Notre Dame special teams coordinator Marty Biagi spoke on Monday afternoon as the Irish prepare for Stanford.
On what makes Jadarian Price a good kick returner:
“He believes in his teammates. He's totally open to whatever the game plan is — he embraces. And then he's Jadarian Price. He can do stuff that a lot of people on the field can't do. But I would say the biggest thing is he really trusts the game plan and believes in those guys.”
On Price being able to erase mistakes:
“It's very similar to sometimes what you're looking for in a running back. They always say get them one-on-one in the open field, and that's kind of a similar mindset. We feel like if we can get our returners at least started, we have some dynamic returners. Not just him, but everywhere — punt return, kick return. That if we can just get them started, we feel like we're going to like our matchup.”
On Aneyas Williams’ contributions to the kick return team:
“The biggest thing you've seen is he's embraced his role of whatever that is. We keep expecting somebody to kick it over to him, and we're ready and have a game plan for that. The whole unit, especially this year — and in years past, but especially this year — it's like they're champing at the bit by Monday to know what the game plan is.”
On wanting to see Erik Schmidt’s improvements, but not having a chance in a game:
“It really goes back to he had, undoubtedly, his best week of practice last week. And it goes back to stacking days. I think all the way up until whatever the situation is on the field in the game, he was prepared. There were a couple times we were field goal alerting and thought we were going to get that opportunity, and he was just ready for his routine.
“I think he was really just trying to stay focused and just know that when his name is called, he's going to be able to perform.”
On Noah Burnette helping Schmidt as a mentor:
“It's been impressively amazing watching him almost kind of just take him as an understudy and really just work with him with no ego, with no agenda. Normally that's not typically the case, especially with specialists sometimes. They're so worried — similar to the different quarterback battles and everything — but in true mindset of team glory and knowing that he’s injured, Noah's done a great job with both Marcello [Diomede] and Erik in terms of just sharing some technique stuff but even the mental aspect of some of the things he's gone through in the ups and downs.”
On the key to Jalen Stroman’s punt block:
“The key, in all honesty, was the scout team. If you watched, they do a bunch of different looks, and they do it really fast. I've known Coach [Ricky] Brumfield a long time, and he's done a really good job where he's always been.
“We knew we had to have really good, crisp scout looks. So, credit to those guys that nobody would actually know about. But for them to take pride starting on Monday night, this time a week ago, and harp on the exact alignments, the exact splits that we needed, so then our team could get the exact look. I'd say you probably banked an extra 10 to 15, maybe 20 reps that most teams wouldn't get or some teams wouldn't get. But because the scouts were so dialed in to give us and wanted to give us the exact look, it was really good.”
On Syracuse’s punt protection impacting Notre Dame going for the block:
“There's multiple protections that people will do that he had in his scheme. We're trying to always use their tendencies, look at our tendencies, and know that we feel like when we can get lined up, if we can find a one-on-one or a gap that we can maybe expose or take advantage of, we like our chances. So, it's hard because in today's age, it's not the old school, everybody lines up in the same pro punt.
“I go back to the preparation that they had. I bet we probably banked — maybe not full speed rep — over 40-plus reps for what we call our swat, our punt block unit. When you can do that, you can really start to hone in on the details.
“By Thursday and Friday, you start to go, OK, we feel like it's got a shot. It was great. Credit to the scout team. We actually put in one check on Friday that we were ready for. Those guys did a great job all the way through the week.”
On if there is anything to seeing a field goal go through for a kicker’s confidence:
"I don't know, I mean, is it important? I think if it's the right opportunity, I think there's definitely, could we have maybe forced a super, super long kick, and then all of a sudden it's not helping anybody? Yeah. I care more about the reps that any of the guys are getting. But Erik, in the last couple games, you're seeing the same, hopefully, consistent ball flight and ball height. That's what we're looking to achieve more than anything. And so you wanna get to the point where you feel like, okay, he can feel that it's the same kick, whether it's an extra point or a 50 yarder."
On if he evaluates Schmidt’s extra points:
"Yeah, I've watched the last couple weeks. I mean, last week, I watched 266 reps of his all the way back to August. Just making sure, really to show him and building a collection that he could continue to see of his progression and how he really is stacking days. Because so many people, of course, like all of us, we want the result in-game. But the more that he can see every single week, the scatterplot is where it started or where it's going. He's made huge strides. And for him to have had his best week this past week in practice was just, that's three weeks in a row of increasing his field goal percentage."
On if he roots for field goal opportunities on the sideline during a game:
"Yeah, I mean, we definitely had a couple opportunities this past game that we were in a field goal alert situation. And it was something in communication with the head coach, with Coach Free, and even with Erik. And we thought there were probably two to three times that we might end up kicking one. And I think Minchey took off for a touchdown, and somebody else did something for a touchdown. But at the same time, it was also getting to the point where he kicked off, I think, eight times. He kicked, I think, at that point, seven to eight extra points. And so the game was getting pretty long that we also didn't want to just go kick one just to kick if it wasn't the right fit. But I mean, he was totally ready.”
On if he showed Schmidt 266 kicks:
"No, no, no, no, no. You just wanted to plot that. No, what I did is I went back and I was just continuing to build his [film], basically, just like any coach. I would think they're gonna keep trying to stockpile the plays that are successful. And so I wanted him to see over the course of when, basically, after the Miami week, his percentage or that scatter plot being a wider range to where now his percentage, his field goal percentage each week is really getting better and to the level that we want. And not just the field goal percentage, but the ball flight and the ball height. And so, again, he had his best probably two weeks, especially last week, his best week of overall consistent ball height, ball striking, and from a lot of good spots. So we were really feeling good. And so then it's gotta be, okay, we have to take that process into the game."
On if teams are intentionally avoiding letting Price return kicks:
"I don't know if they're intentionally avoiding him. I mean, that's the biggest thing is we have to capitalize because there's so many touchbacks now. And so really what you're trying to do is you're really trying to maximize the one or two that you get, and I'm hard on our kick return unit because we've been super close on four or five more. And so we get in there on Mondays and it's like, man, we're fired up. So it's an exciting time for us. But we know we have to really maximize our opportunity. You're normally only gonna get maybe one or two, whereas in all the previous years, when I grew up, 80s, 90s, 2000s, you were getting, yeah, you were getting, hey, five, six, seven returns. So you thought guys were taking it to the house all the time. And so it's an art, it's a skill, and I really, those guys on the kickoff return team, they've been a really good, consistent group. And for Jadarian to be averaging what he's averaging, we all know, but it wouldn't be without those other ten guys getting the block."
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