Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Pregame Quote, 12/29/2021

Drew, I had sort of a hilarious answer of how Marcus Freeman has changed a little bit since he’s become the head coach. Since he was also your position coach, how have you seen him change over the last three weeks as he’s had to balance a whole different set of responsibilities as head coach?

I don’t know if Kurt [Hinish] touched on it, but he’s now on bus one.

He did.

Okay, so that’s been the hot topic recently. He’s moved on, but he sent his kids back to bus two. I don’t know what that means.

No, he’s changed in ways. He’s definitely busier. He’s got a total different operation from that standpoint. Maybe less personal time with the linebackers. So selfishly, we want him and his influence as much as we did before, but we also know the influence that he can bring to the team as a whole.

So he has just spent more time with offensive players, and the rest of the defensive unit as well. As a linebacker standpoint, a little bit less time in the meeting rooms and stuff like that, but he still comes around and makes sure ‚Äì he always says he’s a linebackers coach. So he makes that known.

Drew, can you talk about the development of the linebacker corps throughout the season? And second question is: Obviously, your last game, just visualizing the game going into the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday?

Yeah, I mean, I think the linebacker room went through a lot of development. It happened early in the season when we had injuries kind of come through with Shayne [Simon] and Marist [Liufau] and Paul Moala, and we had a lot of young guys having to step up.

And so JD Bertrand arose this season, and I think everyone kind of saw what he was displaying on the field and his talents. And that just speaks to him as a linebacker, and just as a player as well, just developing and trying to get better every week. I think he did that.

And then you see guys like Prince Kollie, the freshman, getting a lot of practice time. Being a second string, you get asked a lot of questions in the meeting rooms. You got to make sure you are ready. He’s just showed through the mental aspect as well that he’s ready. He’s in the game plan. He knows the defense. So he’s gaining confidence as well.

So I think there’s a lot of development, and now I see Marist [Liufau] out here in bowl prep practicing. He looks as good as ever, violent and physical, and you can just tell that he’s itching to get back on the field. It’s been really cool to see the linebackers develop this season.

Then as far as this last game goes, it’s not about me. It’s about the team, and just trying to ‚Äì it’s just like another game, but in the back of my mind, for sure, I have the thought that it’s the last time putting on the gold helmet. It definitely means a lot to me. I’ve had so many memories. I’m just happy for the experience in general. It’s been amazing.

Drew, you spoke to Coach [Marcus] Freeman being pulled away from being as hands-on with the linebackers. I’m curious how critical has Coach [Nick] Lezynski been in preparing you for this bowl game?

Super critical. Coach Lezynski has been a shadows guy that we talked about the last couple of years in this program, and has had major influence. Has spent countless hours, one-on-one meetings, group meetings, hotel meetings, just constantly the hardest worker in the group.

He’s done it for years, and now he gets kind of an expanded role, especially in this bowl prep to meet with the linebackers and coach us up, really running the meetings. And so it’s been great, and now he’s doing special teams as well. I’m excited for him. I’m excited for the opportunity, and I can’t wait to see what comes.

Drew, I was wondering if you were able to get any treatment for the knee injury suffered in November, or is it something you had to put off to play in the bowl game? And the second part of the question you touched on, Marist [Liufau] and how the linebacker group has evolved. I was wondering where Prince Kollie has improved most. I know in September, he was making a lot of progress before he had the COVID stop for two weeks.

Yeah, as far as the knee goes, I played with it four days after I initially hurt it. So now we are on ‚Äì I don’t even know how many weeks. So it feels really good. No brace anymore. Feels pretty much back to normal. So I was glad I was able to get over that hurdle and play against Navy and do that for my team. I knew they needed me. So just upwards from here. It’s going great.

As far as Prince Kollie, like I said before, his mental approach, I think, has matured the most. I mean, when you come in from high school, there are a lot of things that you are balancing. You’ve never had meetings as long as they have. You are not in the weight rooms as much. Practices are longer. practices are faster. And then you have school.

Notre Dame is different because you have to go to class. You got to keep up your grades. And I think he’s experienced all of those in his first year. And I was just talking to him the other day, telling him how much he will grow from this semester. It will only get easier.

So as far as the defense, the game plan, he’s starting to figure it out. I think he knows what he’s doing as well as what the guys are doing around him, which is key for being a really impactful defensive player.

And then physically too, I mean, you can see he’s getting bigger. He’s getting stronger, just from the [Matt] Balis program. So he’s really improving a lot this first freshman year. It was good growth for him.

Drew, going back to the idea about Coach [Marcus] Freeman changing as he’s gotten his new role. When you look at just the two hours or whatever it is of practice, how much has he changed in that? Or has he made an effort like it seems in the limited time we’ve seen to try to keep as much of his routine and his mannerisms and MO the same as it was before?

Yeah, so like I touched on before, there are things that have changed. He’s in the middle of the field a lot, watching both the defense and the offense. I know he really likes the competitive periods where it’s either 11 on 11 or 7 on 7, he’s trying to kind of foster a competitive mindset, which I think is just great for the program.

There’s a little less influence on the linebackers, but at the same time if we are going linebacker drills, you look over, and he’s watching the drills and he’s giving you pointers.

Just the other day, it was in scout periods, and he comes over in my ear, and he’s talking about my blitz line and doing that. So his teaching and his techniques are still there and still prevalent, and he’s teaching them. But he has a bigger role now. He has a bigger responsibility to kind of expand it.