On Tuesday afternoon, Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman took to the podium for his first game-week press conference of the 2025 season. The Irish are set to open the campaign on Sunday night at Miami. Here are five key takeaways from Freeman’s presser.
Jordan Botelho is back
Add another storyline to Sunday night – the potential return of Jordan Botelho. The graduate defensive end, who missed all but three games last year with a torn patellar tendon, suffered a torn pectoral muscle in May. He was expected to miss four months, but he’ll be available for the Miami game.
“The work he's put in to himself in a position physically and mentally to help this football team shows you his commitment to this football team – to putting in the work to help this team,” Freeman said.
Freeman, who has coached Botelho since he was his defensive coordinator four years ago, said that Botelho’s recovery is a testament to his maturity.
“I remember in 2021 meeting with Jordan, and he was a talented young person at that time but wasn't a complete football player [and] person yet,” Freeman recalled. “The maturity that he has truly displayed in these four years has been tremendous, and part of maturity is how you respond to negative things.”
Botelho enters the 2025 season with 11.5 career sacks.
The starting quarterback decision has gone over well
Early last week, Notre Dame announced sophomore CJ Carr as its starting quarterback. The positional battle between him and junior Kenny Minchey lasted longer than expected, with both practicing at a high level.
“CJ and Kenny both improved in training camp, and that's what you want out of a competition,” Freeman said. “You want both guys to find ways to elevate, and I believe they both did, and I had to make a difficult decision.”
For the program to be in the best position possible, both quarterbacks must recognize that the starting decision isn’t the end of the story.
“As I told both of them, we're gonna need both of them this year … they both have to be mature enough to handle that decision and understand they're chasing their full potential no matter if you’re named the starting quarterback or you're the backup quarterback,” Freeman described. “You have to continue to work – that's not the ultimate goal is to be named starter – it’s to be the best version of you, and both of them have gone to work.”
As expected, the decision has solidified Notre Dame’s practice and preparation. Carr is now more comfortable and confident in his role, and his teammates can build their play around him.
“When you're in a competition with somebody, there's a little hesitation to truly just lead as the quarterback should lead and be the leader of that offense,” Freeman said. “Both of them have done it in fall camp, but I think now there's direction, right? There is no confusion on who's gonna be the quarterback to start game one, and so you're gonna see that chemistry continue to build.”
Meanwhile, Minchey has taken the news exactly how Freeman anticipated he would.
“He was disappointed, but I knew after a day or so he was gonna use it to make him a better version of Kenny, and that's what I've seen,” Freeman said. “He's come out and he's practiced – he's prepared in a way that you’d expect Kenny Minchey to do, and that's a sign of maturity … You can use this as a motivator – you can use multiple different things as a motivator – to put the work in, but he will be ready if his number is called, and I knew that when I made this decision.”
Carr won’t be asked to carry the team
Though many Irish fans may see near-flawless play from Carr as requisite for a 2-0 start against Miami and Texas A&M, that just can’t be expected from him in his first career start. In what will be an extremely challenging environment at Hard Rock Stadium, Freeman aims to simplify Carr’s expectations and aggressiveness.
“Every play can't be a touchdown, every play can't be a bomb,” Freeman pointed out. “Trust the game plan, trust what you see, be who you are, and win this play … Be the best version of CJ Carr. Make those guys around you better. That's something that he does really well. He raises the play of those guys around him through his words, through his actions [and] through his competitive spirit.”
Of course, other factors on the field can help to take the load off of Carr.
“We have to understand that we can't expect CJ to be perfect,” Freeman said. “We’ve gotta protect him in the pass game in terms of our O-line but also protect him in the decisions we have him make. We can't put too much on his plate … We’ve gotta be able to run the ball – that's something that we know we have to be able to do – and defensively, we’ve gotta be able to help our quarterback. We’ve gotta get takeaways. We’ve gotta be really good on defense and make sure this isn't a shootout.”
Notre Dame will be tested in the trenches
When Freeman began to speak on Miami during his opening statement, he jumped right to their talent at the line of scrimmage.
“As I’ve watched them, they're probably developed a little bit like I view our teams in terms of being O-line [and] D-line driven,” Freeman said.
On the offensive line, the Hurricanes return four players who started for the team last year, the only exception being experienced TCU transfer James Brockermeyer at center. Defensively, Miami has lots of depth on the line, with defensive ends Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. catching the eye of Freeman. The two of them combined for nine sacks last year.
Winning the trenches will be key for the Irish, who enter Sunday with a severe experience disadvantage at quarterback. While Carr makes his first career start, two-year Georgia Bulldog starter Carson Beck gets the nod for Miami.
“[He’s] experienced, talented, has played in [as] big games as anybody we’ll see, any quarterback in the country,” Freeman said of Beck. “We obviously evaluated him tremendously last year as we got ready for Georgia, and he is an extremely good quarterback and makes good decisions, fast decisions, and so I won’t foresee [Miami] taking a step back offensively.”
The Irish defensive line will be ready
To counter Miami’s strength on the offensive line, Notre Dame wields a defensive line full of high-potential, but largely unproven, talent. Interestingly, sophomore Bryce Young is listed as a defensive end starter on the team’s initial depth chart, giving him an immediate chance to build on an attention-capturing freshman season.
“Physically, he's gotten bigger. He's a big man,” Freeman said of Young. “What you've seen from him over training camp is really handling his weight and using it in the right way of being a powerful football player, not just an edge rusher. He's now really enhanced his game to be a complete defensive end in the run and the pass game and so he's getting better, and he's a guy that came in as a freshman and was really freaking good, and he's continuously getting better.”
Regarding defensive tackle, Freeman admitted that the position was his largest question mark beginning the summer. However, he feels much more convictive now about his pool of players, beginning with junior captain Donovan Hinish, the younger brother of former Irish defensive stalwart Kurt Hinish.
“I told him, wearing number 41, he's got big shoes to fill because of his brother, and I came in when his brother was here, and I had one year with Kurt,” Freeman recalled. “Don't tell Kurt I said this, but Donnie's making me forget about the older 41, which is what Kurt would want, right?”
“I speak with a lot of confidence when I talk about that defensive tackle group,” Freeman said. “I think we're gonna see some big things out of them.”
