	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2016

DeShone Kizer

South Bend, Indiana

THE MODERATOR: Questions for DeShone.

Q. What do you think of the game tonight?
DeSHONE KIZER: Obviously there's a bunch of history on both teams. I have to pull for the Ohio side of things.

Q. This is a week where we always talk to defensive players about what they're going to face from the opposition. How does it impact you? You have to know that possessions are limited. Do you try to push that out of your mind or do you have to keep that at the forefront of what you guys do?
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, you respect it and you understand that you have to be patient in what you're doing, understand that your possessions are going to be limited. If they are, you can't go out there expecting to score a thousand touchdowns.

But with that you also have to understand when you do touch the ball, your ultimate goal needs to be a touchdown no matter how it comes.

You start playing against Navy, your tendencies might turn to trying to slow the ball down just as much as they are, allow them to control the tempo of the game, respond on offense the way they're going about their offense.

As a high-tempo offense that we are, we find our success when we're up and rolling. So we got to make sure when we're back out there, we're doing the exact same things we have been doing to be successful.

Q. Speaking of tempo, you were a little bit more high-tempo last week. How did that feel to you?
DeSHONE KIZER: It was awesome. It was awesome. We had confidence in what we were doing. We kind of put an emphasis on a couple of plays that we knew we could get lined up and roll against whatever defense they're going to put out there for us.

After watching North Carolina approach Miami's defense with the speed that they have, we learned quite a bit about the plays that we can get into with tempo. If we find that the defense out there is going to be able to allow us to do the same thing, I'm sure we're going to go right back at it.

Our offense is spread, it is fast. It may not seem like that when I'm up there checking a play a thousand times. The emphasis is to be fast. So if we have the opportunity to just call and haul, we're going to do so.

Q. In your postgame interview with NBC, I think you said something about, I'm a lot nicer guy than I've been.
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah (laughter).

Q. A couple back-to-back losses with a bye week in there impacted your personality a little bit?
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, yeah, when you're out there with the start that we had, it's really tough to find the fun in football. You come out and you try to represent your team in situations like this in front of the media, you want to be as optimistic as you can. Quite frankly, it's hard to talk about losing.

Now we're back in a position where we got a big win under our belt, had a little fun doing so. We're trying to get our momentum the right way.

With that you got to smile, you got to enjoy it. I'm definitely learning to appreciate the wins now from play to play and also at the game level. As long as we can continue to string them together, hopefully I'll have a couple more smiles on my face after the games.

Q. Coach Kelly has talked about how he sees the short passing game as an extension of the running game. Do you feel the same way about it? Do you see short passes as run plays?
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah. Miami was a prime example of that. I mean, we might have thrown the ball 40 times. Out of that, over half were quick game. I think that quick game part of it is an opportunity to get ahead of the chains early. Some great first down calls, second down calls to put us in manageable positions at third down.

When you catch the defense who wants to add an extra hat in the box to stop those early first down runs, the way to combat it is to be able to put the ball in the perimeter. I didn't do well with that in the beginning of the season. I had more of an emphasis of forcing the run game because I had so much confidence in the offensive line. It's still there. You also have to remember that if (indiscernible) is going to play 12 yards off the number two receiver, got to give them the ball and let them work.

We have the ability with the skill positions we have to break away on some of those short passes. If I can get the ball in their hands, let them move, it will keep us ahead of the sticks, keep us more in second-and-manageable, and hopefully third-and-short.

Q. What's the next step or part to make that a little bit better?
DeSHONE KIZER: Take the first three or four drives of Miami and make them who we are. Our identity is still kind of all over the place in terms of how fast we want to be. Are we a throw the ball 50 times a game team? Are we a 50/50 run-pass? Still trying to figure that out.

In the first half of Stanford, first half of Miami, you saw two different sides of where we can go with things. As long as we're successful with what we're doing, we're taking what the defense is giving us, we're going to have continued success.

We have yet to put together a full game of great offense. I think that's kind of our challenge now, is to find a way of staying consistent throughout the whole game and not allowing the two- to three-drive lulls that we have, try to eliminate those and score a lot of points.

Q. I think a lot of people feel if you're going to be physical, you have to run the ball. That's the only way you can be physical. Can you be a physical quick pass team?
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It's a discipline. It's a determination. Any time you touch the ball, you're trying to fall forward. Navy has some of the most mentally tough guys out there. We completely understand that. The only way to beat them is to match that intensity, take every ball you get, make sure that that once again falls forward. If you're allowing the pile to fall backwards, Navy is winning in a sense.

As long as we match that intensity when we go down to Jacksonville, come with the same physicality that they come with, I think we'll be able to move forward and be successful.

Q. In five of the eight games your opponent has had 17 straight points, 36 straight points, 21, et cetera. There were so many game-winning touchdown tries that you led last year. Up until your past game, it was the first of the year. How frustrating has that been? When you did self-scouting during the off week, what can you put your finger on to avoid those long lulls in between scoring?
DeSHONE KIZER: I think that's a mindset we have to have when we go out drive to drive. In the beginning of the game, you come out with this enthusiasm, you come out with this energy, coming out of the locker room, get the fans on your side. That kind of propels into the game where you can get the first three drives with great energy and great focus.

When you get to the end of the half or maybe the beginning of the second half, that energy can sometimes fade away. I think the biggest way for us to eliminate those lulls is to be able to come off the field, sit down with each other, make sure we focus back up, get ourselves back excited to go back out there and play, lock in, focus in on what we have to do, execute, and make sure that same energy we have in the beginning with these strong starts that we have continues throughout the whole game.

Q. You look at it more as a mental, emotional thing. You always have your set of openers that you come out with. How far do you veer away from those after you've gone ahead through your openers?
DeSHONE KIZER: It's game to game. Depends where the game is. You have to ride with the rhythms, the highs and lows of the game. Maybe at second half, you can go back to your whole opener's list, ride back through it. Maybe there's things they're showing, adjustments that are made that you have to come back and combat with things you talk about at halftime.

I think more on our part of it, no matter what play is called, we're going to be in the right play against the right defense. So it has to be a mindset on our part to make sure we're doing our job so we can, once again, get that first down, get things rolling, maintain the same energy we have in the beginning.

Q. To start the year, I think the first four games you were great in goal-to-goal situations, nine touchdowns in your first ten. Last four, gone the other way. What is the challenge in those situations for a quarterback? Windows are tighter. What is the challenge mentally and physically when you're inside the 10?
DeSHONE KIZER: I think in those situations, the best way to go about it is to pretend as if you are back at the 50 yard line with a lot of room. We do very well from our own 40 to the opponent's 40. I think that comes with the idea that there's a lot of space to work, there's a lot of space to work over your guy, a lot of time.

If we can have that same mentality that it's you and the guy in front of you, if you can make a move on him, free yourself up, the ball is the only thing that has to travel fast. You're going to do the exact same routes, have the exact same timing on things.

Also when you get down there, right now the idea is for us to make sure that every drive ends in a kick. Obviously we want to score down there, we want to get a touchdown. At the same time, you have to have the aggressiveness to get that touchdown, but not to be overaggressive and allow that to turn into a turnover or allow that to be a deflected ball that gets tipped up. You're reaching out for a touchdown, the ball gets knocked out or something along those lines. As long as we're down there scoring, that's the ultimate goal.

Like you said, the defense has tightened up. There's not a lot of space. The mindset has to be the same. As long as you're beating the guy in front of you, the only guy that has to change the style of play is myself. That's fitting balls tighter, putting a little more velocity on the ball, making sure the ball gets there on time.

Q. Navy has had some rough moments this year on defense. When they're going well, what do you see on film?
DeSHONE KIZER: They know exactly what they do. They know exactly who they are. They're very disciplined with that. When they're playing well, it's because they're locked into their four or five calls. They ride with them.

When they have the experience and the smarts to lock into their keys, it's hard to get the ball past them. They like to keep things in front of them. They like to tackle hard and make big plays.

I think the best way to combat that is to, once again, take what the defense is giving you. If they want to play off, keep things in front of you, we're going to take the five yards every time. As soon as they want to come up and get aggressive, maybe it's time to take the shot.

You have to be able to ride with the game, make sure the ups and downs happen when they're supposed to. Make sure, once again, you're taking what they're giving you. There's going to be opportunities to get the ball into these skilled position's hands, like K.J. on the slant that turns into 50 something yards.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297