Jeff Quinn Notebook
Notre Dame offensive line coach Jeff Quinn spoke about his new position and the future of the Irish offensive line.
On offensive line job:
“We want to congratulate Harry (Hiestand) on the six years at Notre Dame. He’s a fine coach and one of the best I’ve been around. I’ve studied Harry and how our offensive line was coached, taught and trained.
“I’m excited to continue that tradition here."
On biggest takeaways from Hiestand:
“If you’ve been around Harry, he doesn’t waste a second of the day to get those guys ready mentally, physically and emotionally. You saw that each and every single week.
“The standard he set was an attacking mentality, and that’s the way I want to coach, and it’s the way I’ve always coached. The guys will feel good about how I go in that room and how we take it to the field.
On recruiting:
“There was a lot of uncertainty from the recruits. I knew we needed to hang on to a number of them and swing some our way. When I had a chance to be announced on that Tuesday, the next morning, I was on a plane down to see Luke (Jones), Nicholas (Petit-Frere) and Jarrett (Patterson).
“I went into it as I always do, be who you are. I wanted to make sure they understood who Jeff Quinn was a person, husband, a man and a football coach. I wanted to make sure they knew how their life would be impacted by my direction.
“I wanted to make sure the parents felt comfortable. I’ve raised two sons myself. The great coaches approach it the same way as they would coach their own two sons. I want to make sure we do things the right way, make good choices and make a decision to set the standard every single day.
“Our goal is to graduate our student-athletes and competed for the National Championship. How do you do that? It’s about the right kind of people, and that’s why I am in your home."
On working with Chip Long:
“We have the same philosophy, and that’s about attacking defenses. Over the years I had been building the offense with coach (Brian) Kelly and when coach hired Chip, I was excited because all I knew was the one system we have developed.
“I really like how he calls the offense. I like the plays we have in the system. We’re on the same page, and it’s all about run the ball first. It’s about attacking downhill and being relentless to the echo of the whistle but making sure we put points on the board.
“To be able to do that, you have to have those guys up front control the line of scrimmage and protect the quarterback as we take shots downfield. I could tell in a short period of time that we were going to be able to work very closely and very well together.”
On having head coaching experience:
“It’s much different as a head coach you’re taking care of everything and not focused on one position or one group of guys. This is who I am. Those opportunities were provided because I was an offensive line coach and an offensive coordinator – developing championship offensive lines, offensive units, breaking records and being able to get some guys developed and trained at the next level.
“I’m excited about working with this group. There’s a little bit more focus on the offensive line as opposed to being a head coach when you have a much bigger duty and responsibility to handle the whole thing.”
On figuring out the best five offensive linemen:
“You have to find the best five. If you’re best are all tackles, then two of them are going to play guard, and one will play center. I think that’s the fair way to approach it and the players in the room respect it. That’s why it’s important if you three guard competing for two positions, then they know how important every day it is to demonstrate and prove they’re one of the top two.
“You also have to cross-train. Sometimes what happens in the game, a guy goes down, and the next guy has to go in.”
On taking an analyst role and having it lead to promotion:
“At the time I was asked to be an analyst, I completely embraced the role and respected it. You also feel if there was an opportunity if Harry had a chance to go on to the NFL, which would have been new at that point, that I would have a shot at showing what I’m capable of doing and that’s what happened.
“The analyst role allowed me to see things in a different perspective in terms of time management, charts on being able to attempt more fourth-down situations and there were a lot of scenarios I was able to share with Chip and coach Kelly that might not happen as often.
“I’m always grateful for those challenges. As people, you have to take those challenges and embrace them. You have to do everything to help Notre Dame win. That was my role, and that’s what I accepted. In the back of my mind, I wanted to get my cleats on the grass and get with my guys again. The dear Lord blessed me. For three years I prayed for it, and it happened for my family and me.”
On not getting the offensive coordinator job last year:
“Coach Kelly and I had a conversation. He was very open with his thoughts and genuine. I understood what he was asking from me and why he was looking at filling that role with Chip Long.
“Those are always difficult situations to be in as we all know, but I took it as an opportunity to learn, to grow and to watch an offense installed. We were similar, but Chip brought a lot more to the table with what we do now.”
On offensive line room:
“It’s different. A lot of it is attributed to the players. When you think about Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey, Ronnie Stanley, Nick and Zack Martin and Chris Watt – those are the gentlemen I watched when I first came here. They made it clear that this was who they were going to be and the decisions were made collectively.
“You watched their workout seeing their mental and physical toughness, and that becomes who you are. To be in that room with those young men, it’s impressive to see all those traits are already in place and they display it each moment they can.
“Sam Mustipher, Alex Bars, Robert Hainsey and Tommy Kraemer know the standard they have to live up to because those other guys are going to come back. They are going to have something to say if it’s not be done or done the right way.”
On landing Jarrett Patterson:
“I told my wife and Jarrett that I wasn’t going to sleep until I get that call. We had gone back and forth, and I’m certainly proud of Jarrett for making that decision. I felt like there was a connection there. He just needed to know who I was and how I was going to be able to train and develop him into the type of player he wants to become.
“Football is in their blood. He comes from a championship football program, and those things were very evident early on when I sat down and talked with him. I had my IPad in his living room talking about football. He didn’t want to talk about anything else at that point, which was great.
“To have that ability to demonstrate to him who we are and what Notre Dame can do for him and what he can do for Notre Dame was a huge get for us.”
On Patterson’s game:
“He’s a great athlete. He has great size, length and moves well. One key for me was when I saw his film, it caught my eye. There was a focus and determination. He was intentional with his technique, hands and body positioning. You could tell between his junior and senior year, he made great strides in the weight room and dedicated himself to the weight room. He had that mindset.”
On signee Luke Jones:
“That is a very high achieving family. These are outstanding parents. They have raised three outstanding children. When I went in there and had a chance to sit down and have a meal with his mom, dad and sister. The questions really hit my wheelhouse. They were asking the very things I felt good about and that to me made all the difference in the world. I was eager to keep that commitment.
“My wife’s brother lived in Arkansas. We were in swimming hole with our children, and there were three water moccasins in the waterhole. I asked if they had snakes down here and he said ‘Yeah, Coach. I got bit by a copperhead.’ I said ‘You survived a snake bite?’ He was 13-years old, and I told him I was glad Notre Dame was signing him.”