No. 5 Irish enjoy spirited workouts under new coach Freeman
By JOHN FINERAN
Associated Press
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Under new head football coach Marcus Freeman, No. 5 Notre Dame’s practices for its PlayStation Fiesta Bowl matchup with No. 9 Oklahoma State have been a gasser. Freeman, the former defensive coordinator who replaced Brian Kelly, has put his 11-1 Fighting Irish through seven practices preparing for their clash with the 11-2 Cowboys, and he likes those practices to be competitive from the opening whistle. “I call it our ‘Opener,’”said Freeman about his offensive and defensive units competing against each other with the losing unit having to run field-width sprints, also known as gassers. His players are all in.