Notre Dame football’s Marcus Freeman on signal-stealing: Guessing wrong can be ‘catastrophic’

SOUTH BEND — Even before the current sign-stealing controversy at the University of Michigan, Marcus Freeman and his Notre Dame football coaching staff have guarded against similar attempts to gain a competitive advantage.

“We assume every opponent we go against studies our signals, will have an idea what our signals are,” Freeman said Thursday on his weekly Zoom update. “There’s been games over my career that I’ve felt like the opposing team has maybe had our signals and was calling things out. You have to go to the sideline and adjust.”

There is a fine line, however, between obfuscation and introducing a new set of problems.

Rico Flores Jr.: ‘Freakin’ Rico Flores’ rises to starring role as freshman wideout for Notre Dame football

“What you can’t do is confuse your players,” Freeman said. “That’s always the double-edged sword. We want to make sure we’re not just telling our opponent what we’re doing, but we also want to make sure our guys have clarity in what they’re doing.

“Yes, we’d change signals within a game if we felt like a team had our signals, but too we have to be really cautious on making sure our players are very clear on who’s live and what the signals are.”

In-game attempts to decode the plays being sent in from the opposing sideline aren’t just legal, they are commonplace. What’s dangerous is when that reconnaissance is faulty.

“I’ve seen that too,” Freeman said. “Somebody gets confused on who’s the live signaler and he doesn’t get the right signal and that can be catastrophic to your team.”

Oct 8, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman signals for a timeout in the second quarter against the BYU Cougars at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Freeman, who became Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator in January 2021, had four-year stints previously as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati (2017-20) and on the defensive staff at Purdue (2013-16).

With the Irish, who use a trio of sideline signalers wearing brightly colored vests, Freeman said the pattern has been to switch up the signals a couple times during the season. Before upsetting fourth-ranked Clemson early last November, Freeman said signal-stealing was a weekly concern.

“That’s a college football thing,” he said last season. “It’s not a Clemson thing.”

Who’s next?: ‘Ironman’ Howard Cross III grooms his successors at nose tackle for Notre Dame football

With Notre Dame set to face 2-5 Pittsburgh and three-loss Clemson the next two Saturdays, it’s business as usual.

“The reality is that you have to not only change your signals but also mix up who’s live and who’s not,” Freeman said. “I feel like we’ve done a good job, and that goes back to my time as a coordinator. I was doing the signals. I did that at Cincinnati.

“When I got here, you realize how often you’re on TV. You have to change up who’s signaling, who’s live and have a good system. We do a lot of self-scouting in terms of how often somebody’s live, what signals are we using, do we have multiple signals to get the same call to the offense or defense? It changes often.”

Follow Notre Dame football writer Mike Berardino on social media @MikeBerardino.

■ When: Saturday, Oct. 28, 3:30 p.m. EDT

■ Where: Notre Dame Stadium (77,622), South Bend, Ind.

■ Rankings: Notre Dame is ranked No. 14 in both the AP and US LBM Coaches Polls. Pitt is unranked.

■ TV: NBC/Peacock

■ Radio: WSBT (960 AM), WNSN (101.5 FM)

■ Line: Notre Dame opens as a 20-point favorite

■ Series: Notre Dame leads all-time series 50-21-1

■ Last meeting: No. 3 Notre Dame defeated Pitt, 45-3, on Oct. 24, 2020 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman discusses signal safeguards