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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 5, 2016Mike McGlincheySouth Bend, Indiana Q. Looking back at the Clemson game last year with the weather and obviously you're going into something similar this weekend. And I know you guys, especially offensive linemen are pretty much locked in to what your responsibilities are. What are some of the memories and ^ of playing in those kind of conditions? MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, like you said, it doesn't really change a whole lot for us up front. The grounds crews at those universities did a phenomenal job last year in terms of the playing surface. I don't know what it's like to handle a football in my hands in the middle of a rain, in a monsoon like that so I can't really speak to that. But in terms of up front it really didn't change a whole lot, other than it was a little cooler and you didn't have to sweat as much. So it doesn't really change a whole lot for me and us up front, and the memories I have is just trying to -- it's the same as every other football game. It's just a little cooler because there's a little extra added element to it. Q. Does it impact technique or anything as it relates to your responsibilities? MIKE McGLINCHEY: It didn't -- the one experience we had last year with it was at Clemson. Everything I'll do is pretty much the same as long as I have my feet underneath me, I'll be okay. And the same for the other four guys up front with me. Q. Last week, obviously our focus in dealing with you guys was on the defensive side of the ball because of the changes there. And again, you're probably going to give a similar answer to this, I guess, because the offensive linemen are so locked into their duties. But do you notice any changes in the I guess the pace of practice or how things are done, especially with B. K. on the other side of the ball? MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think the biggest change has been in the energy levels at practice. Last two weeks have been very fun times out on the practice field, and I think that is something that we definitely needed to get back to. You can tell when we go against the defense, guys are flying around, guys are chatting, talking and going back and forth with each other, and that's what we need. We need that competitive spirit. We need that fun mentality, and it's been a good thing to see over the last two weeks, especially with the defense. And it's just feeding off of each other now is pretty much what we needed to accomplish and not having anybody let that energy go or let that energy down. And I think that it had a huge part of why we were successful last week, and I'm pretty confident that we have that same kind of energy and approach to this week. It should do us a lot of good as well. Q. The NC State defensive line is pretty highly regarded. What have you seen from them and what makes them highly regarded? MIKE McGLINCHEY: They're big boys up front. All four of them across the board are definitely bigger than anything we've seen so far this year collectively. They play very, very hard. They're very fundamentally and schematically sound and they're well coached. And that's a recipe for success up front on the defensive line. And those guys have been playing very well up until this point this season and even last season. And we're definitely going to have a challenge this week, but it's a good challenge and that's what we live for on the opposite side of the ball, especially up front, and it's going to be a fun one for sure. Q. They're pretty standard, four-man front not a lot of blitzes. Is that accurate? MIKE McGLINCHEY: As far as what we've seen so far this week, yeah they have. They tend to lineup a lot in base front and see if you can play ball with them, and it's a fun mentality to go into a football game like that, and we're excited for the opportunity. It's a lot similar to Michigan State. It's one of those games that you have -- that you look forward to and that you're excited about. And you gotta bring your A game because the guys across from you are going to be doing that as well. Q. Mike, just curious, how much have you gone up against Jay Hayes and practice, maybe spring? MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, I had gone up against him quite a bit in the springtime, and then at the beginning of fall camp. And then he had a little injury with his ankle. And he's come back a lot in the last two weeks, but just the normal amount, I guess, in the last two weeks and since he's been healthy, yeah, it's been the normal amount. Q. How would you sort of describe him as a defensive end? MIKE McGLINCHEY: He's a good player. He plays hard. He's got a hot motor. He's got a lot of energy that he brings to the defense, and Jay's a great guy. He's infectious to the rest of the team. Guys love Jay. He's funny. He brings a lot of life to our football team. And he's the same way on the field. He plays very, very hard. He's a big guy, he rushes hard and he gives guys some fits up front and he'll continue to get better and we need him to continue to get better. Q. And what's the challenge of blocking a guy who's coming at you off the edge that's 285 pounds? MIKE McGLINCHEY: I mean every rush is different. Jay kind of gives you a different look up front each time. He can give you the bowl or he can give you a couple of things with his hands and move around you. And it's just the challenge of reacting to the rush that you get in terms of a 285-pound guy because they tend to have a little bit more in their repertoire because they can build a lot of things off of power rushes. So it's just a matter of seeing what's in front of you, reacting and then playing football with the technique that you've been coached to do so many times. Q. Mike, you guys obviously have been explosive in the passing game. I know this NC State defense stops the run very well. In the run game what do you guys need to do to continue to improve in that facet? MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think we've done a pretty solid job across the board on offense. But teams have thrown some things at us that we needed to block a little bit better. I think the consistency just each and every play is what we're searching for both run and pass game, especially up front. We gotta -- it comes down to when teams give us the looks that we want, we have to be able to execute on that look and we can't have any letdowns, and we need to continue to have that across the board no matter what play is called. And we're going to continue to get better at that, and it's just one of those things that our offense has taken a new