Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Pregame Quote, 12/27/2018

With all the talk about Clemson’s defensive line, their secondary is good, too. What makes their cornerbacks especially tough? They’re long. Especially one of the things we take advantage of it is shorter outside. They’re pretty tall on the outside. They make coverage very well. They play all around great football. That’s the reason they’re undefeated.

What have you had to do as a wide receiver to beat that kind of coverage? I think we need to be physical, and we just have to win. There’s no recipe for success against great teams like Clemson. You just have to win your one-on-one battles.

I was just curious. I notice you wear the same number as Calvin Johnson. He’s someone you looked up to. What was it you looked up to about him that really spoke to you? For me just watching him, he was my favorite receiver growing up. How big, how strong, how physical he was with corners. And he still had that speed. And anything that you threw up in his direction he was going to catch. That’s who I try to emulate my game after. He’s been a huge inspiration to me.

You used the word recently ‘traits.’ This team has different traits. I feel like this is something I’ve seen them build into your psyche. What are the traits of this football team? Attention to detail. Smart, laser focus. Grit is another one of those.

Why are those traits important? I know coaches talk about certain things, but how have they actually helped your team? It’s about a mindset. Playing this game is big mentally. So having that mindset of having those traits instilled in us. And things we’ve gone through to get those traits is not something you can lose over one play or one quarter of football. So it’s something that we build in and know it’s about the long run. It’s not about one play, two plays. It’s about the long run.

I know a lot of people are talking about Clemson and their explosive offense. How do you describe what your offense is? I think we’re explosive as well. You’ve seen us. I don’t think we’ve reached our potential yet. That’s what Playoffs are for. So, hopefully, we reach our potential now and if we’re hitting on all cylinders, we’re going to be a tough offense to stop.

You had a longer layoff than most teams because of not having a conference championship game. What have you been doing to maintain and have game-like situations? We’ve scrimmaged. We’ve had full scrimmages that include tackling and all that. It’s crazy when you think about doing all that stuff. But it it definitely gets us ready. While other teams are playing in the conference championship, we’re scrimmaging each other, playing against the best players in the country as well.

Coach [Kelly] said that one of the reasons he brought in Coach [Chip] Long is spreading the ball around the field. Offensively, how do you feel like you guys have done spreading it around with the way you guys call plays and the way you run the ball? I think Coach Long has done a great job this season. Obviously, you see that by the type of people we have on offense. We’ve got players in every position, and he’s gotten the ball to them.

How does that keep you guys engaged offensively when you know you’re going to get your share of it and get a chance to touch the ball? You just know that you never know when your opportunity is coming. But you just know it’s going to come. It could be on the play that you’re the last read, the ball can get there. You never know.

How is this team different today than at the start of the season? How have you seen your team mature to this point and be prepared for this moment? I think we’ve played in just about every type of situation you can imagine. We’ve played being down the whole game. We went into those type environments and won. We’ve been tested from the standpoint that we played in every situation.

Do you feel, when you hear people talk about things, this is our moment? To those who don’t think we should be here, this is an opportunity to do that? That’s not our motivation. Because when you play at a place like Notre Dame, we’re always motivated. How special the school is, everything it stands for. That’s inside of you.

And that’s what I play for.

Do you have any sense for the history of Notre Dame at this bowl game and some of the history? Don’t we have second most wins, eight or something like that? That’s pretty incredible. But other than that, I don’t know who they beat here or outcomes of the rest of the games.

You’ve had a chance to play other places, but what’s the week been like for you here? An opportunity to ‚Äì I know you’ve got ‚Äì you’re focused on the game

but the experience is important as well? It’s been awesome. It’s different because it’s the College Football Playoffs, so we haven’t been going out so much. Just kind of hanging around and relaxing, resting, and watching film, things like that. So they’ve offered great stuff to us. Obviously, going to the Mavericks game last night. Never been at a basketball game at a bowl game. It’s been great.

What was it like the week you saw the other three teams playing championship games. You had a different schedule and had that off week. How did that help you guys to prepare to get back on and be ready to go? Helped us get our bodies back, first and foremost. And

after that we decided to actually ‚Äì we had a scrimmage later on that week. So it wasn’t like we weren’t doing anything. We had a full scrimmage, tackling and all.

You, obviously, have a physical advantage over their safeties as far as height is concerned. But they feel they match up well with your speed and height, even though they’re at a height disadvantage. What kind of vertical leap do you got? I can jump pretty high. I think the thing about Clemson’s secondary that makes- them so good is they’re versatile.

That’s why it’s such a good matchup and such a good battle. Looking forward to this because it’s going to be a big stage. So from that standpoint, like I say, I mean, maybe I have a couple inches on them but they are just as lengthy as me. So it’s going to be a great game.