Marcus Freeman had plenty of respect on display for Wisconsin on Monday, and not just for the man on the other sideline.
The Notre Dame coach, who once played for Luke Fickell at Ohio State and later worked for him at Cincinnati, is set to meet his old boss for the first time as a head coach Sunday night at Lambeau Field. Freeman said at his Week 1 press conference that he learned plenty from Fickell during those four years in Cincinnati.
“I was fortunate to work on Luke Fickell’s staff for four years at Cincinnati. What I know about him, and what you see on film, is his teams are going to be tough, they’re gonna play physical, they’re gonna be aggressive and they’re gonna be disciplined," he said at his Week 1 press conference.
That familiarity makes the matchup even more layered. Freeman heads into the 2026 season with Notre Dame riding a 34-7 stretch over the past three seasons and fresh off a trip to the national title game in 2024. Fickell, by contrast, enters the year under the kind of scrutiny that comes with Wisconsin’s decline over the last three seasons.
Still, Freeman’s comments on Wisconsin went well beyond courtesy. He highlighted the Badgers’ offense, their quarterback and a pair of linebackers on defense.
“I think about their offense, they’re gonna wanna run the ball. Find different ways to run the ball.
They obviously have a quarterback that was the player of the year in the Sun Belt last year. He’s as fast and athletic as anybody you’ll see on that team.
He’ll present some issues we have to be prepared for," he said.
That quarterback is Colton Joseph, whose first snap from scrimmage last season turned into a 75-yard untouched touchdown run against eventual national champion Indiana. It didn’t take much film study to see the burst Freeman was talking about.
Freeman also singled out Wisconsin’s defense, and Mason Posa got the strongest praise of the bunch.
“Defensively, they’re gonna be sound," he continued. "They have good personnel.
They have two linebackers that are really good. 8 might be as good as anyone we see this season. He’s a really good player.
And then we obviously recruited Sebastian Cheeks years ago. He’s gone on to continue to do some really good things, and he’s shown to be a problem off the edge.”
For a former linebacker, that kind of praise carries extra weight. Freeman’s nod to Posa stood out as a real compliment, and his mention of Cheeks showed he noticed more than just the obvious names on Wisconsin’s defense.
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