Notre Dame picked up a win at Texas A&M to open up the season on Saturday night but we're starting to learn more about this football program as we bring in Eric Hansen co-publisher of inside ND Sports Eric you and I have talked a lot over the years about Marcus Freeman's Evolution as a head coach I think we saw some pretty important things on Saturday night that he then reiterated after the game on Monday he was talking about how emotional he was pregame before he led the team out of the tunnel a lot of the folks got to see it on the TV very demonstrative more so than we normally see from from him and he said on Monday it's not just that I was jacked up I wanted to show the guys that I was in this with them I'm starting to see Marcus Freeman become more of a caretaker of this football program in ways that maybe he wasn't in years one and two yeah I agree you know we always have talked about how year three is a defining year for Notre name head coaches for better for worse what we saw from Marcus not only before and after the game but during the game was this intentionality and he used the word intention about we're here and and we're going toe this opportunity and we're not going to tiptoe into it and I felt like the team played like that and and he used the word parental and stuff but it's not just I'm telling you guys what to do I'm living it with you and I think his fourth down play calls reflected that yeah uh certainly in aggressiveness I think and I'm going to paraphrase here he said this Saturday after the game but also again on Monday if I want my players to be aggressive then I need to coach aggressive um it's not just that he's um showing bravado showing leadership yeah and it's not about being a Riverboat Gambler it's about intentionality in who this team is belief in who this team is can you imagine if you're one of those o young offensive linemen making your first start and your coach says you know what we just got stuffed on second one and third and one we're going for it on fourth and one in our territory yeah shows belief in those guys um and I think that if it continues in this trend he's going to be able to pull more out of these guys by using those emotional strings then maybe you might be able to other words is that fair I think it's fair I think also you know it's a long season so we're not going to see that in front of the Northern Illinois game this this Saturday but we are going to see intentionality and and we're going to see that through his actions on the sideline it may not be as emotional but we will see the potentiality in his coaching and I think that's a big evolution in Marcus Freeman as a head coach and as we all know the all important year three is upon us for the Fighting Irish show certainly it's gotten off to a good start we'll get another chance to see the Fighting Irish in just a few days this time here in Southbend Notre Dame plays its home opener this Saturday afternoon when the Irish host Northern Illinois back to you I'm Pete burn from wsbt22 news for more Notre a stories like And subscribe to the wsbt22 YouTube page thanks for watching