Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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The Assistant Coaches Speak At Media Day Quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur, formerly of the NFL, on regularly reviewing tape of pro quarter- backs: "They like to watch RGIII [Robert Griffin III, who LaFleur coached with the Washington Redskins], Tom Brady [of the New England Patriots], Peyton Manning [of the Denver Broncos] and Drew Brees [of the New Orleans Saints]. They also like watching a guy like Russell Wilson because they are both running and throwing quarterbacks." Running backs coach/recruiting coordinator Tony Alford on sophomores Greg Bry- ant and Tarean Folston following the lead of senior Cam McDaniel: "If you're diligent and committed about your work, to doing things the right way, that's what will help you down the road. … Most young people need to have blind faith and trust in their coaches." Offensive coordinator/receivers coach Mike Denbrock on increasing the pace on offense rather than paralysis by analysis: "Maybe we've been a little too analytical and precise about being in the exact play at the exact time. I think we've got playmakers in places where, once they get the ball in space, they're going to be able to do exciting things with it. Tempo and the way that you go about it helps those things." Tight ends coach/special teams coordinator Scott Booker on senior tight end Ben Koyack: "He's get- ting comfortable in the role of playing every single down. He's not coming out of the game — attached or detached. He's going to have to continue to be comfortable at and perform at an elite level." Offensive line coach Harry Hiestand on using seniors Matt Hegarty and Conor Hanratty as a tag-team duo at left guard: "They're pretty even so I could see us doing something like that. I'm talking with Coach [Brian Kelly] about it more." Defensive line coach Mike Elston on having maybe four or more freshmen in the two deep: "The young defensive players are going to be really good. The problem is they are just in situations right now that due to lack of depth they are going to have to play. But we knew Daniel Cage was going to have to give us some depth. We knew Jhonny Williams was going to have to come off the edge." Outside linebackers coach Bob Elliott on sophomore linebacker Jaylon Smith's new role: "We're primar- ily a 4-3 [defense], which means the two outside linebackers, depending on how we set our front, could be in the box or out of the box. Jaylon is going to be out of the box and in the box some, and so are our Sam linebackers. But the difference is he's predominantly in the box, which is very different for him." Defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks on more press coverage and less of a bend-but-don't-break ap- proach: "The system that we were in was awesome. We were 21-5 over the last two years. … The system right now allows these guys to be flexible and be more aggressive, which I think young kids by nature is part of their mentality. Any time you can coin an NFL system — and these guys are here in preparation to try and go to that next level — there's total buy-in right now." Strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo on changes in defensive training this summer: "We made some adjustments based upon how we're going to play the game. We made some tweaks with how we train them. We don't have to be quite so big up front. We want to be a little quicker." — Lou Somogyi MEDIA DAY DENBROCK