Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Pregame Quote, 12/13/2020

On behalf of the University of Notre Dame, our president Father Jenkins, our athletic director jack Swarbrick, our players and our staff, we’re greatly excited to be part of the 2020 ACC Championship Fame. When we were given this opportunity, we certainly put it on our goal sheet as a destination for us.

I also want to congratulate Dabo (Swinney) once again for a terrific football season. He has his team playing extremely well once again. So congratulations to Clemson University, and we’re excited about certainly playing them again. (It was) certainly was an incredible football game the first time around. I think the fans can look for much of the same in this rematch.

So, again, really excited about the opportunity to be in the acc championship ‚Äì our players are, and I know our entire Notre Dame fan base is excited. This opportunity doesn’t come along very often at Notre Dame to play for a conference championship, so it should be exciting.

Obviously there has been a lot made about the first matchup, with the absences that Clemson had with Trevor Lawrence and then the players on defense. I know it’s hard to quantify but how much better do you think they look just having Skalski and Davis and Jones back in the lineup?

Well, Skalski obviously is a quarterback for their defense, so you know he certainly makes a difference. The other thing he has is size, you know, so he makes a difference. You have to plan for him, certainly, as somebody that you know physically has a different makeup as well. So his size, his leadership, you know, certainly is going to make a difference.

Jones has obviously got the athletic ability to play in their defense, in a manner that allows them to do more things.

But, you know, I think when we start to look at one player making a difference. I think we might be reading a little bit too much into it. It’s the ability for all 11 players to play at a high level, and if he’s playing well but three or four other guys aren’t playing at the same level, you know, it negates it. But it’s certainly he’s going to help having his leadership, I think more than anything else on the defensive side of the ball.

It’s a rarity in college football to play somebody twice. Winning the first one ‚Äì is that an advantage, a disadvantage, or just neutral?

It depends on what happens the first time around. This was a double-overtime game where both teams believe that they could have won the football game. Certainly, we did, and I’m sure Clemson believes they could have won the game. So from that perspective, I think both teams leave with a feeling of confidence, though Clemson is not a team that needs confidence, they’ve been the king of the ACC for a number of years.

In the game that we played, I think both teams got a better sense of who they are. I don’t know that there’s an advantage one way or the other. This is still going to come down to the fundamentals, and players making plays. There’s really good players on both sides of the ball. I just think it’s going be a really closely contested football game. I think it’s going to match up the way people think it is.

You mentioned, these opportunities don’t come around very often for Notre Dame Of course they have not ever come down from Notre Dame before. I know Notre Dame fans and certainly Jack Swarbrick have said very passionately, ‚ÄúWe believe in our independence. This is something we want to maintain,‚Äù and I would not expect it to be any different in 2021, But if sometime down the line they come to you and they say your personal experience based off of this year ‚Ķ Has it changed your thought process any on what the value of independence versus being a part of a league would be in your mind personally after going through this this year?

Oh, absolutely. You can talk all you want about being in a conference. But if you’re not in the ACC ‚Äì and we weren’t, you know, we were dipping our toe into it ‚Äì you really can’t talk firsthand about it. We can now, so it’s offered us a different perspective, there’s no doubt about it. And, you know, sitting on this call right now at this press conference, getting a chance to play for an ACC Championship is certainly the positive of being in a conference.

Losing out on playing some of the traditional rivalries is obviously the negative. (So) what’s the pluses and minuses of this comes down to how we see us as a program moving forward over the foreseeable future. Those are the questions that really, quite frankly, Jack Swarbrick is entertaining at a higher level. And I’ll give him my feedback, but we’ve enjoyed this, this relationship. If they come and ask my opinion I would say that the ACC has been a great relationship for Notre Dame, but independence has been something that is part of who we are in our DNA.

Brian, I wondered if you could kind of catch us up on what you’re looking at center, how Zeke Correll and Josh Lugg are competing, and then just a few of the players you’re hoping to get back. Kramer, Jayson Ademiloola and Lacey ‚Äì specifically what their condition is.

