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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 12, 2016

Torii Hunter Jr.

South Bend, Indiana

Q. It's your third game playing against Stanford personally. Usually it's a game where Coach singles out your opponent as a rivalry game and stepping up to the challenge. Is that part of the theme this week or doing the little things to get back on track overriding that?
TORII HUNTER JR.: Yeah, I think it's definitely a game we highlight. I think everybody in the locker room highlights, and especially this year. Because, you know, they took us out of the playoff contingency last year from what we thought. So we're eager to go out there and play these guys and get a little bit of revenge.

Q. I guess your senior year would have been the big game here. But did you really think about this as one of the rivalries when you were attending Notre Dame or did it grow into it while you were here?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I was actually here for that Stanford game, and they kind of stressed how important the game was and how big of a rivalry it was. And also went to a game the year before that at Stanford and they talked about it there too. So I knew it was a big game coming into Notre Dame, and being able to play in those games, I see why.

Q. Just curious about the young defensive backs you practice against, Donte, Troy, Julian all the time. What's impressed you about them? How are they sort of different in the way you try to deal with them, sort of their skillsets, what's impressed you?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I think they have a tremendous amount of just pure athleticism. It's just matching the technique now. They're super young, and in high school everybody's kind of playing off their athletic ability. They're probably just more athletic than everybody out there, but when you get here you have to fine tune everything, and that's the main thing they'll have to work on. But they have tremendous athletic ability, and they're able to stay with receivers.

Donte, I think Donte's going to be a really good player. He's super long. Who else? Julian? Yeah, Julian, he's really fast. He has good recovery speed. He's going to be a smart player for us too.

Q. Have you played against somebody like Donte in your career? You just don't really see corners who look like that.
TORII HUNTER JR.: Never. Donte's probably the tallest corner I've ever played against, for sure.

Q. In terms of what challenges does that create for you as a receiver, and what do you try to take advantage of when a corner is maybe a little bit longer or maybe not as quick as some of the shorter guys who are out there?
TORII HUNTER JR.: You definitely want to stay out of their radius. It's just so easy for them to get their hands on it because they're so long. Sometimes it's difficult to block longer guys too because of how long they can extend their arms and stuff. So I think he'll definitely be a problem once he starts nailing down his technique and all that. So he'll be someone to look for in the future.

Q. Obviously 2-4 is not where you guys expected to be or wanted to be. As you look now at the second half of the season, how important is it to get those four wins to get you guys to a bowl game?
TORII HUNTER JR.: It's definitely really important, and we want to win more than four wins. Yeah, more than four wins. And I think everybody in the locker room believes that we can get it done. No matter what they say on the outside, we still have a tremendous belief in each other on the inside. We're just going to keep competing out there every day and just trying to grow as a team. We're going to stand by what Coach Kelly is telling us, and we're just going to have trust in him and have faith in each other and just try to grind out some wins.

Q. Everyone talks about blocking out the noise. How do you do it? Because I can't imagine that's easy to do. How do you guys block out that noise?
TORII HUNTER JR.: Of course you're going to see it no matter if you're on social media or watching TV. But it's just a matter of understanding they can say what they want to say. They're not here. They're not out there with us every day or every week. So that's kind of blocking out the noise, I think, in my opinion.

If you see it, then just don't even pay attention to it, really. Just let it go and understand that we're the only ones that know what's going on. People can make inferences, but they never really truly know.

Q. And you mentioned believing in Coach Kelly before. Fans see interactions on the sidelines sometimes when he's getting on guys, but sometimes they don't see the locker room stuff like Fighting Irish Media put out showing him saying, "This is on me. I've got to do a better job and stuff like that." How important is a message like that when he delivers it to you guys to know that he's in this with you guys as much as anything else?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I think it's definitely important to understand that. To make everybody understand that we're all in this together. You know, we're going to win together, we're going to lose together. So it was definitely important that he relayed that message to us and just make sure that everybody was on the same page.

Q. I want to follow up on Coach Kelly's speech to you after the game. How does that kind of set the tone for this week? After the first half of the season you guys are 2-4. Is it a positive tone that you guys are able to take in this week and what's been that going into this week?
TORII HUNTER JR.: It's definitely, I think, it's been a positive tone because we're just -- I think we're just missing that finishing aspect to the game. It's not like we were at that game blown out by a small margin. We were losing these games by a last drive loss where we could have won the game.

So it's just a matter of finishing, and I think that's one of the things that he stressed this week, and that's what we need to work on. And we're going to work on it this week. He's putting us in a lot of different situations, and we've just got to execute. I think he's going to continue to do that throughout the week and just at random times during practice and try to get us to get used to finishing games.

Q. I guess last year the team was somewhat used to finishing games or at least getting close in a lot of them. What's sort of been lacking from last year to this year in that regard?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I think just guys playing at their highest level when it's needed. Across the board, coaches, players, we've just all got to be on our P's and Q's and just perform at a high level at the end of the game, and we've just got to make it happen. I think that's probably the biggest difference.

Q. Was that a hump for you to get over as an underclassman playing in 2014 that down the stretch I've got to be at my best type thing? Is that a difficult thing to get over?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I mean, I think once again it comes with the experience, like with anything else. It's just going through it a couple times, and then you can have a certain comfort level that you get when you get into those situations, those pressure situations, and you don't really stretch that much. You just understand that you've got to go here and make a play. I think, like I said, it comes with experience. Once I got that experience, I was definitely more comfortable after while.

Q. Last one for me. What can you take away from Saturday's game as a receiver and working with DeShone in those conditions? Is there really anything or do you just have to move on from that tape?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I really just want to move on from it, to be honest. We looked at a lot of stuff as far as blocking goes, but as far as throwing the ball, it's kind of tough. The conditions were tough. But we just kind of want to look past it and keep moving forward.

Q. Speaking of Saturday, not a lot of catches, does that give you an extra motivation against Stanford?
TORII HUNTER JR.: Yeah, I think we're just ready to get out there in some beautiful weather and play some football and throw the ball around a little bit. So I think we're definitely excited to get out there on Saturday.

Q. Aside from finishing, the other thing Coach mentioned yesterday that the offense has to exert its will more. What does that mean to you? What do you have to do to accomplish that?
TORII HUNTER JR.: I think as far as the receivers go, it's just making every play. Not allowing the DB to dictate your routes or keep you from getting open. You've got to make yourself get open. Maybe the O-line is finishing their blocks, different things like that. Also, when we go up, maybe two touchdowns early, just stand on the gas and continue to put points on the board every time we get the ball. So I think that's probably some of the main things that I can think of.

Q. Couple weeks ago, you guys spent some time with a kid from Make-A-Wish Foundation, and I'm curious how that was, and how does it change your perspective a bit?
TORII HUNTER JR.: Anytime you get to spend time with kids like that, your problems don't seem as bad as they are, and that's one of the things that I know me personally, I don't want to take a day for granted because I know it could definitely be worse than what I have right now.

So I just try to attack every day with a positive mentality. Just seeing guys like that, it's just a reinforcement that you've got to live life to the fullest, and it could always be worse for you. This kid is out here. He's having fun and enjoying life no matter what his circumstances are. So I think that everybody should take note of that and apply it to their own lives.

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