Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1044500
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 5, 2018 29 NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY … On Navy and the win: "They play hard. They never give in. You saw that. We were up big on them. That doesn't faze the Midshipmen. They come right back at us in the second half as if nothing happened in the first half. "… Glad to get out of here with a victory, with a lot of good things to build off of going into the last month." On the play of junior defensive end Julian Okwara: "A lot of that was Julian Okwara was outstanding. What really stood out to me was his effort was outstanding in the fourth quarter in getting after it. "Having elite players that got after it late in the game was the difference." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR QUARTERBACK IAN BOOK … On the first-half performance and the respect be- tween the Irish and Midshipmen: "Being able to play Navy is an honor. Obviously, we have a tradition that goes way back. We have so much respect for that team. Defensively, we knew they're a good team. We had to prepare well. "With the bye week, it was a good timing for us to rest, then coming back and basically being able to get a couple more practices in definitely helped." On bouncing back after the opening fumble: "We just have the next play mindset. I know Miles [Boykin] is mentally strong. It was the first play and takes a little bit of momentum away. We come back as an offense, I know we're strong. That's football. "Stuff like that happens. It's how you bounce back. I talked to Miles. I think he was good. You could tell he was fine. As an offense, we knew we had a bad play. It's about the next play. No point thinking about what hap- pened when you have a whole game in front of you." NOTRE DAME SENIOR RUNNING BACK DEXTER WILLIAMS … On his play: "The offensive line was creating holes for me. Also just being patient, just letting them set up the blocks, then I made the right cut. "I was really running hard for them because I know they're going to block hard for me. Basically we're just holding each other accountable." NOTRE DAME SENIOR LINEBACKER TE'VON CONEY … On if transition back from triple option is easier than preparing for it: "Obviously, it's a little unique. Like I said earlier in the week, it's fun to play guys that come out and give it their all. "We're happy to move on to the next game, get ready for our preparation next week, get another win." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR SAFETY ALOHI GILMAN … On early success defensively: "Being able to execute on all levels of the defense, first, second, third level. Guys keying into their keys, executing what they had to do to do their job. "When we did that, we played well as a defense." NAVY HEAD COACH KEN NIUMATALOLO … On if he believes Notre Dame is a special team: "There's a great sense of focus on their team. They're re- ally good in a lot of different places. Offensively they are really good. I thought they shut us down offensively in the first half. They are sound on special teams. "They're ranked No. 3 for a reason. Just a really solid, focused group. We have played them before and played Coach Kelly's team before. This is one of his better teams." On Ian Book and the Irish change at left guard: "Book can run. He's got a really good arm. Obviously he can throw the football. He's tough. "If people are covered, he extends the play with his legs. That last third down, he had a long time back there, stayed alive, stayed alive. That was a back breaker. "We feel like we're two scores away at that point. If we could have got a stop there, that would have been huge. He made that play. The change at left guard was tough, but there were a lot of other things they had go- ing on, too. "They're a good team. We knew that coming in. We knew we had to play perfect and have some help from them. We didn't." — Corey Bodden FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Junior safety Alohi Gilman made seven tackles in his first game against his former school. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA