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Mike Elko Press Conference Quotes: Notre Dame
9/25/2023 10:47:00 PM | Football
DURHAM – Duke football head coach Mike Elko met with members of the media on Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference.
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The No. 17 Blue Devils welcome No. 11 Notre Dame on Saturday for their last non-conference matchup. The game will be broadcasted on ABC with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. The contest can also be heard on the Blue Devils Sports Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity app or goduke.com.
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Mike Elko Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Thank you guys for coming. Wrapping up UConn, we are happy with the way we handled that game. I said it postgame that I thought it was a very mature approach we had all week to go on the road for the first time and really put that game to bed early in the third quarter. It gave us an opportunity to get some guys some opportunities to go out there and play. I thought that was really important. To give some of our veteran experienced players an opportunity to rest toward the end of that game and come out of it injury free was good. I thought we handled it exactly how I would have hoped.
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"Defensively we played really well. I thought we handled and controlled the flow of the game really well. We played well on third down and played well in the pass game. I thought we did a really complete job on defense. Offensively, I didn't think we ran the ball as well as we're capable of. I thought that was obviously something that we're going to need to address this week and make sure we clean up. We need to sustain blocks a little bit more and need to control the line of scrimmage a little bit better than we did. I thought we were able to get the passing game going on a wet and windy day, which is always a challenge, but I thought we were able to execute in the passing game. We kind of anticipated we would need to do that a little bit. I wish we wouldn't have had to do it so much, but we did it to the level we needed to win the game. I thought on special teams we continue to play really well. For Todd [Pelino] to go out there and kick the 50-yard field goal was big. For us to make the field goal at the end of the half after running the two-minute drill I thought was really important. Porter Wilson is probably not being talked about enough right now, but he continues to punt the ball at a really high level. I think we're in the top-five now nationally in net punt yards, which is a critical stat when you talk about controlling field position. We were able to get the punt return game going and we had a lot of guys do a really good job of making blocks and getting on people.
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"Our offensive scout team player of the week was Caleb Dorris, our defensive player was River Hanson and our special teams player was Dawson Andrew. I thought those guys did a really good job for us last week. Our lineman of the game on offense was Graham Barton. He was the standout player on our offensive line and then defensively Ryan Smith making the critical play that led to the scoop and score from DeWayne Carter, which obviously I think put the game away in the second half. Our player of the week offensively was Jordan Moore, who did a really nice job in the past game becoming a really viable target for us and just continues to get better every week. Aeneas Peebles on defense, I thought really showed up and had a huge day. We are starting to rely on him a lot more now on third down and he was able to deliver in the second half and really got some pressure and made a couple of tackles for loss in the run game. Then on special teams James Hopson II I thought had a tremendous day. He did a really good job in coverage. He got thrust in a little bit in the pump game and made a play on kickoff inside the 20-yard line. So, some of those unsung plays that maybe you don't see or don't get noticed, I thought he did a phenomenal job with.
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"Now it's on to next week and obviously a challenging team in Notre Dame. I have a ton of respect for that program and have a lot of respect for Marcus Freeman in the job that he does. This is a complete football team for sure. Offensively, it starts with the offensive line. It's going to be the biggest offensive line that we've played against. They're massive. The left tackle Joe Alt is phenomenal. He's a big human being, but across the board all of those guys, they're very well coached. They know what they're trying to do and execute in the run game and they're able to create holes for a stable of backs. It starts with this group, but really they roll through four guys in the backfield and I think all of them are extremely talented. We're very familiar with Sam [Hartman] and who he is as a quarterback and what he's capable of doing. We have nothing but respect for how he plays the game, and he certainly has elevated his game as he's gotten into a new offense and become a leader of that program. They have skill kids all over the place that are tall and can run and make plays. It's going to be a challenge on offense for us to go out there and match what they're capable of. Defensively they're playing at an elite level. I think the way they're playing defense right now is phenomenal. I think they're pressuring the quarterback or setting edges in the run game. They're not allowing people to run the ball and they're suffocating in coverage. Their second level is extremely athletic and runs and makes a ton of plays. It's a very good football team coming in here Saturday night. We've got to have a great week of preparation to get ourselves ready to go out and play our style of football but it should be a great stage Saturday night and we're so excited for it."
