Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/894058
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 6, 2017 29 NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY … On Josh Adams' Heisman can- didacy: "I think he's a great back. There are other great players that are up for the Heisman, but he con- tinues to play against top compe- tition, and continues to excel on a very good football team. "Again, there's plenty of really good football left in this season, and I think we should just let it play out." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR RUNNING BACK JOSH ADAMS … On confidence and mindset heading into big games: "It's about each and every guy holding them- selves to a high standard of wanting to do better, wanting to be better. We're not going to settle for less. I don't think any guy on our team has that mindset. We're going to hold each other accountable to every- thing that we do. "We know that there are areas that we can do better on, and we try to do better with that in practice. We approach each practice the same as if we were approaching the game. Just having that mindset of trying to get our job done and doing the little things right." On NC State's defense being com- pared to Georgia and if there was anything learned from that game which was applied against the Wolfpack: "I could see that just how they were from a physical stand- point. They definitely had that simi- larity to Georgia. But we focus more on what we can do and what our job is rather than who our opponent is. "Of course, we're well aware that they're going to bring everything they have. They're going to give us their best game. But we approach each and every week trying to do better on our side of things and try- ing to perfect our craft." NOTRE DAME SENIOR GUARD QUENTON NELSON … On playing a defensive line with NC State's physicality put- ting something extra on his plate: "Definitely. This position group has a lot of personal pride in what we're taught, what we're coached to do and in each other. "We try to be the best offensive line unit in the country each week, and we brought it today. It was awe- some." NOTRE DAME JUNIOR LINEBACKER TE'VON CONEY … On how he got a handle on the offense: "I would just say settling down as a defense. Not getting too hyper. Settle down, put your cleats in the ground and just play. "Trust in the process, go out there and execute and good things will come for us." NOTRE DAME SENIOR ROVER DRUE TRANQUILL … On the College Football Playoff: "We're all aware of the situation we've worked to put ourselves in … but if we listen to that too much we'll lose focus on what we have to do and that's beat Wake Forest to even be relevant. "Hopefully it doesn't distract too many guys. We'll be preaching that as leaders and our coaches will con- tinue to reiterate that. It's exciting." NOTRE DAME SOPHOMORE CORNERBACK JULIAN LOVE … On how good he thinks this team is: "I think we're as good as we want to be. We have to play within ourselves and play our style of ball. Not worry about outside distrac- tions and other teams. Just worry about us and what we do. "… Our confidence is definitely pretty high right now. It's maintain- ing that and still executing at the highest level." — Corey Bodden FROM THE LOCKER ROOM Senior left guard Quenton Nelson and the Irish offensive line took pride in performing well against North Carolina State's highly touted defensive line. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL