Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/366772
UNDER THE DOME "I didn't really know what the coaches wanted from me [in the past] and always [thought] about what these guys wanted. Now I'm able to just be out there and make plays. I've been with Coach Kelly three and a half years, so I know what he wants from this team and how he operates. It's about me being comfortable and going out there and doing my thing." Senior quarterback Everett Golson on his maturation in Brian Kelly's offensive system "In the seedy years before Brian Kelly arrived at Notre Dame, the football was phony but the grass was real. Now it's the opposite. … The Irish enter 2014 with, arguably, the nation's toughest schedule. The 13-person selection committee will pick Notre Dame up at the playoff airport if it navigates a schedule that includes Michigan, Stanford, Florida State, Arizona State, Northwestern, Louisville and USC." — Los Angeles Times columnist Chris Dufresne on the Irish, the No. 16 team in his preseason rankings "Just the full year [has helped my confidence]. This isn't my first time or anything, where I'm getting used to the speed of the game. It's not an issue. It's about developing my football IQ. … I just slowed everything down and calmed everything down and got back to the basics, beginning with my alignments and making sure I'm set and in the right position and things like that. It's all about slowing it down, and once you get that accomplished, then everything rolls." — Sophomore linebacker Jaylon Smith THEY SAID IT PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND