Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman in a one-on-one interview about the upcoming 2024 football season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Year three for Notre Dame football coaches has historically been a make-or-break year. With coaches like Ara Parsegian, Dan Devine, Frank Leahy, and Lou Holtz, who all won the National Championship in their third season.

While coaches like Tyrone Willingham, Bob Davie, and Charlie Weis tanked and were eventually relieved of their duties.

Marcus Freeman is on the brink of his third season as head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and he enters the 2024 campaign with a 19-7 record.

ABC57's Allison Hayes spoke with Freeman in a one-on-one sit-down interview where she got the chance to ask him about how he's handing both the internal and external pressure of his role.

"I think it's cool that the history of Notre Dame head coaches and football programs, the success you hear about in their third year, is something to embrace, but at the end of the day, it's understanding what it takes to achieve those things. To me that's most important," stated Freeman. 

And today, Aug.8, Riley Leonard was named to the Davey O'Brien watch list for the best quarterbacks in the nation.

When sitting with Freeman, ABC57 asked him what he has seen in Leonard from his time at Duke to now, that makes him believe that Leonard is the best quarterback in college football.

Freeman stated, "Well, I think more than anything, is his competitive spirit, and it's something that we saw live and in person last year, and we've seen on film, but that really has stood out since he's been here, even from January until now, when he gets between the white lines, he is the ultimate competitor, but he's been a great teammate, and that's what it takes when you're a transfer, especially at the quarterback position, you have to earn the trust of your teammates, and he's done a great job doing that, and he's done a great job in these first couple days of fall camp."

Coming up Saturday Aug. 10, ABC57 will get the chance to speak with the quarterbacks for the first time this fall camp.