Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 43 better. The lenses start coming off and you're able to have wider vision. … Now he can really grasp it all. "He must control himself and not do too much, but he exudes confidence to every other group on the offense." BGI: There were times last year when Wimbush excelled, but he finished on a down note. How did he respond to his late- season struggles? Long: "As much as anything, it was a big growing experience for him on what it takes to be the quarterback here at Notre Dame. "I want him to think, 'I have the talent to be as good as anybody in the country,' and he does. It's exciting to be walking around with that confidence, and that's my goal for him. "I saw him put in the work when nobody's watching and nobody's there, over and over and over, and then come into spring ball and have the success that he was having. He was enjoying play- ing football again instead of worrying about everything." BGI: The players obviously know the of- fense better. How does the extra experience help them learn more about you? Long: "They know what pleases me. If you are physical and tough, I'll find a place for you to play. If you're not, it's going to be hard. "If you don't practice and do the little things right, that's a deal breaker. They know what I expect, they know I'm not going to throw something away because it doesn't work the first time we do it. We're going to work toward it and get better at it. "These guys know what to expect from me every single day, and I try to be consis- tent with my message. Everybody's coached differently, but everyone's held to the same standard. "I think they see the fairness in that. If you don't do it, you're not playing. If you chal- lenge it, you're not playing." BGI: Last year at this time you were supremely confident in your ability to run the football. Do you think your offense can continue its rushing performance after los- ing star linemen Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey? Long: "Absolutely! We're going to be a physical, play-action team, and we're going to play at tempo. "I want to be 60/40 [run versus pass], and I want to be just as good at throwing the ball as we are running the ball. "Two years ago [at Memphis] we had over 4,000 yards throwing, and last year [at Notre Dame] we were close to 4,000 yards run- ning it. "We have the ability to adapt to our per- sonnel, we just have to figure that out. At the same time we are working toward the base things that Coach [Brian] Kelly and I believe in." BGI: What is your confidence level in the offensive line this year? Long: "I've never been around this tal- ented an offensive line in my career. To be around this type of talent I'm always going to be confident that eventually we'll find a way to get it going. "It might not be right away, and it might not be 80-yard touchdowns. But hopefully we're going to be explosive with everything else. "I feel the talent is there, it's just not very experienced. But we weren't very experi- enced at right tackle last year. The day-to- day consistency of what I ask these guys to do is going to breed the confidence in the run game. We like to showcase what they're good at. "Last year we were good at pulling, and we had big tight ends that could set the edge, so we did that. Hopefully, we can do that again this year, but we might be more of a gap [running attack], because we are a little bit bigger all the way across the board." BGI: You praised tight ends Alizé Mack, a senior, and Cole Kmet, a sophomore, all spring. What did you see from them, and what are your expectations? Long: "Alizé has realized that if he does A, B and C, everything else is going to take care of itself. He put his head down and has gone to work, and you saw it in the spring each and every day. "You saw it in the weight room. He is always early to everything now, and never on any lists. I am about as proud as I can be of that kid. 'He understands, 'This is what I have to do to be successful, so I'm going to try it this way.' He's seeing it and really believing in it. I think if he keeps that he'll look up and be like, 'Wow, everything is how I want it.' "Cole has always had a great work ethic — he was just young and inexperienced. He's a super talent that is very physical. "Both of them are very physical. Alizé was blocking his tail off last season. He was physical, and that's the number one thing we're going to be. We can work on that other stuff." BGI: Last year was a disappointing sea- son for the wide receivers, but led by Miles Boykin the unit finished strong. How did that late-season success carry over into the spring? Long: "Miles is the best. Nobody gets coached harder on our offense than I do Miles Boykin. Every day it's World War III for him, and he keeps coming back. He doesn't get frustrated, and he keeps work- ing hard. "He had great bowl practices and then showed up on game day and had a great game. That's a testament to him, and showed a lot of guys if you stick with it and keep coming you're go- ing to play. "They are just overall a competi- tive group, way more than last year. The makeup is where I want it to be now." BGI: What do you need to see from Tony Jones Jr. for him to emerge as the team's go-to back? Long: "Number one, stop worrying about what people think. Go out there and be the best every day you can be. "Don't get too high, don't get too low, don't get emotional. Go out there and whoop some butt. If you do that you know I'll be able to set you up and get you in spaces to make plays. "Tony's a great athlete. He has great ball skills, he's good out of the backfield — he has what you want. This is his time. Grow up and go attack, and go do it. Have that confidence in yourself." BGI: There isn't much returning experi- ence at running back. What do you think we'll see from that group this season? Long: "I think they're going to bring great toughness and a great mindset that is needed. They're going to be there every single day. "All of them are explosive. … Last year, we should have had a 2,000-yard rusher, and our fourth-team tailback is close to 500 yards. You have to be able to play with some pain in this game if you want to win. "Toughness is you have 18 carries in a game, and you're out at practice on Tuesday finishing every run the way I expect you to finish. "You are on your 20th carry in a game, and you're not tapping out. We have to go win this game, and you have to go put it in the end zone. That's the kind of toughness I want." ✦ "It's up to the players to define the identity of this offense, inside the parameters that we're going to be physical, we're going to run the ball and we're going to be explosive." LONG