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Marcus Freeman Just REVEALED Something That NOBODY Saw Coming | Notre Dame Football | Fighting Irish · College Football Addiction: A Show About All Things College Football

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  Speaker 1: What's up domers. Thank you guys for joining us today
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  Speaker 1: on college football addiction. We are presented by prize picks.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk more about them in just a moment. It
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  Speaker 1: is finally game week, at least week zero, not for
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  Speaker 1: the Notre Dame fighting Irish, but we are thankful to
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  Speaker 1: have college football back. There's a ton of hype that's
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  Speaker 1: built around this Notre Dame fighting Irish football program right now.
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  Speaker 1: And you guys already know about the expectations for this program.
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  Speaker 1: Individual honors are rolling in and have been for the
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  Speaker 1: entirety of the offseason, but everyone following this team knows
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  Speaker 1: that preseason praise does not win games in the fall.
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  Speaker 1: The real question that we need to answer with this
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  Speaker 1: program is whether or not it has addressed the early
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  Speaker 1: season issues that have derailed previous campaigns. Behind closed doors,
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  Speaker 1: the coaching staff has revamped their entire daily approach to
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  Speaker 1: eliminate complacency and demand a sharper focus. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: a very pivotal recovery on the defensive side of the
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  Speaker 1: ball could completely reshape the ceiling of this entire roster.
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  Speaker 1: Everything is building toward a massive opening test that will
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  Speaker 1: reveal whether this new standard of Marcus Freeman's is real.
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  Speaker 1: I do have a lot that I want to talk
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  Speaker 1: about today, so let's get into it. CJ Carr's name
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  Speaker 1: landed on the 2026 preseason Manning Award watch list, and
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  Speaker 1: nobody in South Bend, or really across the country, was surprised.
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  Speaker 1: It's announced by the All-State Sugar Bowl. The list features
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  Speaker 1: 40 of the top quarterbacks in college football. It's named
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  Speaker 1: after Archie, Peyton, and Eli, and the prestigious award has
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  Speaker 1: been handed out since 2004. For CJ Carr, this is
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  Speaker 1: not a sudden jump in status. It is a natural continuation.
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  Speaker 1: Last season, he was completely left off of every preseason
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  Speaker 1: list and Instead, he forced his way onto the national
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  Speaker 1: radar as one of the 22 midseason additions. He earned
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  Speaker 1: Manning Award Quarterback of the Week honors after Notre Dame's
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  Speaker 1: 56-13 rout of Arkansas. He completed 22 of his 30
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  Speaker 1: passes for over 350 yards and four TDs. He threw
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  Speaker 1: for just under 300 yards, 294 to be exact, in
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  Speaker 1: the first half alone. That marked the highest single-half total
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  Speaker 1: by an Irish quarterback since 2008. From there, his stock
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  Speaker 1: just kept climbing. He finished as one of just 10
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  Speaker 1: national finalists for the award and only one of two
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  Speaker 1: freshmen to make the cut. Through his first seven games,
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  Speaker 1: he completed 65.8% of his passes for 1,758 yards. He
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  Speaker 1: had four TDs and four picks. He added a couple
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  Speaker 1: of scores on the ground through those games as well.
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  Speaker 1: He ranked fifth nationally in yards per completion at 14.53.
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  Speaker 1: He was eighth in yards per attempt at just under
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  Speaker 1: 10% and he was 11th in passing efficiency at over 166.
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  Speaker 1: He led every freshman quarterback in all the country across
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  Speaker 1: all three of those categories. By the end of the season,
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  Speaker 1: he totaled 2,741 yards. He had 24 touchdowns and just
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  Speaker 1: six picks across his 12 starts. He totaled three rushing touchdowns.
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  Speaker 1: He threw a touchdown pass in all 12 games, setting
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  Speaker 1: the longest such streak by a Notre Dame quarterback since 2014.
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  Speaker 1: He was also named a finalist for the Sean Alexander
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  Speaker 1: Freshman of the Year Award and a semifinalist for the
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  Speaker 1: Davey O'Brien Award. Here's the key detail that I think
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  Speaker 1: Irish fans should circle. The Manning Award is the only
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  Speaker 1: major quarterback honor that factors in postseason bowl games and
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  Speaker 1: college football playoff performance. Finalists will be announced on December 4th,
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  Speaker 1: and the winner will not be revealed until after the
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  Speaker 1: national championship game. Archie Manning framed the watch list as
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  Speaker 1: a starting point, saying every year players emerge throughout the season,
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  Speaker 1: and that's one of the things that makes this award special.
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  Speaker 1: He also stressed that the quarterback award is given to
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  Speaker 1: the quarterback who has the best performance over the entire season.
