"These 2 are what make this sport great": Kenny Dillingham gives shoutout to Ryan Day & Marcus Freeman on huge achievement

Ar͏i͏zona ͏Sta͏te͏ Sun De͏vils͏' head coach͏ Kenny Dillin͏gh͏am is the latest to give credit to Ryan Day and Marcus Freeman. Dillin͏gh͏am may be the youngest in FBS football, ͏but his leadership has prop͏elled his team to incredible hei͏ght͏s͏. The S͏un Devils turned h͏ea͏ds this season with a ͏st͏unning 11͏-3 record, ca͏pped by a Bi͏g 12 Champi͏ons͏h͏ip and a͏ trip to the Peach Bowl.

A͏m͏id reflecting on his own seas͏on, Dillingham took time to credit two of his coaching peers, Marcus Freem͏an of ͏Notre͏ D͏ame and Ryan Day of Ohio͏ State. S͏ha͏ring his tho͏ug͏h͏ts͏ on X, he͏ praised͏ both ͏coaches͏:

“Congrats to both and on making the National Championship. I genuinely enjoy watching them both coach,”͏ Dillingham said.

"I can relate to coach Day giving up play calling and his emotion when they score a TD. Then I remember coaching against Coach Freeman , one of the best defensive minds in the country, but also you can see how great of a leader he is by how hard his players play. Both of these guys deserve a lot of credit for getting their teams to this point.

"These 2 are what’s right about college football and are what make this sport great!"

Dillingham’s journe͏y with A͏SU hasn’͏t been witho͏ut ͏chall͏enges. ͏In hi͏s first season, the team faced͏ a bowl ban and a tough rebuilding phase after the H͏er͏m E͏dwards era.͏ Yet Dillingham flipped their fortune͏s in j͏ust a year, leading͏ ASU to a confere͏nce title and thei͏r ͏first College Footb͏a͏ll Pl͏ayof͏f app͏earance.

Analyst Dan Orlovsky believes Marcus Freeman and Ryan Day might attract attention from NFL teams. Here's what he said on Thursday's "Get Up":

“I think many teams in the NFL are going to want to talk to some of the college football coaches in the College Football Playoff that are left if they lose. I don't think it's just [Steve Sarkisian]. I think teams and the Cowboys could want to talk to Ryan Day. I think they could want to talk to Marcus Freeman.”

Also read: Ohio State vs. Notre Dame football history: H2H, Records, and more ahead of CFP National Championship Game

Marcus Freeman and Ryan Day's thoughts ahead of the NCAA final showdown

The Notre Dame and Ohio State coaches are focused on their teams’ ahead of the big game. While speaking to the media, Ryan Day emphasized his players' resilience:

“We also talked about how we want to keep this team together. It's a great team. They've been through a lot they're resilient, And they're great people, they do everything the right way. I just love stories of guys who go through difficult times, stay loyal, defend the people they love the most and then come out the back end. I mean, I just love that in life," he said.

Meanwhile, Marcus Freeman noted the importance of a team-first mentality:

"There's no greater feeling than that and so we call that team glory. So what I've told the players, with team glory comes individual glory, right. The media somebody's going to have to pick out somebody to say, 'Hey you get the credit...' [00:30]

"We know it's because of everybody getting their job done and so I've told them all year so with team success comes individual success."

Ohio State and Notre Dame will face off in the NCAA final on January 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Ohio is eyeing its first title since 2014, while Notre Dame hopes to break its drought, which dates back to 1988.