How the Notre Dame offense ‘peaked’ in Saturday’s scrimmage
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said the Irish offense had been “up and down” throughout the first 14 practices. It took a turn for the better on Saturday.
The team ran a scrimmage that reached close to 100 plays, Freeman said, and the offense won. Notre Dame has its own scoring system for its scrimmages — according to Freeman, if the offense does not turn the ball over or consistently go three-and-out, it has a good chance to win — but what the second-year Irish coach saw excited him.
“Today, they peaked,” Freeman said. “They peaked today.”
The defense took an early lead in the scrimmage, Freeman said, but the offense kept fighting back. The group led by graduate quarterback Sam Hartman only turned the ball over one time in almost 100 snaps.
Freeman was pleased with the defense’s performance, too, but he needed an encouraging sign from his offense and he got it.
“It’s really good to see them go out and execute at a high level,” Freeman said. “We had some guys that practiced today that have been out a little bit. I know [freshman running back] Jeremiyah Love looked really good, just seeing him out there, who’s been out for a week or two.”
Love had a chance to shine Saturday. The Irish held junior running back Audric Estimé, the unquestioned starter at that position, out of practice for what Blue & Gold believes was a rest day. Notre Dame knows what it has in Estimé and knows he’ll have to carry much of the workload in the run game this season, so the coaching staff is giving him days off during fall camp.
Additionally, sophomore running back Jadarian Price exited the scrimmage after one series (Freeman did not say why). With more reps, Love and Penn State graduate transfer Devyn Ford took advantage of their opportunity.
“They really performed at a high level in the run game, and Audric didn’t practice today,” Freeman said. “So you saw them perform in the run game with Jeremiyah Love, Devyn Ford, Jadarian Price, guys who haven’t proven it so much here yet. And you saw them perform in the run game, protection for the pass game.”
Freeman is preaching patience with his offense, not overreacting to the bad days and not overhyping the good ones. He tells his players not to dwell on the outcomes, instead instructing them to watch the tape, review the process and improve upon it.
So far, he said, despite a couple rough days, they have.
“If I’m standing back there and I feel like the defense is winning a drill, you can feel like it’s an up-and-down day for the offense,” Freeman said. “But as I’ve gone back and evaluated it, they truly just continue to progress. You’re not gonna win every drill, right? You’re not gonna win every team competition, but they have truly progressed.”
Any progress from the offense is made more encouraging by what the Irish expect from the defense particularly in the secondary. Reporters have seen Hartman try to go deep several times, only to find his receiver blanketed by graduate cornerback Cam Hart or sophomore cornerbacks Benjamin Morrison and Jaden Mickey.
For that reason, among others, Notre Dame can reasonably expect its offense to be better come Aug. 26 than it started in fall camp. And it can reasonably hope Saturday’s scrimmage was a sign of things to come.
“Today was a great peak,” Freeman said. “But I hope this ain’t a peak for what we’re gonna see in the future.”
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