SOUTH BEND — Out from under a blanket of heat and humidity and into the cooler climes of an air-conditioned press conference room in Notre Dame Stadium late Wednesday morning, you waited and wondered.
More like hoped and prayed.
Hoped and prayed that Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman would step from the golf cart that ferried him from the practice fields around (breaking news!) all that campus construction before he stepped to the podium and offered the media something of substance.
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Something stunning that would make a sluggish first day of Irish football practice worth writing on.
That’s because this day was just kind of there for a Notre Dame football team that likely will open the season ranked in the Top 10. For a Notre Dame team that likely will (better) close the season as one of 12 teams in the College Football Playoff. For a Notre Dame team that has a chance to be and do something special.
The expectations for this program are enormous. Even for the first day of practice. Wow us. They didn’t.
Wednesday was the first workout open in its entirety to the media (boo!). Wednesday also was the last workout opened in its entirety to the media (yay!). Next time we see as much of Notre Dame’s offense, defense and special teams as we saw Wednesday, it will be Labor Day Saturday night in Kyle Field with over 102,000 of our closest friends. Gig ‘em.
The rest (best?) of what’s to come from these Irish this preseason will be behind closed doors. Or, in this case, closed gates, which will keep curious eyes from seeing exactly how it’s all going to come together. It won’t, however, shut out the cacaphony of the construction of Shields Hall outside the north practice gates.
The anticipated/expected energy from the practice fields — a given on the first day — waned. Music that’s often bouncing from the speakers with a bass beat cranked up was dialed down. With a youth soccer camp next door, those footers brought more energy than the Irish footers.
Not even seeing what we all came/wanted/needed to see — first team offense versus first team defense — moved the meter. Quarterback Riley Leonard made some good throws, like that out route to Clemson transfer Beaux Collins. He also got aggravated when his pocket avalanched on him earlier than anticipated. Better get used to it.
There were too few whoa moments on either side. It was a weird day. Not good. Not bad. Not indifferent. Weird. Instead of leaving the 90-minute session with a feeling of “FOOTBALL’S BACK!” it was more like, “Meh, football’s back.”
“A typical first day,” Freeman said.
The first day looked a lot like a first day for a team loaded with veterans should look. This is an Irish outfit that will be good when it needs to be good. Some days, they’ll set a dominant and defiant tone. Some days, they’ll need to be pushed. Wednesday felt like one of those days. Someone needed to push them. Oh, by the way, welcome back, Mike Denbrock. Your practice field verbiage (and honesty) was missed.
This one had the feel of a workout where the veterans on either side of the ball could’ve hit another gear, but never did. This one was nothing like that day down in Culver in 2019 when a freshman safety had three interceptions. There is no Kyle Hamilton on this squad. No manhood moment like in Freeman’s first year when a pair of veteran offensive linemen (no use calling them out) were not conditioned enough to get through the first practice and had to be carted out.
The closest we got to anything like that Wednesday was when Freeman, watching quietly off to the side, chased a veteran defensive back who should know better and asked him not so subtly to move his feet faster back to the huddle. Freeman barked once. He barked twice. He didn’t bark again. That sequence ended practice.
Freeman sidestepped singling out anyone for doing anything well immediately afterward, saying he needed to watch the tape before coming to any proclamations. He’d get to a few. Like the defense is good (duh!). The offensive line is inconsistent (that may not change). Leonard certainly looks the part and there might not be enough footballs to go around for the wideouts.
For the 25 minutes that Freeman was at the podium, he played it like a drive down the fairway up the way at Warren Golf Course — straight down the middle. He also played his typical presser hits.
Freeman talked of players returning from injuries that limited them in spring (cornerback Benjamin Morrison, tight ends Kevin Bauman and Mitchell Evans) and how all should be full go for the opener. He talked (again) of director of football performance Loren Landow’s offseason influence. A Freeman presser doesn’t go official until he answers something about Landow.
Freeman did touch on the quarterbacks. This was where it could’ve gotten good. Newsworthy. Tweet (X) worthy. Imagine if the third-year Irish head coach pounded the podium and said, yep, Leonard’s our quarterback and we’re moving forward. Steve Angeli just has to stay ready.
Instead, what we got was:
“Riley’s going with the ones; Steve’s going with the twos,” Freeman said.
Sigh.
Day one’s done. It will get better, right?
It better.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI. Contact: (574) 235-6153.
This article originally appeared on South Bend…
South Bend Tribune
