The media watched a few minutes of football practice for the first time since fall camp Sunday. Here are a couple newsworthy tidbits to immediately take away from what we saw....
--Freshman offensive tackle Blake Fisher was suited up and a full participant.
--Offensive line coach Jeff Quinn was business as usual in coaching his unit.
--Juniors Kyle Hamilton and Kyren Williams, who both recently declared for the NFL Draft and will therefore sit out the Fiesta Bowl, did not appear to be in attendance in any capacity.
5:40 pm ET update:
--Freshman offensive tackle Blake Fisher was suited up and a full participant.
--Offensive line coach Jeff Quinn was business as usual in coaching his unit.
--Juniors Kyle Hamilton and Kyren Williams, who both recently declared for the NFL Draft and will therefore sit out the Fiesta Bowl, did not appear to be in attendance in any capacity.
5:40 pm ET update:
- This was the first practice where we could see Marcus Freeman up close and in action as a head coach. The takeaway? He operated exactly like he did when we watched him in August when he was still the defensive coordinator.
- What does that look like? He’s constantly moving around and interacting with players. During stretching, he was going up and down each stretching line dapping up players and greeting them. Even the offensive players. Just like he did in the spring. This is a first-hand look at the kind of infectious energy and outgoing personality you hear about.
- Freshman offensive tackle Blake Fisher was in full pads and practicing. He has not played since suffering a meniscus injury in the season opener. He was wearing a brace, but he didn’t look restricted in his movements during the portion we watched. Freeman said it’s too early to know if he will be 100 percent cleared for the Fiesta Bowl.
- Offensive line coach Jeff Quinn was his usual vocal self. His loud, raspy voice was impossible to miss during position drills. We have stated he’s not expected to return to his position next year, but he’s coaching through the bowl game and operated business as usual today.
- After stretching, the team began practice with the “opener” – a new component Freeman put in just this weekend. It’s an offense vs. defense drill. Today, it was DB vs. WR/TE one-on-ones. There were only about five or six in total. The defense won for the second straight day. Yesterday was OL vs. DL.
- Running back C’Bo Flemister wasn’t dressed in uniform. Neither was safety Ramon Henderson (hamstring). Freeman expects him to be ready for the Fiesta Bowl.
- Outside of one dropped pass, freshman wide receiver Lorenzo Styles looked really good in one-on-ones. Defensive backs were not able to guard him on crossing routes over the middle. Styles was even wide-open on the play in which he dropped the pass.
- Senior wide receiver Braden Lenzy was noticeably a step or two ahead of defensive backs too. He was effective on one-on-ones toward the boundary. Lenzy is coming off one of his best performances of the season with four catches for 49 yards and a touchdown against Stanford. He could build on that in the Fiesta Bowl with more productive postseason practices.
- It was business as usual for the quarterbacks. Graduate senior Jack Coan had the lion's share of one-on-one and routes on air reps with freshman Tyler Buchner and sophomore Drew Pyne splitting time behind him. The competition between Buchner and Pyne should really heat up after the new year.
- There were a few recruits scattered around the building, putting a bow on an eventful recruiting weekend for Freeman and company ahead of Wednesday's opening of the early signing period. The big screen inside the IAC displayed a montage of highlights from Notre Dame's 11-1 regular season.