This has really been about getting Zeke back to a position where we feel like he’s at 100%. I would say that he’s getting really close in practice. You know, we were on the field, as I had laid out for you guys, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and by Saturday, we all felt that he was really close to being 100%. I think it then becomes a situation where has he played enough football for us to feel like, with the one game that he played then got injured versus, you know, Josh playing two games. Can they both help us at that position? I think that’ll be a game day decision. I think they’re both going to continue to get reps at the center position, and then we’ll take that right into game day.

Kraemer’s good to go. He’s been taken all the reps at the right guard position. I feel real good about where he is. And Jayson as well. Jayson’s been getting a lot of reps and he’ll be ready to play. We’re just rounding him back into game shape. Lacey’s much better. As you know, he was slowed a little bit, but we feel really good about the last couple of days. We were banging around pretty good on Saturday, and he came out of it in a really good place. So after talking to our medical staff today, we’re in a green light situation with all these players.

Clemson and you guys have sort of compared notes over the years, and as you’ve sort of gotten a more of a regular routine of playing them, this year, in particular, do you see the programs as similar? Are there are parts of what Dabo has built on there that you feel like apply to what you’ve built at Notre Dame?

Well, (both) are steeped in a process and build a strong bond within their program as it relates to relationships with their players and amongst the players, and I think that’s very important. An having success. So, there’s some similarities there. Certainly, the recruiting to a profile ‚Äì both programs are looking for somebody that fits into that culture, if you will. I think both programs are looking for that kind of student-athlete that fits that profile.

I think when you when you’re talking about championship level programs, there’s still the ability to look at the nuances of each program. Dabo has some things that he does that are a little bit different than we do at Notre Dame. But by and large, it’s about establishing a winning culture with players that are committed to and are held accountable to it, quite frankly, and I think that that’s probably where the similarities are the most between the two programs.

When you think about the differences between this year and 2018, as far as (each team’s) makeup in similarities or lack thereof. What you notice in their MO of just being able to get stops in, and keep teams off the scoreboard?

Well I think you need to look at ‚Ķ Last night, North Carolina rushed for over 500 yards (against Miami), and they didn’t have that kind of production running against us. I don’t know exactly how many yards they had rushing, but it wasn’t nearly the numbers. 125 yards maybe. I know Clemson was less than 100 yards rushing. So you know look, this is centered around stingy run defense, and making teams become one dimensional. Then it gives you the opportunity to dictate down and distance. and we’ve been really good on third down. We’re one of the best third down defenses in the country because, we get you into some predictable situations. It starts up front with the ability to be really good against the run and that’s where this defense is really been consistent, you know, over the last four years.

Could sum up what how you changed and maybe how philosophy changed after 2016, the 4-8 season and how you got to this place?

You look back at ‚Äò16, it still was my 25th year. I think everybody has to be able to, you know, be humble as a leader and look at what you know what areas they need to grow in. I ask our players to be humble, but if the head coach can’t be humble and look at where he needs to get better, you know you’re not going to get that from your players. I thought an area that I needed to do a better job in was the relationship for our players and getting them to play to their very best.

We lost a lot of games late, where we weren’t able to close. And a lot of that had to do with our players’ inability to have the kind of confidence and the level of confidence necessary in themselves, and then me instilling in them. So I needed to spend more time with our players. I pushed myself back from a lot of the time in play calling and the Xs and Os and spent much more time with our players and their mental performance. It proved to be the right decision.

I wonder if you see any irony in what you came to Notre Dame as offensively in what Notre Dame is now offensively.

Well, I think football is still about players over plays I’ve always believed that, and I think what I’ve tried to do from an offensive standpoint is, as always match my offense to the players that I’ve had. Quite frankly, when I came to Notre Dame I was trying to fit an offense to the players that that were here in place. What we’ve done is, we’ve evolved to the level where we want to be by the recruiting of the kind of players that are, they’re going to obviously be here and develop with our offense and that structure. You can see it’s built on a strong running game, the ability to still spread the field but to be physical at the line of scrimmage. And it’s matching what our philosophy is on defense ‚Äì stop the run, run the football. Be really good on third down in controlling the football and then getting off the field. Controlling points and scoring points. That sounds like a simple philosophy, but sometimes people are chasing their tail trying to get to that, and we seem to have gotten to that, that point where we all know who we are and what our identity is.

