First day of Notre Dame football practice lacked a certain something

SOUTH BEND — Out from under a blanket of heat and humidity and into the cooler climes of an air-conditioned press conference room in Notre Dame Stadium late Wednesday morning, you waited and wondered.

More like hoped and prayed.

Hoped and prayed that Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman would step from the golf cart that ferried him from the practice fields around (breaking news!) all that campus construction before he stepped to the podium and offered the media something of substance.

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Something stunning that would make a sluggish first day of Irish football practice worth writing on.

That’s because this day was just kind of there for a Notre Dame football team that likely will open the season ranked in the Top 10. For a Notre Dame team that likely will (better) close the season as one of 12 teams in the College Football Playoff. For a Notre Dame team that has a chance to be and do something special.

The expectations for this program are enormous. Even for the first day of practice. Wow us. They didn’t.

Wednesday was the first workout open in its entirety to the media (boo!). Wednesday also was the last workout opened in its entirety to the media (yay!). Next time we see as much of Notre Dame’s offense, defense and special teams as we saw Wednesday, it will be Labor Day Saturday night in Kyle Field with over 102,000 of our closest friends. Gig ‘em.

The rest (best?) of what’s to come from these Irish this preseason will be behind closed doors. Or, in this case, closed gates, which will keep curious eyes from seeing exactly how it’s all going to come together. It won’t, however, shut out the cacaphony of the…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/first-day-notre-dame-football-192351256.html

Author : South Bend Tribune

Publish date : 2024-07-31 19:23:51

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