Notre Dame Coach Marcus Freeman Talks Linebackers, Jayden Thomas, Clarence Lewis

NOTRE DAME, IND. - With three consecutive wins under its belt, Notre Dame is one game into its two-month closing stretch of eight games to close out the regular season. Saturday’s win over BYU started that stretch and now it’s on to this week’s home game with Stanford.

Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman officially got the Stanford game week started with his Monday press conference, where he shared his thoughts on several players.

Can Prince Kollie Expand His Role?

Prince Kollie has seen the field in Notre Dame’s last two wins over North Carolina and BYU. The sophomore linebacker played just eight snaps in Las Vegas, but he totaled two tackles and a sack. Freeman was asked Monday if there is room for Kollie to join the linebacker rotation with a bigger role.

"Yeah,” Freeman noted. "I challenged him last week. Prince, you continue to build trust in practice. There is no such thing as a gamer. Your team needs you to be a great practice player and that’s my challenge to Prince and that’s my challenge to many other players in our football program. Everybody talks about Michael Mayer. Michael Mayer is one of the best practice players I’ve been around. That’s what we need our young guys to be and for Prince to go and make a big play like that, man, it was good to see. He’s a talented football player. And he had a really good week of practice. He played more this last game than he probably ever has.

"You’ve got to challenge yourself, man,” Freeman continued. "We need great practice players, because that builds confidence in your coaches to put you out there in a game. That's what I hope to see him do, because listen, talent sets the ceiling of how good you can be and Prince’s got a high ceiling. Continue to put (in) the work in practice to gain confidence in your coaches and that’ll make you a better football player. I think he can be really special.”

Jack Kiser On The Inside

Jack Kiser has primarily played Rover during his Notre Dame career, but the Royal Center, Ind native has been playing inside linebacker alongside JD Bertrand. Freeman discussed the move.

"We’re gaining more and more confidence with him,” Freeman said of Kiser playing inside. "He’s doing a good job in there. Jack’s an extremely intelligent player. He’s probably, if not the, one of the most athletic linebackers we have. That’s why we played him a lot at Rover, where you’re playing him out in space. He can do so many different things and what you’re seeing now is him playing middle linebacker and getting everybody lined up, but also just executing at a high level.

"We’re going to have a challenge and it’s great, it’s healthy competition to say, ok if we end up with two linebackers on the field versus Stanford, who’s going to be the first two going out,” Freeman continued. "Because JD’s back and he came in the second half and played really well. Jack, overall for the entirety of the game, played really well. And Marist (Liufau) is a guy that we need to play better, but he’s playing well. Let’s have a little competition to see who’s going to be the first two to go out there.”

Jaden Mickey Bouncing Back

Jaden Mickey has played well as a true freshman cornerback, but he has also had his share of learning moments this season. He gave up a touchdown pass in man to man coverage in a zero blitz against Ohio State in the season opener. A misread in zone coverage Saturday allowed a 53-yard touchdown catch and run by Kody Epps. Freeman discussed Mickey’s response to such miscues.

"I think anybody, when you have a little bit of negativity, man, you’re going to lose some confidence,” Freeman explained. "But Jaden’s a confident kid that has to continue to play at a high level and he will. He’s a good football player. He’s playing more than probably 90 percent of our freshmen right now. He’s still a confident kid. He’s a really good football player. We have to continue to make sure that we’re coaching him the right way and he’s executing the right way.”

Jayden Thomas On The Rise

Sophomore receiver Jayden Thomas had the best game of his young career against the Cougars. The sophomore went into the game with three receptions for 34 yards this season, but he made three grabs for 74 yards, including a 30-yard touchdown.

His 74 yards are the most in a single game for a Fighting Irish wide receiver this season.

"Last year as defensive coordinator, I didn’t know much about him and then throughout the course of the year I keep hearing about this Jayden Thomas,” Freeman said when asked about the sophomore. "He’s a big, physical...runs great routes. And then as we got into the spring, same thing and then fall camp. But the production wasn’t there. I keep hearing he’s having great practices, but the production’s not there. What you’re finally starting is see is, he had three catches, but they were big catches. One was a touchdown, one was a third down and I can’t remember the other one.

"He is probably, I don’t want to say the, but one of our best route runners and can be one of our best receivers and playmakers on offense,” Freeman continued. "We’ve just got to continue to improve, but he’s got to continue to do it in a game, because he’s practicing at a high level. He’s one of those guys that are practicing at a high level. So, when you see that’s playing a lot, maybe doesn’t have a lot of production in the games, but is still playing a lot, that means he’s earning that trust in practice. Jayden’s been a guy that’s practicing at a high level. I think what you’re seeing now is the results of that in a game.”

Clarence Lewis’ Just Miss

Cornerback Clarence Lewis nearly had the play of his life Saturday. He jumped on a ball thrown by BYU quarterback Jaren Hall as Lewis moved outside the receiver he was covering. Lewis likely would have raced to the end zone untouched if he made what would have been Notre Dame’s second interception of the game (and the season), but instead, the ball bounced harmlessly off his hands and to the Allegiant Stadium turf.

"That was a heck of a play,” Freeman commented. "It could have been almost a SportsCenter type play, man. A pick-6, but he did a great job of having outside leverage, doing his job, doing exactly what he’s been coached to do, then he’s got to make it a spectacular play.

"That’s an example of what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to make sure you praise the things they do well. And you also, you point out the things they’ve got to improve at. You’ve got to make that catch and you’ve got to take it to the house. But you know what, you aligned correctly, you kept your leverage you did exactly what you’re supposed to do right until the end of it and that’s where we’ve got to improve.”

Lewis replaced TaRiq Bracy in the lineup as a true freshman two years ago, but he has had his own ups and downs while moving in and out of the lineup the last two seasons. Freeman says he is an example of what he wants everyone to be.

“There’s 75 percent of people in our football program, players that want more,” Freeman began. “There’s coaches that want more in life. Everybody wants more, but if you embrace your role, I’m not saying be satisfied, but if you embrace your role and you work tirelessly at it, I mean you work your tail off to be the best that you can in your role, more at some point is going to come to you and C-Lew is a great example of that.

"A guy that’s been a starter for two years, got a freshman starting in front of him,” he continued. "He’s still a big contributor to what we’re doing, but he embraces it. He’s not satisfied. He’s in (cornerbacks) Coach (Mike) Mickens’ office every day saying, Coach, make me better. If I’m not starting make me better and if I am starting make me better. That’s what you want. A guy on Saturdays that’s embraced the role that he has.”

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge