Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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On mentoring the younger members of the Irish defense: "There's a lot of moving in the secondary so there are a lot of details that you need to add in there. That comes with study and developing your mental game. You see all the talent in these guys so it's not a physical issue. It's a matter of if they can absorb the material Coach [Brian] VanGorder is giving them and absorb the material Coach [Todd] Lyght is giving them and apply it. "What that looks like for me is meeting with them outside of our typical meeting times and really investing in them and forming relationships with them." Senior cornerback Cole Luke … On the evolution of the defense: "I think it's a matter of time. We definitely have a lot of young guys on the team right now — all around, too. They all have potential. It's just a matter of them getting comfortable so they can play to their potential. "It's like me when I came in. I was scared to play like I did in high school, but it's just a matter of time for them to get comfortable so they can understand the system so they'll be able to play like they usu- ally do." Senior linebacker James Onwualu … On being a leader: "I think this spring has really helped some of us who have had pretty dominant leaders in front of us throughout the previous years. We've gotten a feel for how we can really emerge to be leaders throughout these spring practices. "It's a nice time to have here with a couple of weeks off. We need to make sure that we really push some of these younger guys who just went through their first spring … and make sure they know how important these next couple weeks are and that break in the summer is." — Andrew Owens