Notre Dame Captain Drew White: 'We have to stay disciplined'

Notre Dame captain Drew White tore his PCL last week and defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman made it clear it was up to the graduate student to decide if he could play. 

White played and played well against Navy's triple-option attack, but he was quick to credit Notre Dame trainers Rob Hunt and Mike Bean for their efforts to have him ready to play. 

"It's feeling good," White stated. "Coach Freeman gave me the nod. He said if I can go, he said we were going to go with you, but if you can't, you can't. Pretty much all the respect to the training staff. I was with them for 48 hours straight. I can't say enough about how they were able to prepare me to play against Navy." 

This week will be a different challenge for White and the Irish defense as they'll face the No. 2 passing offense in the country. 

Communication will be regardless of who starts at quarterback for Virginia as the Cavaliers will do plenty of window dressing. 

"We have to stay disciplined," explained White. "They have a lot of motions and personnel. They have a lot of different looks and they're pretty unique in that. There aren't very many college football teams that really do that. 

"It's really about the fundamentals, communicating, making sure you're on your guy, block destruction and tackling. A lot of carryover from what we needed to fix from UNC. For our defense, it's like a revenge game. We're trying to sharpen our tools." 

All eyes have been on Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong this week as he deals with broken ribs, but White believes the electric signal-caller will play. 

"I personally think Armstrong will be out there," said White. "You only have a couple times to play Notre Dame in your life and I think he's going to want to play against us. We're looking forward to that." 

The Notre Dame secondary will be tested on Saturday night and the Irish will be without All-American safety Kyle Hamilton once again as he's yet to be cleared to play. 

Sophomore safety Xavier Watts made his debut on the defensive side of the ball last week and flashed on a number of occasions. 

If Watts' number is called on Saturday, White believes he'll be ready as he's made the quick adjustment after moving from receiver earlier this fall. 

"Xavier is great," White stated. "I always thought he was a great receiver. He did a really good job on scout team last year. I remember him catching bombs and doing really good and going hard. 

"When I found out he was coming to the defensive side of the ball, I was excited. The first practice, you could just see he has really good instincts and not everyone has instincts when it comes to defense. It's different. It's fast and you have to anticipate a lot. You have to tackle and be tough. He has all of those and I'm excited about his future on defense." 

Notre Dame will enter this weekend No. 9 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and White has been down this road. 

There is plenty of football to be played and White knows the Irish need to stay sharp mentally to finish strong. 

"A tenacity," said White when asked what he wants to see from Notre Dame in November. "When it comes to November football, sometimes fatigue can set in and it's not just physical, but mental as well as you come to the last couple games. You can find soft spots. 

"You need to continue to be tough, practice hard, prepare hard because as you see in college football, any week, you can go down.