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(Ref.: On if playing Clemson week one alleviates any issues being on a big stage this week)
"Yeah, a little. We still don't have the volume of it that the teams that were playing on this stage do and so that's still probably an area that concerns us. It's the first-time hosting College GameDay, with all the noise and the buzz that's around that. I told the guys this morning, we're getting a lot of congratulations for GameDay coming here. I'd rather wait and get some congratulations for how we play a football game Saturday night and just trying to stay focused on the task at hand. That's going out and having really good practices and getting the game plan down and knowing what we're trying to execute. Knowing the things that are going to be important for us to go out and have success on Saturday. I'm obviously more comfortable because we've been through it before, but it's still not something that happens around here all the time. It's still a little bit of a concern. Do you try to isolate the guys from it, or do you try to get them to embrace this? In this day and age, you can't isolate them, aside from locking them in a closet somewhere so it's not necessarily about isolating, it's just more about educating and we have smart kids, right? It's not like we have an overconfident group or a big-headed group. It's just kind of educating them on how to get through the week. Sometimes you get into games like this, and kids start thinking about the plays that they're going to make and how they're going to show out on Saturday and how they're going to deliver and all the attention that's going to come with it and they don't focus on all those little details that go into their ability to actually make those plays. I'm just trying to keep them educated on what it's going to take. It's going to take four really good practices starting this morning. It's going to take a really good walkthrough on Friday. It's going to take great preparation in the hotel, great pregame. It's going to take all of those things for us to come out and play football the way we're capable of it."
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(Ref.: On the readiness of the team coming into Saturday)
"Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I would use the word humble. I mean we're a humble group. I think the biggest thing is getting them to understand that they should be confident in their preparation, confident in how they've trained, confident in the things they've done to put themselves in this position, and then understand the work it's going to take this week for them to go out and have a chance to have success on Saturday. I think they understand it. I don't think they don't understand it. We'll just continue with that messaging all week and try to get them ready for Saturday night."
Â
(Ref.: On how important special teams has been this season and how it can be leveraged Saturday)
"It's something we spend an awful lot of time talking about. Certainly, something that we practice at a really high level. I think Coach [Harland] Bower does a phenomenal job preparing and organizing our special teams. Then we've got great buy in, and we were actually just talking about this last week. One of the best examples that's happened this year. You look at a kid like Joshua Pickett and Pickett comes in and he started games last year at corner for us and he competed to be a starting corner this year. He maybe didn't win the battle the way he had hoped or wasn't getting the reps at corner the way he has hoped. So, he's gone out there and started in all four units, all four games and had a major impact on us winning football games. On special teams Cameron Bergeron's like that, James Hopson's like that. Jaylen Stinson goes out there on punt return this week and he takes the left tackle, and he drives them 18 yards into the sideline to open up a lane. That's a starting safety going on out there buying into what we're trying to do on special teams. So, I just think we've got really good buy in. I think we're doing a really good job coaching it. I think our kids are going out and executing and in terms of having an advantage, we only have an advantage if we go out and execute the way we're capable of. We've just got to continue to do the things that we're doing and use that to our advantage Saturday for the buy in."
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(Ref.: On balancing what this moment means to Duke historically, with the expectations of the team)
"It's interesting, I want to make sure I say this the right way. We had a ton of confidence in what football could be here. That's why I took the job. I did not take the job with the hope and expectation that we could be a middle of the road program. That's not why I came here. That's not why I left my previous destination. That's not who I am. It's not really how I'm wired. Did I anticipate in game five of year two, that we would be on this stage. No, of course not. That is a credit to our kids. That's really all it is. It's a credit to our kids and what they bought into and how hard they've worked. How much they've put into this thing to make this what this has become as quickly as it has and so they get all of the credit for that. I think what it's doing is it's allowing us to expedite the process of building the brand of football to the level that we hope that we could get to. We talked about that validation word, right? That validation of all of the things that we're capable of. All of the things that we're doing internally, all of the things that we believe in, inside our building. That doesn't mean a whole lot to the general public or to the national landscape if we don't deliver the way we have been able to deliver on the field. That's something that just needs to continue for this thing to continue to grow at the level it's capable of growing."
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(Ref.: On when he was hired what was the most important thing to address defensively)
"I've done this a lot as a defensive coordinator. I think the first thing that just jumps out is fundamentals. Like you start to try to instill the fundamentals of how you believe defense should be played, and that's not to slight anyone who was here in the past or anything like that. Everywhere I've been that's always kind of been the first thought processes. We believe in a certain way of how we play football, how we attack the football, how we tackle, how we block, how we leverage the ball, how hard we play. Those have been staples of what we believe on defense everywhere I've ever been. So, I think it starts with a mindset and an attitude. We talked about this a lot last year; we play defense a lot different than maybe what they've done in the past. And so just again, not right or wrong, just a lot different. Just trying to get all of that instilled and what that looks like and how we execute that and how we communicate and the things that we need to do. Then it's been great getting Tyler Santucci in and honestly, he deserves all of the credit for what's going on in our defense this year. Him and our defensive staff because, I help a little but it's really that and they're running the whole thing. He's calling the whole game and I think they've just elevated this thing to a whole new level."
Â
(Ref.: On how important it is to have a tough and physical football team)
"Yeah, you can't play football without being physical. If you look at who has won, not who has generated media buzz or who has scored a lot of points. If you look at who has won football games over the years, it's teams that play physical and teams that punish you. It's teams that play extremely hard. That's the recipe, right? If you look at the teams that have won the last handful of national championships, that's what you would say they have physically imposing defenses. They can run the ball and execute in the passing game when they need to. They're based off of physicality. You don't see a lot of teams winning the national championship running spread offenses. You don't see a lot of teams winning national championships, scoring 50 points a game and giving up 40 points a game. Those teams create headlines, and those teams are fun to watch but that's not the teams right now that are winning championships."
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(Ref.: On the amount of experience around college football nowadays)
"Yeah, it's the weird part of college football now is you've got some guys and we certainly have a bunch of them too, but just have a ton of experience. Sam's got a ton of college football experience. I don't know how many games he's started, but I imagine it's got to be close to 50 something. There's not a lot you can throw at him that he hasn't seen before. We kind of saw that going into the game last year. That's only gotten better now that he's gotten around a different group of coaches that can teach him different ways of looking at things and seeing things and kind of enhancing his knowledge in and around the game. I wish we were playing a true freshman quarterback making his first start, but that's not what we have. We've got to do some different things to try to make him uncomfortable and try to figure out ways to not make it really easy for him and at least challenge him. Not allow him to have success as often as he would like and then we've got to attack the football like we always do. Then in a game like this, it probably becomes more important that you protect it and win the turnover battle. We always talk about it as a two-way street. If you don't turn the ball over, you can't lose it. In a game when you know you're playing against a team that's got an experienced quarterback that's not going to put the ball at risk, that has been very intentional about all that stuff. You know, your margin on offense is a lot smaller because you got to really, really protect it."
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(Ref.: On if there is a benefit to seeing Sam Hartman multiple times despite the change of scenery)
"Yeah, I think it's a completely different offense. I think what you're always trying to do is figure out what the quarterback is looking at, what is he seeing and how can you make him uncomfortable in some way shape or form and a lot of that is dictated by the offense. So, running the RPO style he was running at Wake created one set of reads. Running a more pro-style system like he's running now at Notre Dame creates another set of challenges. Listen, you can be living in a cardboard box somewhere and know that Sam Hartman's a really talented quarterback at the college level. He's really good. We're going to have to figure out how to control them as best as we can."
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(Ref.: On being a defensive minded coach, what impresses him about Notre Dame's defense)
"I think they have a very firm grasp of what they're trying to do. I think they're able to execute their system at a high level. You don't see a lot of busts. You don't see a lot of bad leverage plays; you don't look at the formation cut ups and see a lot of things that you can attack because they have great leverage and how they set edges and set formations. I just think they are running a really, really solid sound scheme with a bunch of kids who know exactly what they're trying to do and are executing at a really high level. What that does is it forces you on offense to consistently win and back that. We talked about that a lot from our perspective, that's a really hard thing for offenses to do in the college game. They don't give you anything and you have to earn everything, so we're going to have to come out and have a really complete performance on Saturday night."
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(Ref.: On what changes have occurred if any on the defensive side of the ball from year one to two)
"I think it's been second year in the system and some development of the guys that we had that were really talented players that have elevated their game. If you look at Brandon Johnson, if you look at Chandler Rivers, if you look at Jaylen Stinson, if you look at even a Joshua Pickett and the opportunities that he gets out there, I think those guys are playing football at a much better level this year than they were last year. I think we've added four key contributors to that group -- Myles Jones and Al Blades Jr. are playing corner at a really, really high level. Jeremiah Lewis has been really, really good for us at safety and then we flip Terry Moore from running back to safety and he has had a huge impact. I think we had four guys coming back that have all elevated or are playing at a better level and then we added four guys into that competition mix and so I think you've got eight guys right now that we feel really comfortable putting on the field."
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(Ref.: On the development of Brandon Johnson the past season and a half)
"Yeah, he's a playmaker. I think that's the thing that jumps out and that's what we talk about all the time in our defensive staff room. How do we put him in positions to impact the game. For his size and who he is, you would expect him to just have to be a cover guy, and that's not him at all. I mean, he's an elite blitzer. He's really wiggly. He's really electric and how he can put his foot in the ground and change direction, he becomes really hard to block. He's had more wins against offensive linemen than any nickel blitzer that I've ever coached. That's really impressive. Then he's been really good outside. He's made a handful of tackles for loss on perimeter screens the last couple of weeks. He just continues to find ways to impact the game and he's a really talented player."
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#GoDuke
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The No. 17 Blue Devils welcome No. 11 Notre Dame on Saturday for their last non-conference matchup. The game will be broadcasted on ABC with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. The contest can also be heard on the Blue Devils Sports Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity app or goduke.com.
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Mike Elko Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Thank you guys for coming. Wrapping up UConn, we are happy with the way we handled that game. I said it postgame that I thought it was a very mature approach we had all week to go on the road for the first time and really put that game to bed early in the third quarter. It gave us an opportunity to get some guys some opportunities to go out there and play. I thought that was really important. To give some of our veteran experienced players an opportunity to rest toward the end of that game and come out of it injury free was good. I thought we handled it exactly how I would have hoped.
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"Defensively we played really well. I thought we handled and controlled the flow of the game really well. We played well on third down and played well in the pass game. I thought we did a really complete job on defense. Offensively, I didn't think we ran the ball as well as we're capable of. I thought that was obviously something that we're going to need to address this week and make sure we clean up. We need to sustain blocks a little bit more and need to control the line of scrimmage a little bit better than we did. I thought we were able to get the passing game going on a wet and windy day, which is always a challenge, but I thought we were able to execute in the passing game. We kind of anticipated we would need to do that a little bit. I wish we wouldn't have had to do it so much, but we did it to the level we needed to win the game. I thought on special teams we continue to play really well. For Todd [Pelino] to go out there and kick the 50-yard field goal was big. For us to make the field goal at the end of the half after running the two-minute drill I thought was really important. Porter Wilson is probably not being talked about enough right now, but he continues to punt the ball at a really high level. I think we're in the top-five now nationally in net punt yards, which is a critical stat when you talk about controlling field position. We were able to get the punt return game going and we had a lot of guys do a really good job of making blocks and getting on people.
Â
"Our offensive scout team player of the week was Caleb Dorris, our defensive player was River Hanson and our special teams player was Dawson Andrew. I thought those guys did a really good job for us last week. Our lineman of the game on offense was Graham Barton. He was the standout player on our offensive line and then defensively Ryan Smith making the critical play that led to the scoop and score from DeWayne Carter, which obviously I think put the game away in the second half. Our player of the week offensively was Jordan Moore, who did a really nice job in the past game becoming a really viable target for us and just continues to get better every week. Aeneas Peebles on defense, I thought really showed up and had a huge day. We are starting to rely on him a lot more now on third down and he was able to deliver in the second half and really got some pressure and made a couple of tackles for loss in the run game. Then on special teams James Hopson II I thought had a tremendous day. He did a really good job in coverage. He got thrust in a little bit in the pump game and made a play on kickoff inside the 20-yard line. So, some of those unsung plays that maybe you don't see or don't get noticed, I thought he did a phenomenal job with.
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"Now it's on to next week and obviously a challenging team in Notre Dame. I have a ton of respect for that program and have a lot of respect for Marcus Freeman in the job that he does. This is a complete football team for sure. Offensively, it starts with the offensive line. It's going to be the biggest offensive line that we've played against. They're massive. The left tackle Joe Alt is phenomenal. He's a big human being, but across the board all of those guys, they're very well coached. They know what they're trying to do and execute in the run game and they're able to create holes for a stable of backs. It starts with this group, but really they roll through four guys in the backfield and I think all of them are extremely talented. We're very familiar with Sam [Hartman] and who he is as a quarterback and what he's capable of doing. We have nothing but respect for how he plays the game, and he certainly has elevated his game as he's gotten into a new offense and become a leader of that program. They have skill kids all over the place that are tall and can run and make plays. It's going to be a challenge on offense for us to go out there and match what they're capable of. Defensively they're playing at an elite level. I think the way they're playing defense right now is phenomenal. I think they're pressuring the quarterback or setting edges in the run game. They're not allowing people to run the ball and they're suffocating in coverage. Their second level is extremely athletic and runs and makes a ton of plays. It's a very good football team coming in here Saturday night. We've got to have a great week of preparation to get ourselves ready to go out and play our style of football but it should be a great stage Saturday night and we're so excited for it."
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(Ref.: On if playing Clemson week one alleviates any issues being on a big stage this week)
"Yeah, a little. We still don't have the volume of it that the teams that were playing on this stage do and so that's still probably an area that concerns us. It's the first-time hosting College GameDay, with all the noise and the buzz that's around that. I told the guys this morning, we're getting a lot of congratulations for GameDay coming here. I'd rather wait and get some congratulations for how we play a football game Saturday night and just trying to stay focused on the task at hand. That's going out and having really good practices and getting the game plan down and knowing what we're trying to execute. Knowing the things that are going to be important for us to go out and have success on Saturday. I'm obviously more comfortable because we've been through it before, but it's still not something that happens around here all the time. It's still a little bit of a concern. Do you try to isolate the guys from it, or do you try to get them to embrace this? In this day and age, you can't isolate them, aside from locking them in a closet somewhere so it's not necessarily about isolating, it's just more about educating and we have smart kids, right? It's not like we have an overconfident group or a big-headed group. It's just kind of educating them on how to get through the week. Sometimes you get into games like this, and kids start thinking about the plays that they're going to make and how they're going to show out on Saturday and how they're going to deliver and all the attention that's going to come with it and they don't focus on all those little details that go into their ability to actually make those plays. I'm just trying to keep them educated on what it's going to take. It's going to take four really good practices starting this morning. It's going to take a really good walkthrough on Friday. It's going to take great preparation in the hotel, great pregame. It's going to take all of those things for us to come out and play football the way we're capable of it."
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(Ref.: On the readiness of the team coming into Saturday)
"Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I would use the word humble. I mean we're a humble group. I think the biggest thing is getting them to understand that they should be confident in their preparation, confident in how they've trained, confident in the things they've done to put themselves in this position, and then understand the work it's going to take this week for them to go out and have a chance to have success on Saturday. I think they understand it. I don't think they don't understand it. We'll just continue with that messaging all week and try to get them ready for Saturday night."
Â
(Ref.: On how important special teams has been this season and how it can be leveraged Saturday)
"It's something we spend an awful lot of time talking about. Certainly, something that we practice at a really high level. I think Coach [Harland] Bower does a phenomenal job preparing and organizing our special teams. Then we've got great buy in, and we were actually just talking about this last week. One of the best examples that's happened this year. You look at a kid like Joshua Pickett and Pickett comes in and he started games last year at corner for us and he competed to be a starting corner this year. He maybe didn't win the battle the way he had hoped or wasn't getting the reps at corner the way he has hoped. So, he's gone out there and started in all four units, all four games and had a major impact on us winning football games. On special teams Cameron Bergeron's like that, James Hopson's like that. Jaylen Stinson goes out there on punt return this week and he takes the left tackle, and he drives them 18 yards into the sideline to open up a lane. That's a starting safety going on out there buying into what we're trying to do on special teams. So, I just think we've got really good buy in. I think we're doing a really good job coaching it. I think our kids are going out and executing and in terms of having an advantage, we only have an advantage if we go out and execute the way we're capable of. We've just got to continue to do the things that we're doing and use that to our advantage Saturday for the buy in."
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(Ref.: On balancing what this moment means to Duke historically, with the expectations of the team)
"It's interesting, I want to make sure I say this the right way. We had a ton of confidence in what football could be here. That's why I took the job. I did not take the job with the hope and expectation that we could be a middle of the road program. That's not why I came here. That's not why I left my previous destination. That's not who I am. It's not really how I'm wired. Did I anticipate in game five of year two, that we would be on this stage. No, of course not. That is a credit to our kids. That's really all it is. It's a credit to our kids and what they bought into and how hard they've worked. How much they've put into this thing to make this what this has become as quickly as it has and so they get all of the credit for that. I think what it's doing is it's allowing us to expedite the process of building the brand of football to the level that we hope that we could get to. We talked about that validation word, right? That validation of all of the things that we're capable of. All of the things that we're doing internally, all of the things that we believe in, inside our building. That doesn't mean a whole lot to the general public or to the national landscape if we don't deliver the way we have been able to deliver on the field. That's something that just needs to continue for this thing to continue to grow at the level it's capable of growing."
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(Ref.: On when he was hired what was the most important thing to address defensively)
"I've done this a lot as a defensive coordinator. I think the first thing that just jumps out is fundamentals. Like you start to try to instill the fundamentals of how you believe defense should be played, and that's not to slight anyone who was here in the past or anything like that. Everywhere I've been that's always kind of been the first thought processes. We believe in a certain way of how we play football, how we attack the football, how we tackle, how we block, how we leverage the ball, how hard we play. Those have been staples of what we believe on defense everywhere I've ever been. So, I think it starts with a mindset and an attitude. We talked about this a lot last year; we play defense a lot different than maybe what they've done in the past. And so just again, not right or wrong, just a lot different. Just trying to get all of that instilled and what that looks like and how we execute that and how we communicate and the things that we need to do. Then it's been great getting Tyler Santucci in and honestly, he deserves all of the credit for what's going on in our defense this year. Him and our defensive staff because, I help a little but it's really that and they're running the whole thing. He's calling the whole game and I think they've just elevated this thing to a whole new level."
Â
(Ref.: On how important it is to have a tough and physical football team)
"Yeah, you can't play football without being physical. If you look at who has won, not who has generated media buzz or who has scored a lot of points. If you look at who has won football games over the years, it's teams that play physical and teams that punish you. It's teams that play extremely hard. That's the recipe, right? If you look at the teams that have won the last handful of national championships, that's what you would say they have physically imposing defenses. They can run the ball and execute in the passing game when they need to. They're based off of physicality. You don't see a lot of teams winning the national championship running spread offenses. You don't see a lot of teams winning national championships, scoring 50 points a game and giving up 40 points a game. Those teams create headlines, and those teams are fun to watch but that's not the teams right now that are winning championships."
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(Ref.: On the amount of experience around college football nowadays)
"Yeah, it's the weird part of college football now is you've got some guys and we certainly have a bunch of them too, but just have a ton of experience. Sam's got a ton of college football experience. I don't know how many games he's started, but I imagine it's got to be close to 50 something. There's not a lot you can throw at him that he hasn't seen before. We kind of saw that going into the game last year. That's only gotten better now that he's gotten around a different group of coaches that can teach him different ways of looking at things and seeing things and kind of enhancing his knowledge in and around the game. I wish we were playing a true freshman quarterback making his first start, but that's not what we have. We've got to do some different things to try to make him uncomfortable and try to figure out ways to not make it really easy for him and at least challenge him. Not allow him to have success as often as he would like and then we've got to attack the football like we always do. Then in a game like this, it probably becomes more important that you protect it and win the turnover battle. We always talk about it as a two-way street. If you don't turn the ball over, you can't lose it. In a game when you know you're playing against a team that's got an experienced quarterback that's not going to put the ball at risk, that has been very intentional about all that stuff. You know, your margin on offense is a lot smaller because you got to really, really protect it."
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(Ref.: On if there is a benefit to seeing Sam Hartman multiple times despite the change of scenery)
"Yeah, I think it's a completely different offense. I think what you're always trying to do is figure out what the quarterback is looking at, what is he seeing and how can you make him uncomfortable in some way shape or form and a lot of that is dictated by the offense. So, running the RPO style he was running at Wake created one set of reads. Running a more pro-style system like he's running now at Notre Dame creates another set of challenges. Listen, you can be living in a cardboard box somewhere and know that Sam Hartman's a really talented quarterback at the college level. He's really good. We're going to have to figure out how to control them as best as we can."
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(Ref.: On being a defensive minded coach, what impresses him about Notre Dame's defense)
"I think they have a very firm grasp of what they're trying to do. I think they're able to execute their system at a high level. You don't see a lot of busts. You don't see a lot of bad leverage plays; you don't look at the formation cut ups and see a lot of things that you can attack because they have great leverage and how they set edges and set formations. I just think they are running a really, really solid sound scheme with a bunch of kids who know exactly what they're trying to do and are executing at a really high level. What that does is it forces you on offense to consistently win and back that. We talked about that a lot from our perspective, that's a really hard thing for offenses to do in the college game. They don't give you anything and you have to earn everything, so we're going to have to come out and have a really complete performance on Saturday night."
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(Ref.: On what changes have occurred if any on the defensive side of the ball from year one to two)
"I think it's been second year in the system and some development of the guys that we had that were really talented players that have elevated their game. If you look at Brandon Johnson, if you look at Chandler Rivers, if you look at Jaylen Stinson, if you look at even a Joshua Pickett and the opportunities that he gets out there, I think those guys are playing football at a much better level this year than they were last year. I think we've added four key contributors to that group -- Myles Jones and Al Blades Jr. are playing corner at a really, really high level. Jeremiah Lewis has been really, really good for us at safety and then we flip Terry Moore from running back to safety and he has had a huge impact. I think we had four guys coming back that have all elevated or are playing at a better level and then we added four guys into that competition mix and so I think you've got eight guys right now that we feel really comfortable putting on the field."
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(Ref.: On the development of Brandon Johnson the past season and a half)
"Yeah, he's a playmaker. I think that's the thing that jumps out and that's what we talk about all the time in our defensive staff room. How do we put him in positions to impact the game. For his size and who he is, you would expect him to just have to be a cover guy, and that's not him at all. I mean, he's an elite blitzer. He's really wiggly. He's really electric and how he can put his foot in the ground and change direction, he becomes really hard to block. He's had more wins against offensive linemen than any nickel blitzer that I've ever coached. That's really impressive. Then he's been really good outside. He's made a handful of tackles for loss on perimeter screens the last couple of weeks. He just continues to find ways to impact the game and he's a really talented player."
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#GoDuke
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/ FootballDarian Mensah on ACC Huddle
Friday, October 24
Offensive Line Leads the Way
Tuesday, October 21
Chandler Rivers Postgame: Georgia Tech
Saturday, October 18
Cooper Barkate Postgame: Georgia Tech
Saturday, October 18
