Notre Dame Fighting Irish College Football Pregame Quote, 12/26/2018

How much film did you study for today? And what was your reaction when you heard the Dexter Lawrence news early this morning? I studied a lot, you know. Watched just about all their games from this year and a few from last year. I mean, he’s a good player and I’ll believe it when he doesn’t show up on Saturday. But, you know, every game I’ve gone into it, I’ve learned a long time ago you have to prepare to play the best. No matter whether he plays or not,

we’re going to do the same job.

I know there’s a lot of talk about the defensive line and there’s a hole, but how much of an impact does that make? Definitely a lot. They’re talented and I have no doubt in my mind that Coach Venables is going to bring someone up to fill in that void, if he’s not playing. And if he is there, then he’ll be attacking the same area he was on film.

When you are prepared to play one or two players like that, one might not show up, you have to start preparing for another one. I mean, how is that transition? How does that impact you? Really, we’re just focused on executing what we do and our fundamentals and technique. If we play what we’re capable of, I think we’ll be fine. When a guy goes out, it’s not changing our fundamental ‚Äì it’s not the fundamental things. Here’s what he does differently than the guy in front of him. He escapes blocks differently. It’s just learning those things. A lot of the backups we’ve already studied, so we know what they’re going to do when they come in.

A lot of players want to play the best on the other side. What’s the biggest, best challenges. Are you like that, you want him to play, kind of thing? Absolutely. As a competitor, you want to play those guys. This is the type of stage you want to be on and face these guys. Like I said before, I’ll believe it when I see it. But, you know, they have a talented front and it’s deep. That roster is so deep in talent I’m not concerned we’re not going to get a good challenge up front. I know we will, and we’re looking forward to that. We’ve seen a lot of press this year and I think this is the way it’s going to go down. The best teams play press.