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Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman says Irish staff is “in no rush” to name a 2024 starting quarterback after Day 1 of spring practice
SOUTH BEND — Jordan Faison, freshman sensation for Notre Dame football and lacrosse, spent Thursday’s spring football practice in observation-only mode.
Irish football coach Marcus Freeman said the plan is for the speedy wideout to lean this spring toward his midfield duties with the defending national champions. Through four games, Faison has scored nine goals and added three assists for the sixth-ranked Irish (3-1), who play at Ohio State on Saturday.
“It’s not that lacrosse has to get him to us,” Freeman said. “He’s all in on lacrosse. He’s going to be doing lacrosse this entire spring. We have to make sure we structure our practice and the things we ask Jordan to do around the demands that he has to do in lacrosse.”
On the football field, where the Sun Bowl MVP is the leading candidate at both slot receiver and punt returner, Faison’s workload will be much lighter.
John Wagle, Notre Dame’s director of sports performance, helped structure a spring plan for Faison and sophomore linebacker/infielder Drayk Bowen, a reserve on the baseball team. Loren Landow, newly hired director of football performance, huddled with Wagle and his counterparts in baseball and lacrosse to make sure the two-sport phenoms aren’t overworked.
Bowen, a full participant in Thursday’s practice, was shaken up in period 13 and hobbled off the field to huddle with team athletic trainers.
“If the demands on Jordan … are going to be something where it’s going to be detrimental to him to practice, we’ll hold him out,” Freeman said. “He is full in lacrosse right now. Our job and our challenge is to continuously get him better, and the same thing goes for Drayk.”
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Bowen, a standout on special teams last season and IndyStar Mr. Football in 2022, isn’t expected to miss much football work this spring.
“He’s required to do less, physically, than Jordan,” Freeman said. “You’ll see Drayk obviously having more football workouts and then practice. It’s what your body is required to do in lacrosse vs. (baseball).”
Notre Dame linebackers coach Max Bullough noted last month that Bowen might have travel conflicts due to baseball for a few weekends this spring, but otherwise is prioritizing football.
“He’ll be here,” Bullough said. “He’s not missing anything football related.”
When Bowen raced home as a pinch-runner to score his first career run, Bullough and the rest of the linebackers were watching.
“As soon as that happened, we texted him: ‘You’re still representing the linebacker room,’ “ Bullough said. “If you’re going to play, go play.”
Bullough sees benefits in the dual-sport track.
“I think the baseball helps him,” Bullough said. “I don’t think kids play enough sports nowadays. Just doing all the different sports helps a lot more than people think. Spatial awareness, just understanding things, ball awareness. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do right now.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for NDInsider.com and is on social media @MikeBerardino.
2024-03-08 00:58:20
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