it's really good to see that.

Then the offense just drives downfield. That was the CJ to Fais, right? That was a deep ball. We knew that, if they gave us the opportunity to throw some of those deep balls, those one-on-one balls, we're going to do it.

That's what I continue to tell you. We have to take advantage of what a defense is presenting to us. This defense, we thought we were going to see some man. We said, if we're going to see some man, let's try to take some shots over the top of their head, but if the game plan doesn't call for that, we've got to execute the game plan.

Q. Earlier this week you were defending CJ's plan to take the simple play last week. Today those things opened up. What do you feel about the way he played?

MARCUS FREEMAN: His decisions are impeccable. Last week he made the right decision 99 percent of the time. This week it felt like he was making the right decision, and getting us in the right protections, the right checks, all those different things that he does.

It's, again, it's that fine line. He's got to continue to believe and trust what his coaches are -- hey, take the checkdown and let it go for seven, eight, nine yards for a first down. Don't worry about taking the shots if they're not there. If the shots are there, take it. Be aggressive and take the shot. I've been really impressed with his decision-making.

Q. You guys got the big win here tonight. What are some things you want to clean up or improve on going into next week?

MARCUS FREEMAN: I haven't watched the film. Look, we'll see if -- I think we had -- Jack had a face mask penalty we obviously don't want. We had a false start on Cam Herron. We can't have plays that beat Notre Dame. That's a reflection of a play that beats Notre Dame, and he knows that. I always look at those pre-snap, post-snap penalties. It's huge for me.

There was a lot of good, man. I'll go back and watch it. There's ways to prove it's never good enough. I don't know what the final score is, but it's not good enough. We've got to find ways to improve.

By Tuesday -- we meet on Mondays, I think. I'll have a list of things, I promise you, that we need to improve on.

Q. And then Bettis Jr. and Burress both showed up when they got their playing reps. What do you like about those two?

MARCUS FREEMAN: It's good to see. They've been really practicing hard. Bettis has done a really good job. It's good to see those guys get a little bit of a reward. Same thing with Elijah. To see him get the ball in his hands, man, and make some plays and make some guys miss, man, it's good because we're going to need them.

I don't know when we're going to need them as a starter, but we're going to. It could be next week. It could be next season, I don't know. It was good to see the elevation they've shown.

Q. The screen pass that Jordan Faison scored a touchdown on, there was a couple of nice blocks by Ty Washington and Jaden Greathouse. How important is it to see from those guys when I'm not sure the wide receiver group had the best blocking performance against Wisconsin last week?

MARCUS FREEMAN: If you talked to Coach Brown, he wasn't too pleased with the way they finished their blocks. I know it's been a big point of emphasis because those are the difference between first downs and touchdowns. They're the difference between big plays and first downs.

We have to finish our blocks, and that's the culture of our program. We emphasize it all through fall camp, and it was good to see them put that on film. That screen does not go for a touchdown unless Ty finishes his block, J.G. finishes his block.

Those are choices. We say it all the time. You've got to make the choice to play with that type of speed and effort. That's the reason why we scored that play.

Q. Then I think Styles Prescod went in for Guerby Lambert. What did you see? He's been thrown all over the place to start the season, but Styles stepping in in a pinch like that.

MARCUS FREEMAN: Yeah, we had to plan this week because of all the unique things they do. Listen, we need Styles to be the first tackle in. If something happens to Guerby or something happens to Will, we need Styles to be the first tackle in because all the different things we're going to see. And we had Cam Herron in as the first guy in at the guard position.

It was something me and Rudy talked about early in the week. Again, I don't want you to guys to look too much into it and say it's based off of performance. No, we'll evaluate, and we'll make decisions on where Styles is, who's starting, and who's the first one to go for next week. But this decision was based on a lot of the uniqueness we were seeing on film from their defense.

Q. You mentioned sort of what you saw Tuesday, Wednesday, pregame gave you good vibes that you were going to answer the bell physically. Could you give us some more insight like what that was, before Adon makes the hit, and that sort of underlines we're going to get what I demand here?

MARCUS FREEMAN: You know what, I think Tuesday was a good day. Was it perfect? No. I don't know if we've ever had a perfect Tuesday. Then Wednesday I really challenged the scout teams to give us a look as close to, if not better, than what we think we'd see on Saturday with the speed and the effort.

It almost went overboard. I told them after practice it's one thing to practice hard, it's another thing to practice smart. We can't have guys getting hurt because we're practicing sloppy because we're going so hard. But I love that.

When you've got to pull them back, that's a great moment for a head coach. Then the attention to detail yesterday, the attention to detail today, I just wanted to try to set the tone from the minute we woke up, the first punt meeting we had, like I wanted to set the tone it that I've got scars and I want you guys to understand that I'm looking for anything.

I'm looking for somebody not focusing, somebody that's not paying attention -- I'm looking at everything. There's a lot I'm looking at because that's the sense of urgency I have and we have to have for this opportunity.

The other thing is, if you're grateful for something, that's one thing. Enjoy the journey, right? We had Coach Gino talk to the team and Kurt Rawlings talk to the team, and part of their message was enjoy the journey, stop worrying about the destination. If you do that, you stay in the moment. You stay in the present. Then you're grateful for what you have. And it's a mindset.

We're not looking towards the end of the game. We're not looking to say, okay, who's next after this? It's like be grateful for this opportunity that we have. That was my message, but I felt like it was received. You can tell when you look into the eyes of your team, their players, they're receiving it. They hear it. They did a good job.

Q. I don't know how much you watched closely Grubbs and Jarrard today. How much does that experience matter for them? How much does it matter for you guys as a staff as an evaluation tool? Because you've got to figure out what have you got beyond this season.

MARCUS FREEMAN: It matters. Everything matters, right? The amount of plays, both of them getting to play in Notre Dame Stadium in a real game, how they played, it all matters.

I think it's a great opportunity for us to coach them, to evaluate them on a different level than practice, where the play clocks matter, the formations matter, everything matters. But it's valuable experience that hopefully we continue to get opportunities to get them out there because you never know when it's going to be a game-winning situation.