DUBLIN, Ireland – As Notre Dame kicks off what many inside the program believe could be a College Football Playoff-type season here Saturday in its long-running series with Navy, the Fighting Irish are opening 2023 as a deeper, and more importantly, much fresher team, according to second-year coach Marcus Freeman.
After studying injuries from Notre Dame’s 2022 preseason camp, Freeman met with members of Notre Dame’s medical team and sports science staff – namely sports performance director John Wagle and head athletic trainer Rob Hunt – to brainstorm for a modified camp approach that they believed would be more efficient, and healthier, for the Irish.
Earlier this week, Freeman touted the results: the Irish cut down on concussions by more than 50 percent, drastically reduced soft-tissue/muscle injuries and also had almost 80 percent fewer issues of players dehydrating, Freeman said.
“I looked at the injuries from last year in fall camp, and I said we have to find a better way to do this,” Freeman said. “I think we were down over half the concussions. I know we decreased in every soft-tissue ligament injury in all facets. We really decreased the injuries. I know the (milder) weather helped, but I think we were 79 percent down in dehydration for fall camp.
“Our team did a great job. The sports performance team, the medical trainers, our coaches really did a great job of keeping the guys healthy and making sure we have everybody we need [going into the season].”
On Thursday, less than 48 hours before the Irish were set to kick off against Navy inside Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Freeman shared that he had carried an adaptable, modified approach into this game week.
“We had to make some adjustments based off of what I thought going in on Monday and how I wanted to be structured versus what the total output was,” said Freeman, 9-4 last season in his first campaign as head coach. “I had to change a little bit of Wednesday’s practice because the heat added something to that [temperatures soared into the 90s in the South Bend, Indiana, region].
“(John) Wagle and Rob Hunt were able to give this report at the end of fall camp and say I want you to know we’ve done a good job at keeping our players healthy. Here’s some data that will tell you that. It’s good to see. I wish there was a perfect science, and we’ll evaluate it after this season. There’s always going to be a way to improve. It is what it is. You have to find a way to improve, but I hope we can look back after the season and say we prepared the right way or we need to enhance it a little bit more.”
The Irish’s most noteworthy camp injuries were ACL tears for tight end Kevin Bauman and defensive end Aiden Gobaira. Otherwise, Notre Dame enters its season of great expectations with its roster largely intact.
In addition to the health and work-load management components, Freeman also mandated his coaches devote time with more reps featuring second- and third-team players on offense going against the top defense, and vice versa during specific periods of practices.
That, Freeman also said, has left the Irish with improved depth as they open the season against Navy in what is the first of eight-straight games for Notre Dame.
In fact, Notre Dame’s season will be halfway finished – with six games completed – before the calendar flips to October.