Blue and Gold Illustrated

UNDER THE DOME "We definitely play with passion around here. Just excited that he was playing and we don't want to take that away from him. But it's a freak accident. I did a similar thing my freshman year, but it wasn't to that extent. It just depends on who you are. … That was my last time celebrating." — Captain and starting defensive tackle Sheldon Day on Drue Tranquill's season-ending injury suffered while celebrating a play "There's a number of guys. Torii Hunter has got three catches. I think he's as good as any receiver we've got. It's hard to get him in the game. "Alex Bars is an outstanding offensive lineman. Just got to get him in the game. Doug Randolph; An- drew Trumbetti didn't play one snap [versus Georgia Tech]. I know he's played in the first couple games. I could go and give you 10 guys that are still waiting for that opportunity to break out and there's still a number of those guys that I think will get that opportunity." — Head coach Brian Kelly on players that could flourish if given the opportunity "… All of the sudden I have this pressure. There's all this obligation that you have as a Notre Dame quarterback that I just never really prepared myself for, I guess. "Going into the summer, I literally hit rock bottom. Rock bottom. I wasn't throwing the ball well. I was the third-string quarterback. Am I even playing the right sport? I was thinking to myself, 'Why did I even play football? I could be out there throwing the ball 93, 94 miles per hour. Why not just play baseball?' I was contemplating everything." — Sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer to Jac Collinsworth during episode three of Showtime's "A Season With Notre Dame Football" THEY SAID IT "I can say it was for parking reasons, but I can't say anything else. My teammates and my coaches know there are no charac- ter issues wrong with me, and I'm here. I don't need a 'C' on my chest to know what role I have on the team and I never needed that, and I don't need it now. I definitely still accept the position I'm in, and I'm fully ready to do what I need to do for my team. … I'm definitely disappointed it got out. It wasn't supposed to, but it happens." Senior left tackle Ronnie Stanley regarding a clip featured on Showtime's website that showed him being unable to accept a captain's role on the 2015 squad TWEET OF THE MONTH @JayHayesNY: "When a coach stops coaching you…that's when you jus [sic] gotta move on." and "Gotta get this natty [national championship] and I'm out." Sophomore defensive lineman Jay Hayes expressing frustration with his current situation at Notre Dame in two tweets (Hayes did not play in the first three games of the season) PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND

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