Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com DECEMBER 2016 31 Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly … On junior quarterback DeShone Kizer's performance against USC: "I thought there were some good things that he did, and I thought at times he didn't get the kind of support that he needed. I thought there were some balls that could have been caught that maybe in the circumstances could have been a little bit better throws. Maybe a little bit better of a catch. "It's kind of a mixed bag. He's a tough grader, and I'm a tough grader. I don't think we would come up with a big OK even if he was 18 for 20." On why he spoke to the team at halftime on the field instead of in the locker room: "It's a very difficult place to talk. It's broken up and I can't see their eyes, I can't see them and talk to them. I needed to make a couple important points. "I had already thought about this prior to the game that if I needed to make a couple points to the team, I wanted to do it out on the field, regardless of what other people thought. I needed to make a couple thoughts where I could see them. The locker room is broken up to where you can't see your entire team, and that gave me that opportunity." Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer … On the positives from the 2016 season: "To be a mem- ber of this 2016 Notre Dame football team means quite a bit to me. In a sense that there's so much that's happened this year that I'm going to be able to learn from, to build from, that is pretty much priceless. "This is going to be a long offseason that I can go back and watch a bunch of good film and go through great games that we've participated in and learn from them. The experiences I've got from this year will hopefully make this year one of the most valuable seasons that I've been a part of." Notre Dame fifth-year senior nose guard Jarron Jones … On the performance against USC: "I feel like our defense played great. Besides the two touchdowns that we let up in the second half, we came out and we fought until the very end. "Despite all the odds against us, we could've came out and rolled over. We knew there was nothing after this, but we still kept fighting." Notre Dame senior left tackle Mike McGlinchey … On the USC game: "The fight this team has shown all year is what you hold your hat on. It's the character of the guys in the locker room that we know we can build a program around. There's a lot of upside to this team. "We've had a lot of things not go our way this year, but the upside without a doubt is the guys in the locker room and the position we'll be in moving forward will be far and away better than where we are right now." FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Junior quarterback DeShone Kizer started the game by completing six of his first seven passes for 70 yards, but he ended up only 17 of 32 overall for 220 yards and was sacked six times by the Trojans. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA