Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will speak with reporters at 12 p.m. EDT today via Zoom for his weekly Thursday press conference.

I'll use this thread to provide updates from it.

More information about Central Michigan than your probably need to know:

For those of you who read Charleston's snap counts story and/or my analysis from Sunday, the initial PFF grades and snap counts were subsequently updated. The biggest change to the grades affected offensive linemen and defensive backs. Rocco Spindler, for instance, took a big hit, while DJ Brown got a big boost. Adon Shuler ended up not having played at all on defense. Not sure if someone was under-caffeinated (they do these overnight) or it was intern week, but thanks for your patience with this. We have adjusted our stories to reflect the changes.

With Pete Byrne of WSBT, I discussed the success of Notre Dame's two-minute offense in the first three games of the season and whether the No. 9 Irish (3-0) should consider using an up-tempo pace more frequently with quarterback Sam Hartman.

Inside ND Sports is partnering with WSBT to provide even more coverage of the Notre Dame football season. My segment will air every Monday on WSBT22 News at 5.

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I put together a rundown of the the prospects in the the first Rivals100 for the 2026 who have either received a Notre Dame offer or previously visited the Irish. Five have done both.

The backstory is here. And that logo!

Interestingly, Tom V. Morris was a philosophy prof at Notre Dame at the time he did this video.

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Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported today a change in the Notre Dame-Miami (Fla.) series in upcoming years. The two teams were scheduled to play at Notre Dame in 2024. That game has now been pushed back to 2026. The Irish are still scheduled to play at Miami in 2025.

Notre Dame previously added a home game against Louisville to the 2024 season. Without the Miami game, Notre Dame only has 11 games on the schedule. We'll see if the 12th game comes from an ACC team or not. The Irish currently have four ACC games on the 2024 schedule.

See our future schedules list here:


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Former Notre Dame offensive lineman Bob Morton (2002-06) discusses his grade for the Irish offensive line through three games, the downside of potential personnel switches on the line, how much time the line should be allow to iron out its issues, how QB Sam Hartman compares to Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn, the advantage of an unbalanced line, what he's liked about offensive coordinator Gerad Parker, ND's defensive pass rush, his confidence going into the Ohio State game and more.

Then @Eric Hansen and I answer questions from Twitter and The Insider Lounge (22:40).

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Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker spoke with local beat writers Tuesday night ahead of Saturday's home game against Central Michigan. Here is a transcript of that conversation. Questions may be paraphrased.

GERAD PARKER

What’s the key to the continued success in the two-minute drill before halftime?

“To be fair, confidence breeds more of it. So, I think our guys having early success in those moments has certainly bred some confidence from it. So, there’s an expectation more than, ‘What’s the situation?’ They already know what the situation is, and then I think they have an expectation to play well in those moments.

“That is the first key and certainly great decision-making and being on point with what we’ve done and how we’ve been available to the ball, when to get it out of bounds, and our situational awareness of our quarterback has put us in position to be successful these first three.”

Does it help your confidence when Marcus Freeman is calling timeouts to set it up?

“It’s huge. You want him to feel that way about us and our operation. We want our guys to feel it too and I think they are. Even with as little time as we had this past week, I think everybody knew there were two operations there. You hand the ball off to start the drill to kind of see what happens. We’ve all seen that. Everything’s always in play, but at this point, you really have a feeling of, ‘Hey, let’s go after this and see if we can’t put something on the board.’”

Having No. 10 running the show helps, doesn’t it?

“Guys, you all know this. You’ve done this longer than me. We all understand what’s going on and why. We’ve got a smart football team. Our offense knows our deal, and we’ve got a guy that’s playing confidently at the quarterback position.”

How do assess your first three games as coordinator? What have you assessed good and bad?

“To be fair, I think the assessment has been stay the course. What we tell our players to do is try to remove any distractions from things that come up as you have a little bit of success early. That would be my reality of just staying grounded and humbled. For us, moving forward, the things on my mind are making sure that we — If you look at this and great play-calling and offensive football, you want to make sure, ‘Hey, are we diverse? Are we getting our best players the football? Are we putting our guys in the best position to be successful? And then are we establishing who we want to be as a personality on offense?’ Those things to my mind are the first three things that pop in my head to make sure we stay true to ourselves.”

You feel like you’ve come out of the gate well and where you want to be?

“Yeah, I feel like – I say I, we too — we feel like the preparation made spring, late-spring, summer and all those things have put yourself in a momentum piece to where you were prepared to attack this thing instead of learning how to play good football on offense as it went. We have to do that, too, but I think Game 1 we were prepared to play efficient and be good on offense early, which has bred to some success. Hopefully, we’ll handle some three-and-outs and some things that happened in that game where you don’t panic and just handle it.”

It seems like a good sign that you were able to bounce back from six three-and-outs, right?

“Amen. Do we want those? No. But I’ll say this. We knew, and I think you told you guys and you all knew it, that’s a good operation. Tony Gibson’s as good as it gets, and I mean that. He is as good as it gets. Their operation is good. We knew there were going to be some punches thrown that we were going to have to manage and deal with. I thought for the most part, our staff and players dealt with them, and then when we were able to strike, we struck. We were able to put points on the board.”

Did you go into the game thinking you’d need to use the unbalanced formation to get some things rolling in the running game?

“Oh, absolutely. We knew were going to have to give different pictures, and it is a testament to [offensive line coach] Joe Rudolph and the things in his past and all those things to find a way to make them have some difficulty fitting. Because we knew by lining up in conventional formations and how they looked on film against the things they’d done, that’s some tough sledding and it was.”

Did you know you wanted to run the Estime unbalanced call out of the break?

“Absolutely, and it’s ones we had repped. You put your finger on a couple, ‘Hey, we need to get these up to get this thing going.’”

How much have you used unbalanced in the past?

“In the past, none until that week of preparation, and we want to keep it that way. We had repped and prepped it all week to have it ready. It certainly is easier to do that, to pick and choose to do that, in the week of preparation with a guy named Joe Alt, too.”

Can you flip it the other way? Put Blake on the other side?

“(laughter) Yeah, the answer is yes!”

When you’re in a game absorbing three-and-outs, do you call plays differently knowing you’re going to need some shots rather than 10-play drives?

“I don’t know how that gets received by the fans of the world, but we can’t abandon who we are. So I hope we as a staff, I believe we stayed true to our personality. Then as it went, there are certain things you better do and adjust to do to give that thing some air, if that makes sense. As the half went into the second half and we got some air, that’s when some explosives off some run fits happened. I guess it’s yes, you do, but at the same time, you better stay true to it and not just abandon ship. That’s not what we’re going to do at Notre Dame.”

When the three-and-outs started to add up, do you feel like you’re searching early in the game to find something that works? And it’s a great call on the run by Hartman.

“Well, thank you. Yeah, did it a little bit different than what everybody would think it was. You’re always trying to make sure and communicate, ‘Hey, let’s get this thing going.’ Human nature takes over to where you don’t want two to turn into three and so on. But that kind of got us going a little bit and certainly the long field goal after the penalty got us going to get us on the board. When you get something on the board, you feel something through your staff and your players to get it going.”

Do you script of 10 or 12 plays for the two-minute drill? Each week it has been a different mix of plays.

“That would be fair. Maybe not that high of a number. Our staff, hopefully — I believe we’ve done a really good job of empowering our staff. Everybody has studies throughout the deal. Situational studies, run game, two-minute, four-minute, second down — we divvy it up. [Wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey] does our two-minute study. I trust his eyes. We watch through it, do film study, kind of see what we believe is going to be the best hits for what they’re going to give us in those scenarios, put them on the sheet and call them. Then let our guys make them work. So the answer is yes, you definitely have a plan.”

Why has counter been so important to the run game?

“It’s growing and it’s been fun to see it grow. Personally, selfishly, I love it. I love counter. There are plenty of ways of doing it to an open side, to a closed side. Again, our growth as a staff, [running backs coach] Deland [McCullough], Joe and what they’ve brought to the table with that has helped it grow. It’s a personality. Our guys have a lot of confidence with that ball hitting that way from our lead back on down through our whole back crew. They like hitting that.”

Do you and Marcus Freeman ever choose running backs for specific situations?

“Yeah, constant conversation, because all of them are different. It’s a great lineup of a back room with all different talents and abilities, and it’s been really cool to try to piece them together to put them in that position. And then also give credit where credit is due to guys in certain situations when we’re on the plus side of the field where Audric, it’s like, ‘Hey, he needs to be in the football game here.’ But to be able to add some speed to it and some space to it with [Jadarian Price] or [Jeremiyah Love] and all the things we can bring to it has really made us different. We have to keep on capitalizing on it.”

They really are different.

“Yeah, different, and hopefully it continues to make us that way.”

(more)

On Wednesday, I confirmed three new visitors who plan to attend Sept. 23 against Ohio State. Inside ND Sports will continue to have updates on the running visitors' list thread.

First is 2025 four-star running back target Daniel Anderson, who said his entire family will accompany him on this visit. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back attends Bryant (Ark.) and was mostly recently at Notre Dame in July. He's visited Auburn and Arkansas so far this season but does not report offers from either.

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2025 OT three-star offensive tackle target Michael Roeske also told me he plans to watch the Irish against the Buckeyes. The 6-8, 290-pound recruit attends Wautoma (Wisc.) High and has not yet visited the Irish in his recruitment. Offensive line coach Joe Rudolph extended an offer in May. Roeske visited Wisconsin in late July and holds an offer from the Badgers.

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2025 four-star linebacker target Marco Jones said he plans on visiting Notre Dame's matchup against Ohio State. The 6-4, 215-pound linebacker has not yet visited campus. He attends Danville (Calif.) San Ramon Valley and visited Alabama, Texas and Tennessee this summer.

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Here’s the latest on Notre Dame women’s basketball recruiting:

This past weekend the Irish hosted 2025 prospect Leah Macy. It’s the third time the 6-foot-2 forward from Elizabethtown, Ky., has visited Notre Dame.

ESPNw ranks her as a five-star prospect and the No. 8 player nationally in the 2025 class, after she averaged 25 points and 13.2 rebounds as a sophomore at Louisville (Ky.) Mercy Academy. She has since transferred to Bethlehem High in Bardstown, Ky., for her junior season.

According to sources, Notre Dame is zeroing in on two prospects in the 2024 class the Irish hope to sign in November. Kate Koval, a Ukraine native who plays her high school ball at Long Island Lutheran in Glen Head, N.Y., is scheduled to take an official visit to Notre Dame on the weekend of Sept. 23, when Notre Dame hosts Ohio State in football.

The 6-4 Koval is the nation’s top post player and No. 5 player overall in the 2024 class. She also has visits set to LSU and Miami this fall, and visited Stanford back in the spring. ND feels good about the fit and where the Irish are positioned. Koval wants to major in pre-med.

The other 2024 target is Mackenly Randolph, a 6-foot forward from Sierra Canyon School in Encino, Calif. She’s also deemed a five-star prospect by ESPNw, and is the No. 21 player in the 2024 class.
She is taking all of her visits in October, and will make her way to ND for the USC football weekend on Oct. 14. She released a top five last month of Notre Dame, South Carolina, Duke, Louisville and Michigan State.

Two more elite top 2025 prospects and a top 10 2026 prospects are looking to line up unofficial visits in October.
The 2025s are center Sienna Betts, a 6-4 center from Grandview, Colo., and the nation’s No. 3 overall prospect per ESPNw, and Aaliyah Crump, No. 6 in the ESPNw player ratings and a 6-1 guard from Minnetonka, Minn.

Also looking to visit this fall is Addison Bjorn, a 6-1 guard from Park Hill South High in Riverside, Mo., near Kansas City. She is the No. 8 prospect in ESPNw’s 2026 rankings.
I’ll have a story on all this later this week, but I wanted to give the board the news first and a little more insight and discussion points.

The team is in its third week of individual and group workouts and is expected to morph those workouts into actual practices toward the end of the month.
All four newcomers — freshmen Emma Risch and Hannah Hidalgo, and grad transfers Anna DeWolfe and Becky Obinma — continue to impress.

A lot of you want to know about guard Olivia Miles, who had knee surgery in the spring. I was able to get both Olivia herself and head coach Niele Ivey both on record this summer as saying her availability to start the season isn’t a guarantee and they’re going to err on the side of caution to make sure she’s 100 percent recovered before she starts playing in games.

So, as to not put pressure on Miles to speed up that timetable, they’re not going to say much publicly or privately out of respect for her process.

However, what I can share is they’ve been encouraged by the progress she has made, and there have been no setbacks.

Corey Costner, a three-star athlete in the 2025 class, reported an offer from Notre Dame football Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound safety/wide receiver is credited with two pass breakups, one interception and three catches for 63 yards in the first two games of his junior season at Baltimore's Perry Hall.

The Irish joined the likes of Penn State, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Minnesota on Costner's offer list.

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Here are highlights from this season and then his sophomore year.

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It's time for round 3 of Place Your Bets for the 2023 season with Saturday's road game at NC State (12 p.m. EDT on ABC).

I detailed the results of the Tennessee State prop bets here and updated the standings for the season.

@Eric Hansen's ahead of me by one point with an 8-7 lead. @Scottclarisey is right there with him with eight correct bets. Three others, including @Tcnd543 and @wernd, have seven correct.

Eric and I will share our predictions for the NC State game Friday on YouTube, but you can start submitting your predictions through the Google Form now.


Here are the five prop bets for Notre Dame-NC State:

• Over/Under 2.5 touchdown passes for ND QB Sam Hartman
• Who will be second in carries for ND’s offense? (Tiebreaker: rushing yards)
• Over/Under 44.5 rushing yards for NC State QB Brennan Armstrong
• Will Notre Dame intercept a pass?
• Over/Under 1.5 sacks for ND’s defense

Remember the top two subscribers in the Place Your Bets standings at the end of the 2023 season will get one year (first place) and six months (second place) of a free subscription.

Get your picks in before voting closes prior to kickoff on Saturday. Make sure you include the same email address with your submission as you did last week. And if you haven't shared the username associated with your entry, please email it to insidendsports@gmail.com.

Anyone heard this possibility to fill Miami opening?

Sam Hartman didn't seem to like my wording when I mentioned his previous struggles against NC State, but I wanted to get the story behind this photo sequence that Rick Kimball captured for Irish Sports Daily. Scroll to the right to get the scoreboard point and a pouting face.

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Here's what I asked: "It seemed like you had some fun with the crowd at NC State. I know you've played there some times before. Was there extra meaning to winning at NC State after having some struggles against that team in the past?"

His response: "I mean, I don't know about struggles, but that's kind of the narrative there. I was waving to my mom, and a guy was saying something. So I just kind of pointed at the scoreboard. It was pretty simple at that. I mean, the struggles that I was criticized for, obviously it wasn't too big of a struggle down there. We were happy with the execution of our team, especially up front. Guys dominated and created a new line of scrimmage, so it was good."

For the record, before Saturday, Hartman was 72-of-131 passing (55.0%) for 945 yards and six touchdowns against NC State while also throwing six interceptions and being sacked 13 times in one win and two losses. That's almost 5% lower than his career completion percentage and a way worse TD:INT ratio than his career (3:1).

Noah Grubbs already holds the Irish offer, too

Notre Dame hasn't had a true No. 1 wide receiver for the first three games. Sam Hartman doesn't seem too concerned.

“It’s just the flow of the offense,” Hartman said. “When you have a strong run game, it opens up a lot more pass game options. From the tight ends to the slots to the outside receivers, everybody can get a chance.

“They’re all really good players is probably the second part. When you get that many guys on a roster that can all play, you want to get them all the ball in space. Even the running backs in space too. You want to give everybody a chance to go make plays in space.

“Like you’ve seen [tight end] Davis Sherwood getting open and catch the ball space. You’ve seen Holden Staes catch the ball in open space. Everybody’s making great plays. You want to share the wealth. That’s the No. 1 thing.”

Thanks to all who submitted questions for me and @Eric Hansen on our latest podcast. These are the questions we answered with timestamps.

22:51 • @ldlgoirish: Is Jack Kiser more Drue Tranquill or Greer Martini? They are tied together by their ability to have great games against Navy. And their PFF grades are somewhat similar. I thought Jack Kiser played well again versus NC State.

25:29 • @dr ndirish: Can we get NCS linebacker # 11 Wilson in the transfer portal next year

27:20 • @Bob_Oxnard: Do you think Rubio would play this weekend if our opponent were Ohio State?

29:10 • @CharlesWWolfe: Is it an overreaction to be bullish on the defense, or did weather conditions play a big factor in NC State’s struggles? Also, are penalties a concern going forward, or do you see this as a one-off?

31:19 • Marie Biafore - @biafore_marie: The offensive line seem to struggle some this past weekend. How would you grade the line overall , and can you comment on the individual play of each of the starters, and what they need to improve prior to the Ohio State game.?

37:20 • @MurrayOConnell: Dante Moore, so far, looks like the real deal (minus NIL mess.) If he had come to ND, does Sam Hartman?

40:00 • frank serra - @frankse44617564: Will ND focus more on the Tight-ends since they are dealing with a young WR group and injuries to their receivers?

42:28 • @NotreDameExpert: The three famous foods come to mind with Notre Dame football - Joe Montana chicken soup, bye week cheeseburgers, and rain delay hot dogs. Rank them

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Shortcut to the question queue: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/notre-dame-football-live-chat-sept-13-2023-16468.html

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR AL GOLDEN

09122023

That was a shorter halftime the other day because of the lightning delay. Was that a little NFL-ish for you?

“Yeah, it was. We were very quick. We had some time prior to that when we solved some things. Yeah, we had a little bit of time. Hot dog time, apparently. I missed that, by the way. No, but it was quick, and sometimes that's better. Sometimes you can just stray too far away from what the guys are comfortable with. And I think less is more for these guys, and just trying to [talk about] one, two or three things to hang your hat on and move forward.”

Is there a danger in outsmarting yourself with halftime adjustments? What comes into play?

“Are they play-repeaters? Or do they hold something back until the third quarter? You see all that. It's like anything else, right? Like, you have to take care of your own business. Execute what you have and then adapt to the couple of problem plays. There's always problem plays. There's not any coordinator out there, there is not any defensive coach out there that's not dealing with a problem. There's always a problem play. It doesn't matter who you play. And you’ve got to resolve it, or it's going to bother you all game.

“And then the other thing that most people don't think about is sometimes they want you to adjust, so you take the cheese. And then it's something else on top of that, that's more explosive. So, sometimes you’ve just got to be like, Do I really want to go down this path? Or do I want to give them that four or five yards — you know, what I mean?’ So, that's the game within the game.”

You played a triple-option team that threw six passes. You had a game that was out of hand by halftime and you had a unique quarterback with his running ability last week. So, do you really have a sense of what your pass rush can do in a game?

“Yeah, I'm excited about our pass rush. I mean, there was no pass rush against Navy. Again, most of our starters are out by halftime. And our play count wasn't very high against Tennessee State. And then last week, it was really gameplan-oriented. So, I thought our guys executed the gameplan really, really well. Somebody said his [Brennan Armstrong’s] yards per attempt before that last drive were like 4.7 or something on 40-something throws. That's collective defense, and that's what we're preaching. The only thing that matters is the score. So, we're better at situational football. The sudden-change stop was awesome. We have a good mentality with that. We’ve got to keep improving in the red [zone]. Two more stops on third down, and it's a good day, that kind of thing. But I think we're playing fast. We're tackling. We're attacking the ball. So that's where we’re at.”

I know you were a college tight end. How did you get to the point where you ended up on the defensive side of the ball for good coaching, other than a year here or there?

“Nothing ever fazed me. I coached tight ends in the NFL. I coached linebackers in the NFL. I coached inside linebackers, outside linebackers, defensive ends, tight ends. I was special teams coordinator. So for me, I just never wanted to be pigeon-holed. And learn new things and have a broad perspective. So, I feel like I’ve got a really good big-picture perspective on game day. I don't get too stressed out, just work the problems. And I think without that background, it's hard, because you don't know how they're sliding their protections or how they're numbering their running game. But if you do it, if you did it for a living, iIt's a little bit easier to reverse-engineer it.”

You guys are a base 4-3 team, but I remember you from Virginia, you were a 3-4 guy under Al Grph. Does that background help you?

“There are moments like the other day, there was a couple of defenses I was thinking about coach Groh. I was thinking about coach Groh, because it was 9/11, and then I was watching some of the game and I was thinking about coach Groh, because we were together on that day. We were getting ready to play Penn State, so that was just incredible, to have that day unfold. But I was thinking of him, because there are elements that we still use. And there was a certain defense that was exactly the way we ran it against Charlie Whitehurst and Clemson in, whatever, 2002 [or] 2003 — exactly the same. I wanted to send it to him. I'm going to have to send it to him.”

You mentioned the sudden change and how important that was in the game. You almost prepped for it with those three-and-outs. Is it just the maturity of your unit, where you go in there knowing …?

“Yeah, I think they are mature. I think everything was like tilting away from us. [Starting yard line was] plus-48 on the first series start, minus-40, and then the fifth one was minus-40 again, so like three midfield starts, and our guys didn't blink. They just went out there and fought their tails off. So again, the unity on our team is awesome. They had a sack, we were three-and-out [on offense]. The crowd was going crazy. And [our] guys, it’s like nothing. Nobody's throwing helmets. Nobody's bitching. Everybody just stays together and works the problem. That environment. That's a hell of an environment. I don't know what their record is at home the last couple of years, but I can't imagine they’re losing many. So anyway, it's a great environment down there, and it was just good that we stayed together. It was awesome.”

You called Howard Cross “fast hands Howard” when you got here. What makes him so tough to block?

“Get-off, leverage, fast hands. natural strength. I'm not saying he's not weight room-strong, because he is. But I mean natural strength, the ability to contort and bend and get out of bad positions. He’s just really flexible and pliable in terms of defeating blockers and getting flat down the line. His effort right now is incredible. The plays that he's making on the perimeter, all you’ve got to do is go back. They were going this way.”

The play that he just kept running around and got him at the end?

“Yeah, got him at the end. So, it's a great, great probably seven-, eight-second play, and he probably covered 60, 70 yards, but that's the kid right now. That's how he's playing. It means a lot to him. And he's tough as nails, and I'm glad he's on our team, because he’s just hard. He's rugged.”

Fifty-eight snaps. He probably hasn’t been at that level for a while, maybe going back to the ankle injury last year?

“Looks great. Looks great. Tough, mentally tough, physically tough, in great condition. And a great model for our young guys. Like, how do you finish plays at Notre Dame? Just watch him.”

You had to play a big chunk of that game without JD Bertrand because of the concussion. How do you feel the other linebackers, like Kiser and Sneed, stepped up?

“Great. Awesome. They did great. Jaylen, let's start there. Jaylen is really, really progressing. Today was a great practice for Jaylen Sneed. Like he’s just got to make it small, continue to win the day, stack good days, and then that's going to become who he is. Like, he's got it in him. And it means a lot to him. He's just got to continue to prepare and keep it small. Jack, I thought, was phenomenal. And again, answered the bell again today with a great practice, so just really excited about the group and just whoever's up is up. Again, I know the outside world talks about play counts or this, that — like it's everything. Linebackers are on special teams. We're on early downs. We're on third down. We're on base. We're on sub. Like, there's a lot of different roles that these kids do, and they're doing a great job for us.”

Donovan Hinish, what's allowed him, other than an injury, to surge?

“Even if it wasn't for the injury [to Gabe Rubio], he was really getting right there, where he was in the mix. So, I love when guys work quietly. He just worked quietly. Wasn't playing as much as he wanted to early on. Never pouted, just worked harder. It means a lot to him. And then I love kids that just work in silence, work in silence, work in silence, work like an animal. And then you get this opportunity, and you shine, because you're ready for your opportunity. Like that's the moral of the story for young guys, you don't know when it's your turn. And, all sudden, it's his turn in Raleigh, and he answers the call. So, I'm happy for him.”

My friend Drex Heikes is a diehard Oregon fan. He was the editor of their school newspaper back in the 70s. He went on to become a longtime editor for the LA times. Last year, after Oregon suffered a tough loss to archrival Washington, he wrote a sports article that I believe is right up there with Grantland Rice's best.

Drex had a ticket to see Oregon play USC in Eugene on September 23, 2001. He wasn't able to go, as he was put in charge of the LA team that got sent to New York to cover 9/11. This is the story: Offering Perspective on a Difficult Loss.

We are a 34.5 point favorite. Do we cover the spread?