What do you feel your teams’ feeling going into this game is related to the playoffs, do can feel like you’re in regardless of what happens?

We haven’t talked about it. Really, it’s not even something that we consider at this point. We’ll talk about that next week. We’ve got our hands full with really focusing on this ACC championship, so the playoffs, take care of themselves. We can’t control that.

Will our players understand that if they win that they’re going to be in the playoffs? Sure, they get that, but they don’t round thinking ‚ÄòOr if we lose ‚Ķ’ That’s just not how we think. We’re not wired that way. We’re wired to think that we’re going to win the football game, and we expect to win the football game. So they don’t go around thinking, ‚ÄòHey, we’re gonna lose the game and then we’re probably still in the playoffs.’ We’re thinking about winning the ACC Championship, so all of our time and all of our energy is about this game and winning this football game.

It’s been a week since you guys have played an opponent. How are they, how are they, how are the guys doing how’s preparation working towards the game next Saturday?

Well, it’s what we’ve mapped out. We gave him a little bit time off. We spent some time in the weight room, I think, maintaining your strength is very, very important. We had some things that we needed to work on fundamentally. We spent a day of practice that had nothing to do with Clemson; it had to do with just, you know, I call it lab work ‚Äì things that you do in the laboratory. experiment a little bit work on some things. So we had some lab work to do.

And then Thursday, we introduced Clemson. We spent some extra time on special teams, gadget plays. the bending gadget plays, some tricks exotics things of that nature. And then Friday and Saturday, we got to work on some team time on Clemson, and then Saturday, we tackled a little bit. You can’t go too far away without having some tackling, and I don’t like to go two weeks without tackling. Our guys had today off, we’ll come back tomorrow with some walkthroughs and be in a normal game week situation. Our guys like that routine.

Brian, you talked about recruiting to a profile. Jeremiah Owusu-Kormoah was not a terribly highly recruited prospect out of, out of Bethel (in Hampton, Va.). What attracted him and brought you to Virginia to recruit him and can you describe his trajectory into an all American?

Yeah, I think that’s a good question. We’re looking for guys that certainly have what we believe is the ability to be developed. They’re not necessarily ready-made. In his instance, we feel like he’s a young man that we can develop his talent level. We want guys that love to play the game, I’ve got to see a passion. We loved his. And when we spent some time with him, we loved the fact that there was a real love for the game and a passion for it.

You know, it’s their job to motivate themselves. We hear this phrase all the time that, ‚ÄòYour guys weren’t motivated What’s wrong?‚Äù We recruit guys that have that love and that passion and that intrinsic motivation, and that’s another thing that he had. Those are some of the intangibles that don’t show up on the you know the recruiting sheet that we look for. So you’re never dealing with teams that play up and play down and can play in a consistent manner and can win 16 consecutive games or win 25 in a row. That’s really what Clemson looks for I’m sure in terms of those traits. That’s what we looked for in him and saw that, and that was really attractive.

Obviously, I don’t want you to give away trade secrets here or anything like that, but when you found out you weren’t going to be playing against Trevor Lawrence (on Nov. 7), how much did you sort adjust the defensive gameplan. Or did you kind of just go about doing more or less exactly what you would have done had Trevor been on the field?

Well, it was actually more difficult, quite frankly, because we weren’t sure what DJ (Uiagalelei)’s skill set was across the board and you know we didn’t have enough film to really evaluate them. And as you know, he threw for over 400 yards. He was outstanding. We kind of said that maybe he wasn’t the same kind of runner, but we had to respect his ability to run, read option and certainly cue runs. We really tried to defend Trevor, and, and then obviously have some things in there that a young quarterback may not have seen before. But that didn’t work so much. He did pretty good.

Can you talk about how you played against Travis Etienne and what you will look do this time around?

Yeah, he’s an outstanding player. You have to know where he is. you have to have your run fits down, and you have to be disciplined. It’s a team defensive effort, and we’re gonna have to have a similar one (as in the first game). He is an explosive football player that we have such great respect for. Obviously, you know when you put your game plan together, the first thing you’ve got to think of is how you’re going slow him down. So, tremendous respect for him. We’re gonna have to get him on the ground and make sure that he doesn’t get out in the second level. You’ve got to get him before he gets started, and that means controlling the line of scrimmage and being strong tacklers.

