Find out what Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman told Massillon crowd Tuesday

MASSILLON − Marcus Freeman was willing to come to Massillon.

He wasn't willing to name Notre Dame's starting quarterback — transfer portal arrival Riley Leonard, or anyone else.

"Competition leads to growth," the third-year head coach of the Fighting Irish said Tuesday night. "By the time we play Texas A&M, we'll name a starter. But right now it's a competition."

Freeman spoke to the The Repository shortly before addressing a lively packed house enjoying food, drink and Fighting Irish spirit at Massillon Eagles #190.

Dr. Mike Thomas, president of the Notre Dame Club in Canton, said nobody recalls the last time a Notre Dame head coach spoke in the Canton area.

It's fitting that a leader of the Fighting Irish would visit now and then.

Massillon's Harry Stuhldreher was the most prominent member of the famed "Four Horsemen of Notre Dame," the quarterback of the 1924 team that is marking the 100th anniversary of a national championship.

Stuhldreher was a 5-foot-5 high school quarterback for the Massillon Tigers before making All-America three times in South Bend.

That's the old story. There's a new one:

Freeman married into a Massillon family. His wife was Joanna Herncane when she graduated from Washington High School in 2001. They have six children.

Joanna worked through the social-hour crowd and was chatting near her dad, Mel, when she said she wasn't sure how they pulled off bringing in her husband. Clearly she enjoyed being home.

Freeman called Massillon his "second home," dating to 2005 when he and Joanna met when they both were Ohio State students living in the same apartment complex.

Freeman, from the Dayton area, grew up a Bengals fan.

"My wife, being from Massillon, is all Brownies," he said. "She's done a great job convincing every child in our house to be a Browns fan."

For what it's worth, ex-Brown Chansi Stuckey was Freeman's wide receivers coach in 2022 and '23, but was not retained.

Freeman, 38, was a linebacker on two Ohio State teams that played in national championship games.

He was a defensive coordinator at Cincinnati before moving to Notre Dame in that role in 2021, replacing Brian Kelly as head coach in 2022.

Freeman's Notre Dame teams have gone 9-4 and 10-3.

The 2023 Fighting Irish were 4-0 and ranked No. 9 before falling 17-14 to No. 6 Ohio State. Two weeks later, a 33-20 loss at Louisville had social media burning.

A 48-20 rout of No. 10 USC restored some good will.

A 31-23 loss at unranked Clemson dipped the record to 7-3, but the Irish finished strong with wins over Wake Forest, Stanford and No. 19 Oregon State by a combined 141-38 score.

"There were a couple of instances where we didn't perform at the level we needed to to win," Freeman said. "You need to take those lessons you learn as valuable information to improve. That's what we did."

Losing hurts, he conceded.

"For coaches, every game is the Super Bowl," he said. "You get 12 of 'em."

The ex-Buckeye is 0-2 against his alma mater, having dropped the 2022 season opener 21-10 in Columbus prior to an embarrassing 26-21 loss to Marshall in the home opener. His '22 team saved some face with a 35-14 win over No. 4 Clemson in November.

Of the two games against the Buckeyes, Freeman said, "Great programs want to play great teams. Ohio State is a great opponent. They presented great challenges to our team. There's a lot of lessons to learn from both of those games."

At the end of a question-answer period, he confided his hero, along with his parents, is Jim Tressel, who was his head coach at Ohio State.

"There's nobody other than my parents, who had a bigger impact on me," he said.

"I couldn't tell you half the things Coach Tressel would tell us. But I remember how he always made you feel … how he made every person in our football program feel important.

"We won a whole bunch of games, but the most important lessons I learned from him were treat everybody with respect and make sure everybody feels important."

Freeman said he is not in position to compare the culture of current Ohio State football to Notre Dame football.

"I haven't been at Ohio State since 2010," he said. "I can't speak on their culture. I can speak on what our culture is at Notre Dame. It's built on a strong brotherhood of a bunch of individuals that commit to each other and have to be unselfish and commit to the team.

"We try to promote an environment where you choose hard. That's what Notre Dame is — choosing hard, choosing hard every day."

It was suggested to Freeman that being in the big chair in South Bend must be hard.

"That's for somebody else to judge, what's hard and what's not," Freeman said. "For me, it's a great occupation. It's so rewarding to be around these young people and see them have success.

"Any great organization or great business it's going to be a challenge. If it was easy anybody could do it. I love the challenge. I love being the head coach at Notre Dame."

Notre Dame has several Ohioans on the spring roster — tight end Mitchell Evans (Wadsworth), running back Gi'Bran Payne (Cincinnati LaSalle), defensive lineman Brenan Vernon (Mentor), safety Ben Minich (West Chester Lakota), kicker Zac Yoakum (Upper Arlington) and offensive lineman Aamil Wagner (Wayne).

Evans, coming off ACL surgery, Evans has a chance to be one of the first few tight ends picked in the 2025 draft. In back-to-back games against Ohio State and Duke last season, he caught 13 passes for 209 yards.

"He was a weapon for us until he got hurt," Freeman said. "When he gets back fully recovered, we expect great things. He's a talented individual who creates mismatches. We can't wait to get him back."

Is there a realistic hope Evans can play in the opener?

"Yeah," Freeman said.

Other Fighting Irish players who seem headed for the early part of the '25 NFL draft include cornerback Benjamin Morrison, defensive lineman Hoard Cross III and safety Xavier Watts. Watts won the 2023 Bronko Nagurski Award, given to the top defensive player in college football. He intercepted Caleb Williams twice in a win over USC.

What are team expectations for 2024?

"We're in the building phase," Freeman said. "Every year you start over from ground zero with a new collection of talent, new coaches and players. I just want to see this group reach its full potential and play at its full potential."

Later, Freeman told the crowd, "Our objective is to finish in the playoffs."

Leonard came through the transfer portal from Duke. He was 4-0 as the Blue Devils' starting QB last season before a 21-14 home loss to Notre Dame in which he suffered a high ankle sprain.

Leonard might be headed for a start in the Aug. 31 kickoff against Texas A&M, whose new head coach is Mike Elko, who jumped from Duke.

Freeman said Leonard is experienced and "very talented." He praised Steve Angeli for quarterbacking Notre Dame to a 40-8 Sun Bowl win over Oregon State, and suggested Angeli is in the hunt to start.

Freeman seemed to connect with the audience, which included his former Ohio State teammate and North Canton Hoover graduate Curt Lukens.

He smiled and glanced at his father-in-law, Mel Herncane, when someone asked how he met his wife.

Long story short, to quote the Notre Dame head coach:

"Six kids later …"

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman previews 2024 Fighting Irish