shape and there's certain things that we've been very successful at and there's certain things that teams just aren't letting us do. And we have to find other avenues to score points, and we've done a pretty good job with that. But teams know that we're going to try to run the ball, and they tend to put a lot of people in the box, and it's a matter of when those looks come that we really like, it's about executing our job to the best of our ability. Q. How much of that is also just time when you have three new starters as far as getting together as a group and feeling more comfortable, and how much more comfortable do you feel in the offensive line group now than maybe at the beginning of the season? MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think that's the biggest battle. It's about growing and continuing that cohesiveness the entire year week to week. And we've certainly gotten a lot better with playing together and playing five guys on five jobs at a time. And we're going to continue to do that. We haven't done it quite to the manner we would have liked to so far this year, but that's football. You're going to continue to have your lumps and it's about how you learn from them. And obviously we came in a little bit more inexperienced than last year when we started the season. We had I think over 100 starts between three different guys last year, and it's one of those things that you just gotta learn on the fly, and the three guys that have been playing this year have done a very good job with that. And it's a learning curve, and new guys tend to take a little bit more time, and it's going to come. We just gotta keep chipping away at it. Q. For you on game days, do you have any sort of superstitions that you've done since you got here to Notre Dame or that you've been doing all along? MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, I guess I always call my mom. I have to talk to my mom before I get on the bus to go to the stadium. That's one of my superstitions, I guess, if you call that a superstition. And then I have one last -- I listen to the same song each time before I get off the bus since I've been a starter at Notre Dame. It's "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC is the last song that I go with before I walk into the stadium. Q. In terms of the I guess the run game, are you guys seeing more guys in the box typically than last year? Are you seeing kind of more muddled looks for the run game? MIKE McGLINCHEY: We have. I mean based off our film from last year and then what we try to do this year, guys are quick to trigger and come down into that box and limit the plays that would have been 10 to 12 and a safety comes down and it's a five or six-yard game instead of a 10 to 12 one. But there's other times that, yeah, we've had a look that we would have liked and we didn't execute the way we wanted to. And it's just the way that we gotta keep growing. And no matter what the look is in front of us, we gotta be on our guy and the rest will take care of itself. I'm pretty confident that we'll continue to grow and we've been doing a better job with that as the season has gone on. We've been better each week, and there's certain things the defenses do that just sometimes you're going to take a different approach to how you score points. And that's what we've been doing a great job of this year. I mean we've been putting a lot of points on the board and a lot of yardage all over the field. And if teams want to load the box up, we got a lot of athletes on the outside of the field and a hell of a quarterback that will throw it over their head, so we've done a pretty good job with that. Q. Do you anticipate defenses changing that at some point where they're only going to allow themselves to get beat so many times before they start leaving safeties back there, and then I would assume the running game becomes a little bit easier? MIKE McGLINCHEY: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean we have an offense that can beat you in a lot of different ways, and we're very fortunate up front because it makes our job a lot easier when it comes down to that, and teams obviously are -- you have to control the line of scrimmage in order to win the football game, and we will continue to grow and do that. And teams on defense are worried and have been worried a little bit about what we've been doing up front over the last couple of years and they don't want to let us continue to do that. And we've taken a little bit different of an approach this year, and eventually teams are going to have to adjust to that as well and we'll be ready for that just as we were the rest of the year. Q. One last thing, and I'm not asking you to say whether you're going to leave after this year or come back, unless of course you want to volunteer that information. But when you came here when you were recruited by Harry Heat span and the program, did you come into it with the mindset that it was going to be a five-year process? MIKE McGLINCHEY: Yeah, I did. And it's going to be a five-year process. I have 19 games left here, and that's what I fully intend to take on. I have a lot left to learn. I'm not ready to go anywhere. I have the best in the business coaching me each and every day, and it's to my benefit to just stay here and learn from him, and there's nothing that I can do to want to change that. I have no intention of wanting to change that. I haven't played -- I mean I've played a lot of football so far, but I have a lot left to accomplish, and I know I'm not going to put myself in a position to go somewhere when I'm not fully ready to, and I'm fully confident that I will be ready at some point, but I don't think it'll be after this season. Q. Well, since you volunteered that, what if the projections started to resemble what Ronnie Stanley's projections were? MIKE McGLINCHEY: I don't know. I don't really pay attention to all that. It's not going to come down to a projection for me. It's going to come down to a mindset and a look in the mirror of whether or not I am ready to go, and based off of what I'm feeling now, I'm pretty confident that I'll be back here for a fifth year. And it's not any major decision or ground-breaking decision. I fully intended to do that when I first got to college. And like I said, I have so much left to learn here, and it's not going to come down to projections or potential money that I can make. Because if I'm good enough at the point when I feel ready to do it, I'll do it. And those projections will become reality at some point when it's my time to be ready to do that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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