Obviously, going back when you were celebrating and feeling good after beating Clemson, was there any concern just defensively with what DJ was able to do – passing for over 400 yards – and any changes you feel like need to be made after his performance?

Yeah, we’ve got to play better. There’s no doubt about that. I mean, we did a good job against the run.

Clearly, they are a talented football team and we played pretty well in the first half, then they made some plays in the third quarter and the thing got into double overtime. You know, that’s what’s gonna happen when you have two really good football teams but yeah, there’s some things that we’re gonna have to do much better in (defending) the passing game. We’re gonna have to continue to obviously keep their running game in check. Butto the level of giving up 400- plus yards (passing) ‚Äì no we cannot afford to do that again there’s no doubt about that.

Brian when you have a year like this people are gonna want to talk to your assistants I know there’s been a lot out there about Clark Lea, wondering if you could tell us how he’s handled that particular situation and how your team as maybe try to keep that from becoming a potential distraction.

Yeah Clark’s a professional. I mean, he was in it last year with the Boston College job. You know he’s in it with the Vanderbilt job and, you know, again if it’s the right fit for him ‚Ķ You know he’s in it for the long haul here at Notre Dame so it’s not going to disrupt what he does in his preparation for the championship game and hopefully moving forward. You know that’s a given. You know you’re dealing with professionals that recognize that when they make a commitment here they’re committing to seeing it through so I’m not really concerned about I know our players aren’t as well. As it relates to a distraction, I don’t see that it’s going to be a distraction at all.

Brian just following up a little bit on Jeremiah, the touchdown he had against Clemson – was that an instinctive play, and if so, how or when did those instincts really start to develop?

Well, Jeremiah has fast hands, fast speed, fast eyes ‚Äì I mean, everything that he does, he does with a suddenness and a quickness and, you know, can, can do these things that are, you know, bang, bang, if you will, in terms of making things happen. And, and he plays at a very fast level, and he just fires that way in terms of seeing things and reacting, and so that’s what makes him a unique player. We’ve had other players that don’t react quite as fast as he does, but you know what makes the great players is certainly this this unique ability to fire fast. Their central nervous system just sees it, and they can fire quickly. He can recognize things in that manner, and just recognizing was quick to it and was able to you know make a big play in that situation.

You had mentioned earlier in your conversation answering question about Clemson You said you didn’t think the defense played that well you also said that earlier, when you played Florida State and in both instances you responded with two straight really, really outstanding performances on defense in the games that followed was that just about making adjustments, or is there something from an attitude standpoint that kind of gets your defense really fired up when they feel like they’re not on top of their game?

Well our guys have an immense amount of pride. It starts with Clark (Lea) and you know obviously it trickles down throughout the ranks in terms of all the coaches and how we present that to them. You know we’re not attacking our guys but as I said earlier, I mean our guys are humble workers, they’re coachable. And when they look at those things that they need to improve on. They spend a week in preparation improving on, because on Saturdays, they, they want to go get it. They want to attack it they want to be aggressive and they want to be the best defense in the country so I just think it’s the way that they, they take things and so when we present to them in a manner that allows them to prepare in the right way on those areas that need to you know be improved upon.

Brian I wanted to follow up on something you said last week about Tommy Rees where it was the teaching ability that allowed him to succeed and 30 years of hiring and working with successful assistants. What is it that makes a good teacher makes a good teacher be able to pick that up in short order like Tommy seem to be able to?

Well, there’s a there’s a number of different layers, I would say that it starts with understanding that there are different forms of communication. It’s not just verbal communication it’s the ability to communicate through, you know, different forms and recognizing how you can reach somebody through different forms of communication and Tommy. Tommy understands that. I could see that early on. And I don’t just mean players ‚Äì I mean coaches and staff alike. (He) just does a really good job of communication, what’s important. And he doesn’t waste time on things that will bog you down. He is able to, in a large degree, g to the point, and eliminate a lot of miscommunication that occurs sometimes. The art of communication is steeped in its ability to reach people in many different forms. That’s at the strength of what Tommy does, and I could see that early on.