Hour 2: Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen, Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman, ‘4 Downs’ - Denver Broncos

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23:44The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

23:47Rich Eisen:rich eisen show is back on espn radio along with disney plus and the espn app marcus freeman head coach of notre dame football is here uh you know i i met cj carr for the first time as a little kid you know at a couple of michigan events um he was probably like six years old and i had a great chat with him the other day he's just a really good kid with a lot of great stuff um you know inside and the head on his shoulders. What's it like coaching him? Oh, man. It's almost like you create a player. And what does that mean is that if you want a competitive football player that's a winner, that is a leader, that prepares, like he does all those different things, and he's gifted with ability.

24:36But I think the thing that you just mentioned is off the field. He's just the perfect individual. I know he's perfect, but he is such a great human being. And it's a pleasure to coach him and be around him and to grow with him. And out on top of that, he's a heck of a quarterback. And so he's making our team better. And as I told him, that's his greatest responsibility. It's not to throw touchdowns, win the Heisman, be a first-round pick. It's to be the best leader he can be and to make his teammates better. Because if he does that, the rest of it will take care of itself.

25:13Rich Eisen:But that said, I mean, the Heisman hype is already beginning. How do you handle that as a coach? I think my job is to continue to remind him of where his focus should be. And that winning the Heisman is a reflection of a lot of different things. And so he can either waste time focusing on winning the Heisman or he can continue to focus on the things that will make him the best football player he can be. And he does that. But we all need reminders. And that's my job is to continue to remind him of what things are important. How do we take pressure off of you? When you think about winning the Heisman and winning national championships, those those that's high pressure.

25:52I mean, it's overwhelming. But when you think about I got to have a good Monday and I got to be the best teammate I can be and I got to encourage guys, I got to hold him accountable and I got to prepare. We can handle that. And that's where his focus has to be continuously.

26:06Rich Eisen:I had my fun with him a little bit when we chatted coach, because I asked him about how being left out of the college football playoffs last year affected him and how it's going to be potentially a chip on the shoulder of the team this year. And he's like, not really. And then he revealed your motto for the year is leave no doubt. I'm like, hold on a minute. Like we're, that's not just coming out of the ether. So is that your message? Leave no doubt based on last year. It's the interpretation of the message. A lot of people are running with this thought of we have a chip on our shoulder. We have to leave no doubt this year because of what happened last year.

26:44No, I use it and we use it as a reminder to leave no doubt today that this is the best Monday that you prepare tremendously. You did everything you were supposed to do to elevate on this Monday. and and that's how we're using that as a program is to leave no doubt with what we have guaranteed and that's this game in front of us that's the opportunity we have today and a chance to get better and so if we do that over and over and over and over then we'll leave no doubt for the season but we're not focusing on that we're using about leave no doubt today yeah i know but you're you're a whip smart individual you're it's you're not this is not your first rodeo you know how it's

27:22Rich Eisen:going to be interpreted right like leave no doubt like those moments that that that put an l on your sheet that cost you like leave no doubt because you could have you could have won right i mean you you do see that part of it oh yeah 100 and and and here's here's how we also use it is that we left doubt last year and it's our ability to not make an excuse and blame somebody else for not getting into the playoffs or not getting what we want. I think if every opportunity that's a negative situation, you can either blame somebody else, but then you don't use it. How do you use it to get better? But if all of a sudden you say, we left out, so it's our job to leave no doubt.

28:05Now you use it as an opportunity to evaluate everything you've done. We evaluate everything we did from January to fall. I mean, through through August to say, how do we make sure that we're better prepared for week one, no matter who the opponent is? I don't care if it was Miami last year or Wisconsin this year. How do we ensure that we are at a higher elevation that doesn't determine the outcome of the game? That doesn't determine it's not determined by what the score of the game was. It was determined by are we intentional about how we practice, how how much we practice, how much film? Are we a fresher team?

28:40All these different areas to make sure we're ready to go week one.

28:43Rich Eisen:Marcus Freeman here on the Rich Eisen Show. If you don't mind, I ask this of all your colleagues with your stature in the sport. you could wave a wand and make a rule to do something about getting more sense of what appears to have few rules that everybody follows together in the sport. What would it be? Oh, man. Yeah. What would it be? That is a tough question to answer with just one with one thing. OK. It really is. Well, if you want to expand it, go for it. You know, I think of a couple different things, right? I think of what's best for young people, the ability to transfer every year whenever they want or the ability to transfer maybe one time or whatever we come up with.

29:43But I don't think it's it's best for young people to be able to transfer nonstop without some type of of not punishment, but a there's something that you're something that's taken away, which could be you have to sit out a year. And I say that because when you you have to learn to overcome discomfort, you have to learn to overcome adversity. And it's not always a line to do that when at the end of the season, if you don't love the situation you're at or maybe somebody is offering you more money, do you just get up and transfer every time? And so I am such an advocate for young people. And I might not understood this at 18 to 22, but I understand this now at my age and that we have to continue to find ways to help them learn to be self-sufficient and overcome some different challenges.

30:41Rich Eisen:And where do you stand on the fact that high school is no longer just the only feeder system into college, the National Football League as well? Where do you stand on that front? Coach? Well, we I think I was asked that in a press conference the other day. We, you know, we we we can't, number one, admit a kid into school this late and think that they'll have a chance to succeed in the classroom and on the field. And so our AD came out and said he's in alignment with the Big Ten and the SEC with not allowing guys that have signed professional contracts to come back to school. And so I'll let that speak for itself.

31:22But at the same token, like for me, when they say the young man will not be prepared to have success if we admit him into school, we started school last week. and they've done through all their admissions process. That makes a lot of sense. We don't want to put these young people in jeopardy.

31:39Rich Eisen:Well, the thing I was talking about here too is what about all the kids that were busting their butts in spring and summer, thinking that they have earned a spot, earned a certain number of snaps, and then all of a sudden the Cleveland Browns cut somebody and you're going to have them come on the team two weeks before the season and say, welcome, come on. That ain't easy either. That's not easy. It's not right. And somebody could argue that, hey, okay, what if you get somebody hurt for the year? Because you can replace a guy that's out for the entire season. I just still don't think that's great for college football to be able to do that.

32:16Rich Eisen:All right. A couple more minutes left with Marcus Freeman entering sixth season as Notre Dame head coach. Who is a worse helicopter dad, Jerome Bettis or Larry Fitzgerald? Those two, you don't ever see them around. You see them at the game, and they support their sons. Sometimes it's those ones that maybe didn't play, that they might be around more than the Larry Fitzgeralds and the Jerome Bettises. Okay, so they're not helicoptering anywhere? No. Not making demands of uniform numbers or anything like that? No, no, no. Now, I'm not listening to the one-on-one conversations. Okay. I don't see my son's a wrestler at Cornell in his first year.

33:04And I'm never there. But now we do have some some conversations on the phone that maybe somebody said, man, you're a helicopter dad. Well, let's do the phone, you know. And so. All right. You know, but they're not here at practice or things like that.

33:17Rich Eisen:That's a bummer. It'd be pretty cool to have him around at some point. Imagine, you know, not too bad. They're accessible. I'll tell you that. OK, that's cool. And let's talk about, you know, your favorite Jeremiah Love story, because he's on a launching pad right now out there in Arizona. What do you got for me? Your favorite Jeremiah Love story, Marcus? There's a lot of them, but probably the one that sticks out is when we were doing a home visit when he was in high school. And I saw him at school and I said, hey, we'll be at your house tonight. And we beat him to the house. And so his father and mother were giving us a kind of a tour of the house.

33:52and right in his room, like he had these perfectly aligned shoes. I can't remember how many there were, but they're perfectly aligned. And I think when we start looking at him, there's a couple of coaches there and his dad said, don't touch one of those shoes, because if you do, he'll notice. He knows exactly how to replace him. And that's a little bit of who he is, man. He wants everything placed perfectly, his locker perfectly. And, you know, that was something that I always remember about him.

34:21Rich Eisen:Did you think about maybe testing that out by touching one of his shoes and seeing? No, I didn't know him that well at the time. I was a little bit worried. Like, man, is this dude, what's going on? Is he going to come after us or something happens with his shoes? But once you get to know him, you know, it's a little bit of that kind of that OCD. He wants it perfectly. He wants everything aligned the way he has it. Yeah, I think that that would be helpful maybe for a football player. and more that way than sort of like a stepbrother's drum set moment, which you don't want to have. But just seeing him in the preseason action, it's just one of those things.

34:59Rich Eisen:Clearly, obviously, we're watching your games, but to see him with professional football players, you could just see he's got it. People were mentioning Adrian Peterson type of build and burst and things like that. which is a high praise. I don't mean to put it on him, but he just looks it right now. That is high praise, man. I remember watching it. I actually played against Adrian Peterson in the high school All-American game, and he made me look stupid in that game. And I watched him as he went on his college and his pro career. He did that to many other people. But I only saw clips of one game where Jeremiah played, and I think it was the one versus the Raiders, and you saw him jump over somebody, you saw him do that spin move.

35:47And I always, even in college, I held my breath every time he had the ball because I worried about, man, him getting hit when he did one of these spin moves. Or, you know, he's just got this unique body where I used to call him gumbo. Like he's like he can take hits and not get injured. But, you know, I'm sure when he's in the air in the NFL, that GM and that owner saying, hey, man, keep your feet on the ground. And so I just want him to stay healthy because if he does, he'll play a long time.

36:21Rich Eisen:Yeah, I was watching that game next to Michael Robinson and Maurice Jones Drew on the NFL Network set. And every single time that he did that, they're like, keep your feet on the ground, kid. Don't do that. But he's got such an incredible skill set and obviously being drafted as high as he was. that's why we're talking about him before i let you go let's talk about jadarian price jadarian's got like this opportunity here he's he's playing for the defending super bowl champs who dispatched or let the super bowl mvp walk from that spot how good do you think he can be what what are you hearing from him as well i know that's two questions in one but what do you have on that front I remember having a conversation with him after the season saying, hey, you know, you can come back here and be RB1 and to get all these carries in the show, the NFL, what you do with the opportunity to be RB1.

37:15And, you know, he obviously went to the NFL and still became a first round draft pick. So now it's going to be interesting to see him do it at that level. And I'm as confident in him because of the way he works. Shadarian is a team first guy, but will work tirelessly to be the best version of him. He's on a great team with a great coach. And, you know, his running backs coach is Thomas Hammock, who was the head coach of Northern Illinois, who I've gotten to know a little bit. And he reached out after they drafted him and maybe had minicamp and said, he's everything you told me he was going to be.

37:51and I'm excited to see what the fruits of his labor becomes here his first year as a rookie in the NFL.

37:58Rich Eisen:Well, I say to you, sir, thank you as always for joining here. Best of luck to you, certainly against Michigan State. You and I, you know, we see each other on that one. You know where that's coming from. And, you know, say hi to everybody when they're coming through. Jerome and Larry are two of my favorite people. I just saw him in Ohio for the Hall of Fame. and I can't wait to see what you do with CJ Carr this year. Absolutely, man. I appreciate it. I'll let him know you said hello. Please. And always, it's a pleasure to be on your show. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. That's Marcus Freeman, the head coach of Notre Dame football, getting set to take on Wisconsin in Lambeau Field, of all places, on NBC.

38:39Rich Eisen:That'll be a lot of fun right here on the Rich Eisen Show. That's Marcus Freeman. Boom. Love it. I think he's protecting Jerome. I think Jerome's a helicopter.

38:54Rich Eisen:I saw both of them in Ohio, obviously. Jerome, he's so psyched. Yeah, wow, of course. He's so psyched. Because he's like, you know, CJ Card, just like me, could have played for Michigan, but we decided to go to Notre Dame. All right, enough. I get it. I get it. Both from Michigan. You could have played there. No, you go to Notre Dame. I get it. That was fun. All right, we take a break. Denver Broncos four downs and I've got also Les Snead coming up and your phone calls at 844-204-RICH right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

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40:04Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

40:40Rich Eisen:A SoFi personal loan is here to help you achieve something once thought impossible, and that's overcoming high-interest credit card debt. Walk the tightrope of your finances with one low fixed rate monthly payment, no fees required, and as soon as the same day funding. That's right. Pull off your own debt-defying stunt with a SoFi personal loan. Visit SoFi.com slash trick to learn more. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. All right. I've got myself a four-down season preview of the Denver Broncos. Boy, we're getting down to the nitty and the gritty now, huh?

41:20Rich Eisen:Yeah. How many teams left to season preview? No time. Go ahead and hit it. Four downs with Rich. Here we go. Why did he stop the guy? All right. Four downs on the Denver Broncos season preview. Here are the burning questions. Number one, Davis Webb is calling the plays now, right? But with all due respect to him, this is the way I'm asking the question first down. What in the world does Sean Payton not calling the plays look like? What does that look like? Because again, you know, obviously Davis Webb will be the one in Bo Nix's ear. And it is remarkable that Sean Payton has decided to not be the guy in Bo Nix's ear.

42:02Rich Eisen:Head coaches are the most control freakish people I've ever met. and Super Bowl winning head coaches with Hall of Fame resumes, as Sean Payton has, are the most control freakish people. And so he's going to go ahead and just hand it over. What does it look like? You know, two minutes to go, four minutes to go. Davis Webb is standing there and Sean's just like arms crossed. Right. Just pacing down the sideline. Like, what does it look like? Curious. You know, and that's first down. Second down. Second down. The Waddle effect. Jalen Waddle on this team. What in the hell is that going to look like?

42:52Rich Eisen:It's Cortland Sutton, you know, big, tall, physical guy. Then there's the other guys that are on the team with all due respect. And now this kid comes in for a first round pick. What's it going to look like? What's this, what burst to this offense will we see from number 17? You know, Broncos have not really had anybody like him in the Sean Payton world. Even before that, too. What will the Waddle effect be? How will that open the run game? What will he be in terms of, you know, first down guy, second down guy, third down guy? Is it third and Waddle, right? What we're going to have here. First and Sutton, third and Waddle, you know?

43:34Rich Eisen:Or is it first and Waddle, third and Sutton? I don't know. It's going to be really fascinating to see. Along with the running back room, R.J. Harvey, how many carries is he going to get with Dobbins and McLaughlin and the rest of that group? Third down. Third down. Can the Broncos defense hit 70 sacks? They had 68 last year. So close. Okay. Last team to have 70 sacks was the 2022 Eagles. it's only happened four times can the Broncos be the fifth they came close last year Jonathan Cooper starting the season on the on the commissioner's exempt list not going to help but I'm telling you man they're that freaking good Vance Joseph dialing it up can they get 70 sacks fourth down simple question but I think it's on everybody's minds and it speaks to the leap that he could potentially take.

44:33Rich Eisen:Can Bo Nix make, year three Bo Nix, make him an MVP finalist? Can we get there? Can we get the next step up? Can we get him throwing those deep balls? Can we get him taking care of the football? Can we get him just being dominant? Dominant. taking over a game and doing it with consistency, as we have seen him do on occasion. Can we get an MVP finalist campaign out of Bo Nix this year? It's a tall order. Yeah. But this is a Super Bowl-worthy team. This is a roster that can win a Super Bowl. This is a head coach that's won a Super Bowl. It's there. They can win their division. They can win this conference.

45:21Rich Eisen:They can win this league 100%. because of any team that could possibly, if they see the Rams as they will in week three, possibly keep your quarterback upright with Donald and Garrett coming at you. The Broncos arguably have the best offensive line in the league. I mentioned it in our number one. I mentioned it here. And that's my four downs on the Denver Broncos. Any thoughts on anything I missed here? Yeah, I like the wide receiver room. I like that one. Definitely, yeah, you know, a lot riding on Bo Nix. His health. I think he's healthy. I'm not concerned about his health. Okay. I don't think that's an issue.

46:02Rich Eisen:I really don't. Certainly if the ankle was one lurking, well, it lurked and it hit at the worst possible time and it's been fixed. Right. Arguably. Broncos have eight best AFC odds. That's nuts. That is crazy to me. Bo Nix. Give me the teams with seven better odds in the AFC. Okay. You want to guess? Sure. Obviously, there's the Bills. There's the Ravens. Yep, one and two. There's the Chiefs. The Chiefs, yeah, third. Are the Chargers even better than them? The Chargers. Bengals, Patriots, Texans. With all due respect to the seven teams there. That's nuts. How do you take a team that was... One second.

46:47Rich Eisen:One ankle snap away from having a much better chance at winning the AFC Championship game in their house. In a one seed that they earned. They arguably got better just because Nix is back healthy and Waddle's been added. You know, Sean Payton told us in London last year when we called that Jets-Broncos game. he told us that the guy you know harvey is really special and the one that's admittedly holding him back is sean payton right and maybe that that's been removed now that davis webb is calling place i don't know that kid's gonna be better i'm not arguing with you i don't get it fourth at worst i don't get what would they just think that nicks isn't the you know a good enough quarterback and and there's going to be regression to the regression i don't know So, Les Snead's joining us in hour three coming right up.

47:44Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. This summer, no excuses. Double down when everyone else disconnects. At Equinox, that's high-performance living. Science-backed training, real results. Start today at equinox.com.