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

What is the defensive mindset heading into this game, and is it any different than any other game beforehand?

No. We talked about it earlier in the week. Myron [Tagovailoa-Amosa] has talked about going through it, not to it. We want to finish strong and finish as champions.

You were an instrumental part in the hiring of Marcus Freeman. You helped promote him to the higher-ups over there at Notre Dame. So what did you do to help get Marcus Freeman that spot as the head coach?

When they called the captain’s meeting, I put in my input. I gave them my opinion on what I thought would be the best solution going forward as a team and for the university. And the other captains spoke as well. And at the end of the day, it was all seven captains, not just myself, that had an influence on him getting that coaching job.

A similar question I asked Myron [Tagovailoa-Amosa] about the defense doing less during the season, as Coach [Marcus] Freeman detailed to us the other week. When that sort of clicked in that, okay, less was sort of more and why you were able to sort of take that ‘through it, not to it’ mentality and kind of turn up the level on that into October, maybe late September.

At the beginning of the season, we saw us playing fast and free but making mistakes in the process of that.

So when you play fast, that comes with mistakes. And so when we were able to find the blend of playing fast and free and playing assignment football is when we were really starting to take our game to the next level.

And the Wisconsin game was one of the biggest examples of that. And then, from there on, I felt we played really well. The first couple of games, we started off rocky. But other than that, we’ve been doing really well.

Can you give us a glimpse into the future? Has there been any difference in game-prep routine? And how important is a win in the Fiesta Bowl for the future of this program?

I read a statistic earlier this week that Notre Dame hasn’t won a New Year’s Day Six game in I don’t know how long.

But, I mean, the goal for us, it’s been preaching in all this bowl prep is finish as champions. That’s what we want to do. We want to send the seniors out in the right way, they guys who laid the foundation for this program and where it’s at right now, and finish as champions.

As an experience, I just wanted to ask you about Jason Onye and Gabe Rubio and how they’ve developed over the course of this fall.

They’re developed a lot. I’ve seen them come in as baby freshmen. And Gabe came in in the spring, and then Onye came in in the summer.

When they both got here, they weren’t ready to play meaningful football for us. I mean, I’m really confident, if they stepped on the field for us now, they would both be able to play really well for us.

Is there any extra meaning to your guys’ defensive linemen to see Coach [Mike] Elston get an expanded role as a playcaller for this game and seeing how he has sort of embraced that?

It’s been cool to see him step into that role and take on that responsibility as a playcaller. I have full confidence in him to do that, and so does everybody else on the team. So I’m excited to see how he does. I know he’s going to do great.

This is another younger guy question for you. What has Rylie Mills added to the defensive line and in particular the interior line? And how have you seen him kind of grow as he’s added some of the defensive end in a three-down front to his plate this year?

I mean, the kid is a freak. If you look at him walking down the hallway, you’d be extremely intimidated, his physical attributes and just his mentality of practicing every day. He’s a hard worker. There’s no surprise to see that he’s seeing success this season. He works extremely hard every single day. And when you’re a physical freak and you work extremely hard, great things are destined to happen.

I was sort of interested in terms of how you’ve seen Coach [Marcus] Freeman change or not change since he became the head coach, because obviously he’s got to change some things. There’s only so many hours in the day. So how has he sort of balanced trying to be the same guy but also he’s in a new job?

So he’s changed. And I tell him he’s changed all the time. I keep him held accountable, and I let him know how he’s changed.

For example, the defense rides on bus two and the defensive coordinator rides on bus two. And the first day we got down here, he was not on bus two. And so I FaceTimed him to let him know he was on bus one and let him know that he’s changed.

During the bowl prep, there was some questionable calls about the ball being spotted past the first-down marker. We were going ones versus ones, offense versus defense. So I told him he’s changed there.

And there were multiple instances of me getting to the quarterback and him not blowing the play dead. The old Coach Freeman would have blown the play dead.

But he’s changed. I tell him that all the time. Get on him about that. No, I’m kidding. He’s great, man. He’s doing a great job. I’m just busting his chops.

I just was wondering, did you participate in the community event today with the kids? And how did that go? And just tell us a little bit about it.

I did not participate in that. I was not there. Thanks for making me look bad. (Laughter)