BK Transcript 10/26
Written by Jerry Strabley
Are there any health issues?
“Dexter Williams is back, looking good, and should be able to impact the game. Cam Smith is doubtful for this game. He’s better, but he doesn’t have the burst.”
How is Greer Martini doing?
“He’s on all special teams. He’s looking good. He’ll be playing.”
Will Greer Martini start or will Te’von Coney be the starter?
“I don’t know. I’ll have to check. They are both splitting reps. I imagine we will still go down that road.”
When you are recruiting receivers who do not have high-star ranking, what are you looking for in receivers like this? Just to mention a couple, Will Fuller and Kevin Stepherson.
“Tracking the ball, speed is a little bit easier to assess. The ability to track the ball down the field is really the most important criteria in trying to put speed with the skill of playing the wide receiver position. Those opportunities when you can see how they track the football, those are the specific points for me when I am evaluating ultimately those kinds of players that may be a bit under-recruited. I’m looking for the natural abilities to catch it over the shoulder, let the ball come to them naturally without fighting it.”
Kevin Stepherson isn’t on the depth chart for this week’s game. Could you tell us about that?
“Mike didn’t have enough room on his sheet, I guess (laughing). We are in a budget crunch here at Notre Dame right now with paper (laughing). Seriously, I think it should have been. He should have been in there. I don’t know why he wasn’t.”
Troy Pride played some mop-up duty a few weeks ago and played more last week. What has he done to earn this playing time?
“Well, you have to develop the trust in practice to earn it in the game, and we are getting that from him in practice. So, that is going to get you some game opportunities. In the game, we are seeing some success there as well. You will continue to see more of him, and I think his role will continue to expand. The other thing we are seeing is physical development. He is making great strides from a physical standpoint in what we are doing in our weight room, as well. I think both of those things are coming together for him.”
When players are in for mop-up duty, you do evaluate them, right?
“Absolutely, when they get their opportunity, they have to make us notice them. The old adage is, it is not our job to notice them, it’s their job. There are a bunch of guys who are on the cusp defensively. Khalid Kareem did that earlier and you see where he’s gone. I would say Pride, Jones, Jones, and Treadway are guys you are going to see that are ascending in terms of what they are doing in practice. These are guys that we are feeling really good about right now.”
What impresses you most about North Carolina State?
“I think, and rightly so, they get a lot of credit for what they have done defensively with Chubb and Hill and a veteran defense that is really good. It’s a physical defense. It creates a lot of problems. Their defensive coordinator does a great job with their scheme and causing a lot of problems. But I think the efficiency offensively, they are not getting a lot of possessions per game. I think there are only six teams that get more possessions, but they average 3.2 points per possession. So that’s extremely efficient in what they do. I think the efficiency of their offense and, obviously, everybody knows they don’t throw picks. Very rarely in college football can you sustain long drives without making mistakes. They sustain them and score. It’s pretty impressive.”
Do you think they are one of the best kept secrets in college football?
“They are deserving of their ranking. I’m not sure what they are, fifteenth in the country. They are one of the top teams in the country. They can play with anybody.”
How do you evaluate the punting and kickoffs to this point?
“We can’t out-kick our coverage, 55-yard punts are not good for us. We can’t stretch out our coverage unit where we give big space and field. We need 4.5 or 4.4 hang time. I’ll take 38, 40, 42 and give us great coverage opportunities. So, the punting is really going to be key in this game with a dangerous return man. When it comes to kick-offs, obviously, that’s an area we haven’t been great at. We’ve just been okay. We have to be better there, and we have worked hard on that. Directionally, they are a team that, I think, we certainly have to look to put the ball in tough positions directionally, where we can obviously get down there and keep him bottled up.”
The special teams have not been spectacular but they have not hurt you either. How would you assess them now?
“I thought our punt-return team was better. I think Chris is feeling more comfortable back there. We, obviously, haven’t been called upon in the field-goal kicking game, but I think we are really solid there. Obviously, we are going to be called upon to kick some key field goals during the year. So, I think seven games in, there is still a lot of room there, but clearly we have players on that team that are going to have to come through sooner or later for us and we feel good about that.”
Brandon told us he felt that the two-minute drill was better for him this week compared to last week.
“I think recognition is getting better and pocket awareness and all those things. He is sensing a little bit better. The situation was a little bit different than last week because there was only 50 seconds on the clock. Last week, there was 2:15 and he had a couple of timeouts. He just has to do some different things. He has to fire the ball. He has to center the ball for field goal. There was a lot more on his plate in terms of having to make some quick decisions; get guys lined up on the line of scrimmage, fire the ball, move it to the middle, kick it, things of that nature this week. Last week, he had plenty of time on the clock. He had time-outs. It was almost a four-minute drill. This was a lot quicker. He had to think faster. He had to move faster, and he had to make some key throws, and he did a nice job.”
Inaudible but reference to staff turnover.
“I don’t think so. I don’t think I had it right in 2012 and 2015, but finally I got it right. What I think I am saying is in 2012, we had new coaches and if I got it right in 2012, then we’d still be all together here right now. Philosophically, I feel like we have the right things in place right now where hopefully we don’t have to go through transitions like we went through in ’12 and ’15. You’re going to lose coaches to head-coaching opportunities, and you’re always going to have to fill those roles. We went through more than just filling coaches because they moved on. So, hopefully we have it right here where we don’t have to go through some of those things again.”
How are Hainsey and Kraemer developing and do you see them more as players in 2018?
“There was an eye toward 2018 and there was an eye toward right now, about sharing the load with two first-time starters. Their skill sets are a little bit different. Hainsey is a really good technician as it relates to his ability to handle the pass game. Kraemer is more physical right now with his size. They seem to be a good blend to work together and gave us the complete player that we were looking for at that position as well as taking a little pressure off of them in their first year and then an eye toward 2018.”
Do you feel the cold weather will affect the game?
“It’s all mental, you know. Our guys are used to grinding it through the cold weather, and I don’t think it will have any effect on the game. I think it is just your mental approach. I know our guys are prepared and ready to play in whatever the elements are.”