Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman apologizes to penalized player
· Yahoo Sports
SOUTH BEND —Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman doesn’t usually watch the broadcast feed in his copious review of past games, but he made an exception for Michigan State.
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When he saw how he looked barking at Aneyas Williams after the running back drew a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration, Freeman was disappointed in himself.
“I watched my reaction … and I didn't like it,” Freeman said. “If that situation happened at practice, I have no problem with my animation and getting after him because he trusts me. He knows that I care about him.
“But I don't want outsiders and people that don't know the relationship I have with our players to see that because then you can make your own narrative or opinion of our relationship, and I didn't love that.”
Freeman yelled at safety Adon Shuler in 2024 after the future captain drew a 15-yard penalty for flipping the football at a Miami (Ohio) player along the sideline. In general, however, the players’ coach would rather err toward positivity in public.
Freeman said he reached out to Williams to let him know he loved him and that he intended to learn from the incident as well.
And while it was a Big Ten crew on duty against the Spartans, a call to the Atlantic Coast Conference office also gave Freeman a chance to review the end-zone celebration proactively as the Irish approach the league-partner portion of their schedule.
The message: “If they're going to celebrate, make it spontaneous. Don't be so choreographed.”
After barely breaking the plane of the goal line for a 1-yard touchdown that made it 17-3 in the second quarter, Williams gathered with his teammates and mimicked starting a chainsaw.
The junior from Hannibal, MO would get just two more touches the rest of the game, both coming in the fourth quarter, as backup Nolan James Jr. rushed a career-high 26 times for 121 yards.
Williams finished with nine carries for just 27 yards plus two receptions for 11 yards.
“I apologized for (the exchange) and I told him I was proud of him,” Freeman said. “He's got a lot on his plate, man, a lot of expectations. He puts a lot of pressure on himself to be this great running back and he just works tremendously.
“I'm really proud of who he is, the way he goes about his business, the leadership that he (shows). We all learned from that play, that moment. We can't hurt our team, but also I have to be more aware of what environment I'm in too.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman apologizes to penalized player