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  Speaker 1: Indiana's Fernando Mendoza took home the hardware in the 2025 season,
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  Speaker 1: and this year's list also features Arch Manning, Julian Sayen,
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  Speaker 1: Trinidad Chambliss, and others. Carr now enters 2026 as a
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  Speaker 1: legitimate Heisman Trophy favorite in the eyes of national oddsmakers,
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  Speaker 1: leading a fifth-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish squad. For a
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  Speaker 1: program that spent decades chasing elite quarterback play, having the
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  Speaker 1: sport's most decorated family from a passing lineage put Carr
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  Speaker 1: on its short list before taking a single snap feels
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  Speaker 1: like validation. But validation of what exactly is maybe the
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  Speaker 1: next question. The award Carr is chasing is not decided
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  Speaker 1: until January, and Notre Dame's real problem has Never really
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  Speaker 1: been January. It's been September. The Irish opened 2025 at 0-2,
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  Speaker 1: and that rocky start cost them a shot at back-to-back
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  Speaker 1: college football playoff appearances. No Heisman campaign can survive two
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  Speaker 1: losses in the first two weeks, so the real question
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  Speaker 1: is not whether or not Carr is good enough, it's
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  Speaker 1: whether anything inside of that building has actually changed. Marcus
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  Speaker 1: Freeman's answer comes down to just two words that he
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  Speaker 1: has been repeating since the day he was hired. Those
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  Speaker 1: two words? challenge everything. We'll get back to that in
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  Speaker 1: just a moment, but I want to tell you, we
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  Speaker 1: have games this weekend. There are actual college football games
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  Speaker 1: taking place, so we are picking some lineups today. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to take the more on Florida State's Ashton Daniels'
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  Speaker 1: rushing yards. Give me that total. I love it. I
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  Speaker 1: think Florida State will try to see what he looks
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  Speaker 1: like running the ball. I think they'll try and get
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  Speaker 1: his legs going just a little bit. You want to
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  Speaker 1: keep him healthy against New Mexico State, but they will
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  Speaker 1: run some with Daniels this weekend. I also like the
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  Speaker 1: more on TCU's passing yardage. Now, I know what you're thinking.
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  Speaker 1: That game's in Dublin. Look, we've played that game before.
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  Speaker 1: We know the weather. North Carolina is not good. And
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  Speaker 1: I'd like for them to be good because the Belichick
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  Speaker 1: story is interesting, but I just don't see it. I
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  Speaker 1: think TCU has a field day against that defense, against
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  Speaker 1: that secondary. Give me the more on both those. Pair
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  Speaker 1: a couple of things like that together and you've got
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  Speaker 1: yourself a lineup. Use our code HMA. All new users
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  Speaker 1: who win their first lineup get $ 150 in lineups instantly.
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  Speaker 1: if they place that $ 5 lineup using code HMA. We
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  Speaker 1: appreciate PrizePix for their support. Go check them out. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Freeman first introduced that phrase, that challenge everything phrase, during
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  Speaker 1: his opening press conference back in December of 2021. And
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  Speaker 1: now it's one of the three pillars of the golden
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  Speaker 1: standard alongside unit strength and competitive spirit. This offseason, Freeman
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  Speaker 1: aimed that challenge straight at the single unresolved flaw of
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  Speaker 1: his tenure, slow starts. The result was a fall camp
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  Speaker 1: that was built around a completely different clock. Freeman said
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  Speaker 1: it's challenge everything, asking how they could continue to find
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  Speaker 1: a better way and noting that after debriefing the first
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  Speaker 1: 10 practices, the staff met roughly 15 more hours than
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  Speaker 1: the previous year. That meant more meeting hours with almost
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  Speaker 1: zero wasted seconds inside them. Freeman said everything is condensed,
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  Speaker 1: pointing out that transition time, break time, and the gaps
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  Speaker 1: between walkthroughs and meetings were completely jam-packed. He noted that
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  Speaker 1: there were barely any spots for downtime from the minutes
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  Speaker 1: players entered the building to the minute they left. Freeman
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  Speaker 1: could only demand that pace because of the veteran talent
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  Speaker 1: on this roster. Notre Dame now features one of the
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  Speaker 1: most experienced and expensive rosters in all of college football.
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  Speaker 1: That allowed the coaching staff to skip the basic fundamentals
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  Speaker 1: that other programs are still teaching in August. He said,
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  Speaker 1: maybe you can do that in year three with the offense,
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  Speaker 1: in year two with the defense, in year four with
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  Speaker 1: special teams. Freeman emphasized their intentional focus to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that they play at even higher elevation in week one.
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  Speaker 1: Recovery was still strictly protected. Anytime you have a coach
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  Speaker 1: that's pushing the limits, you certainly want to focus their
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  Speaker 1: and players were sent home at a decent hour so
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  Speaker 1: they could handle the next jam-packed day. Then Freeman turned
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  Speaker 1: his attention to the outside noise, and he didn't soften
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  Speaker 1: his message one bit. Following one scrimmage, he told his
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  Speaker 1: team point-blank that he was not satisfied with their focus.
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  Speaker 1: He said, it feels good when somebody tells you you
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  Speaker 1: did a good job, but we got to be more
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  Speaker 1: obsessed with execution. Freeman said, adding to that, players need
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  Speaker 1: to stop worrying about whether coach told them they did well.
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  Speaker 1: His sharpest critique was aimed directly at a locker room
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  Speaker 1: that lives online. He said, I hope they're obsessed with
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  Speaker 1: improvement and not getting a Twitter follower or an Instagram
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  Speaker 1: like because they're in a certain video. He emphasized that
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  Speaker 1: the staff's loud voice must be even louder than anything
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  Speaker 1: the players read on social media because you can't become
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  Speaker 1: great by listening to what others say about your program.
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  Speaker 1: For a fan base that watched September slip away last year,
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  Speaker 1: this is the most tangible evidence yet that freedom diagnosed
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  Speaker 1: the problem and you rebuilt your fall camp just to
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  Speaker 1: fix it. Yet there is one thing that a condensed
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  Speaker 1: schedule cannot touch. You can shorten a meeting. You can't
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  Speaker 1: shorten a rehab, especially a knee rehab. Notre Dame's most
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  Speaker 1: complete defensive player tore his ACL on November 22, 2025,
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  Speaker 1: meaning this entire plan leans on a recovery that was
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  Speaker 1: never supposed to be finished this early. The player that
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about, you guys know who it is, Kingston
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  Speaker 1: Viliamu Asa, and he is the biggest stock-up story of camp.
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  Speaker 1: After tearing his ACL during the 70-7 route of Syracuse,
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  Speaker 1: he is now practicing roughly six weeks ahead of schedule.
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  Speaker 1: The 6'3, 230-plus-pound junior already has 85 tackles, five passes defended,
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  Speaker 1: and four sacks across 25 games. On the first day
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  Speaker 1: of fall camp, he jogged onto the field without a
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  Speaker 1: brace and without even a protective sleeve. Villamu also said,
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  Speaker 1: It's a huge step. It's comfortable, and I feel like
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  Speaker 1: I can move. This is his second career ACL tear,
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  Speaker 1: dating back to his freshman year of high school, and
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  Speaker 1: he insists that going through it before gives him a
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  Speaker 1: clear advantage. He said, Going through it the second time,
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  Speaker 1: I have a lot more confidence knowing that I've done
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  Speaker 1: it once. He emphasized his utmost confidence in the leg,
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  Speaker 1: new linebackers coach, Brian Jean Mary, who underwent six knee
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  Speaker 1: surgeries during his own playing career was left stunned. He said,
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  Speaker 1: it's very rare noting that without watching film from last year,
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  Speaker 1: you would never know that he was injured. He added
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  Speaker 1: that teammates even joke that Vili Amuasa has mutant healing powers.
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned that in a previous video on him, and
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  Speaker 1: you guys got a kick out of that one. The
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  Speaker 1: defining moment of camp arrived during a team period when
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  Speaker 1: Vili Amuasa took a block from center Ashton Craig, his
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  Speaker 1: ACL rehab partner for the last nine months. Kind of ironic,
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  Speaker 1: Vili Amuasa reflected, calling it a great feeling to share
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  Speaker 1: the field again with a brother who walked that same road.
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  Speaker 1: He's already on the Butkus Award watch list and enters
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  Speaker 1: the year as a potential preseason All-American. A return for
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  Speaker 1: the September 6th opener against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field would
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  Speaker 1: mean he just missed one game. Depth chart projections have
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  Speaker 1: him starting at Will Linebacker next to Mike Linebacker, Drake Bowen,
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  Speaker 1: with Jaden Osbury, Jalen Sneed, and others right behind them. Still,
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  Speaker 1: Vili Amuasa refuses to look ahead. That's in the future,
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  Speaker 1: he was quoted as saying, focusing entirely on having a
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  Speaker 1: great fall camp and other strong practice the next time
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  Speaker 1: he hits the field. That mindset that he's got puts
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  Speaker 1: everything on one defining date. September 6th at Lambeau Field
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  Speaker 1: against Wisconsin, a Heisman favorite quarterback, a camp rebuilt to
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  Speaker 1: erase slow starts, and a star linebacker returning less than
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  Speaker 1: a year after reconstructive surgery. Three separate stories will be
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  Speaker 1: answered by the same kickoff. And the last time Notre
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  Speaker 1: Dame walked into an opener this confident, They didn't start
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  Speaker 1: out the way that you guys would have wanted. I
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  Speaker 1: think it's going to be different this time. Let me
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  Speaker 1: know your thoughts down in the comments. We are days
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  Speaker 1: away from college football being back, and we're only a
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  Speaker 1: little over a week away from Notre Dame themselves being back.
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  Speaker 1: Love to hear what you guys think down below. We'll
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  Speaker 1: see you next time here on College Football Addiction.