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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 6, 2017Josh AdamsSouth Bend, Indiana Q. Last week I guess you ran for 160 yards, and then you guys ran for obviously 422 yards. How does the challenge maybe evolve against Georgia's defensive front? JOSH ADAMS: Well, I think we have a challenge each week that we go out there on game day to get better and to improve from the last game. I think that was one of our biggest things was trying to get better learning from the film and trying to top what we did the previous week. I think that's what makes us a great team is we constantly want to push ourselves and we constantly want to get better each day. Q. Everybody talks about SEC defenses and they're bigger and more dominating than others. What have you seen watching them this week? JOSH ADAMS: I think that we're just mainly concerned about our behalf of the game. We're more concerned how we can do better as an offense, not so much who we're playing. We play a different team each week, and they're going to come with new things, so we have to focus on our half of getting better and improving. Each team is going to go out there and bring their best, and of course that's what we expect is for them to bring their best, so we have to bring our best, and we're going to have to prepare likewise. Q. How forward do you guys look to a game with this type of atmosphere come this weekend? JOSH ADAMS: It was great to get out there last week finally in front of our fans. This will be our second home game. Atmosphere is going to be similar. It's going to amazing to get out there in front of those fans, in front of our family and play. Each week we have a new challenge, and that's great to go towards our goal that we have set for ourselves. So it's definitely going to be a great opportunity. It's going to be a lot of fun getting out there again in front of these fans before we get on the road. So we're just preparing for that, preparing like we have been doing in the past. We're on Wednesday already, so we're getting closer, but we're definitely still focused on getting better and improving. Q. And how you guys look at this as sort of a -- kind of an early season, one of the biggest tests that you're going to have early on, what are the stakes of this game, a little bit more higher compared to what it was last week? JOSH ADAMS: I think at the end of the day, it's another game playing a great opponent. We face a lot of teams that will bring their best and will bring 100 percent, so we have to meet that expectation, and we have to continue to practice hard, continue to prepare hard. We can't take any team lightly, no matter who we play. Again, it's another great opportunity for us to go out there and have fun and go in and improve on the mistakes that we made and do better on the things that we did good. We're definitely looking forward to it, and we just can't wait. Q. You mentioned 161 yards last week. What does that do for your confidence just heading forward here? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, it's another mark that we have to try to push. Each and every guy in that room wants to do better, us as running backs, like I mentioned before last week, we want to get out there and do good in all aspects of the game, not just run the ball. We want to try to contribute as best as we can to the team, and our end goal is to win at the end of the day. So whether it's two rushing yards or 160, we want to get that win, and however we can do that, we're proud to do it. Q. From your perspective just being on the field with Brandon last week, how he was able to handle his first live game? JOSH ADAMS: Oh, it was a lot of fun. Just going out there and seeing him progress and seeing him grow from the first quarter to the end, you know, his first real live action as starter, I mean, it's just amazing how far he's come. Just going out there and having fun, it's good to see your fellow teammates just enjoy the game and just show love for the game and his teammates, so that was amazing. Q. From what you know about Georgia right now, what type of things do they do defensively that could challenge the way you guys want to run the ball compared to what Temple did defensively and how they tried to stop you guys? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, you know, they're a four-down defense, might go a little three-down. We're just preparing for it like we would each and every game. We have to limit our mistakes. We have to, in a sense, chase perfection in the way that we run our offense, and I think what makes us a great offense is we want to continue to get better and we want to kind of dominate on our side of the ball. Again, it's an amazing opportunity to play whoever we play each and every week. I don't think that we should get too concerned about the other side of the ball as far as what we're doing, but in that sense, we're excited. Q. Obviously against Temple you got into their secondary a few times, got into the open field. The expectation, of course, with Georgia is that they're going to have a little bit more athleticism. Does that excite you, if you get that opportunity in the open field, just to kind of show case that you guys are on the same level or another level athletically that you can try to make some people miss? Does that excite you, that expectation? JOSH ADAMS: I think that we're going to try to take it one play at a time. We're going to try again to score as fast as possible. We're going to continue to play at that tempo that we want to play, what we've been practicing for all off-season. Again, it's another great opportunity this week to go and play a great opponent. Next week we'll have another big opportunity to improve on what we've done this week, so I think that us as an offense, we're mainly focused on how we can improve and how we can do better not so much as who wants to stop us or anything like that because we're only as great as we want to be. Q. And then just lastly really quickly, what was it like kind of getting the handoff and seeing those holes that you were seeing against Temple on a few of those runs? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, we have a fantastic offensive line. It's just amazing to run behind those guys. We have a lot of love for each and every guy up front, and like I mentioned last week, we want to repay them for all the hard work they're putting in, so it's only right that we go 110 percent just to repay them and just to show our love for those guys. I mean, they do an amazing job each and every week coming to practice, playing hard, being physical. It's just amazing to be around those group of guys. Q. Since you've been at Notre Dame, what's the quickest, best pursuing defense that you've played against? JOSH ADAMS: They're all pretty fast to me. Q. I'm sure they are. JOSH ADAMS: No, every team brings something new to the table and they bring something different. I mean, they're all athletic. That's why they're playing college football. Q. There's got to be one or two that stand out. JOSH ADAMS: No, I think it's mainly about the schemes. Anything can happen in college football. You know, things change day-to-day. You just never know, and that's what's amazing about it. I just try to go out there and have fun with my guys and try to improve. I obviously want to do better than the game before. I mean, that's always been my mindset is to improve and help my team in any way that I can. But every defense brings something new, and that's what makes it so exciting about game planning is you can craft up something new on the offensive side of the ball and try to execute it to the best of your ability. Q. A lot of No. 1 backs will say they need to get a few carries before they really get a sweat going and are at their peak, but your first carry, 37-yard touchdown, exploded by some DBs on the back end of it. Generally speaking, do you feel like you're ready to go that first carry, or do you need a few generally to really get into full gear? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, that was my first carry, but that was my second play of the game, so I was in the game for two whole plays, so I think if we had a drive that went five plays and I only got my first carry on the fifth one, I've been in there for a full series now. So I've had plenty of time to get my feet wet, get physical, pass protection, try to hold up somebody as long as I can. I've been in the game for a while, and I've had time to really get physical and get used to the game play. I don't think it matters how many carries you have because you're out there playing football, and that's what's so great about our team is that we want to contribute in any way that we can. Yeah, that's just always been my mindset. Q. I wonder what it's like in the running back room when you're going over the previous game and Dexter Williams has a chance for like a 70-yard run, and 35 yards from the end zone he's looking behind him to see who might catch him. Especially with a guy with that kind of speed, do you give him a little trouble about looking behind him or how did you look at that? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, we're all competitors in that room, so we want to push each other and we want to challenge each other. We all know that if we get a chance to get in open space that we have to finish. I had some runs where I didn't finish, and he had some where he didn't finish. We definitely get on each other about that because we want to be great as a unit, and we want to improve each and every week, and we want to continue to compete against each other. Any time that one of us has a chance to be successful, we want to see the other succeed and to do his best. I think we're on each other hard about all those type of things, and that's what makes us a great unit. Q. That play aside, how are you guys taught that when you break away -- you had a 60-yard run but they had an angle on you. How are you taught to deal with that? Are you not supposed to worry about who's behind you or if you do look, use a straight arm or what's the technique used there? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, Coach Denson says that we can't be wrong with the ball in our hands, so once the ball is snapped and we have the ball, we've just got to go out there and play football. At the end of the day, it's a game that we've been playing for a while. It's a game that we love. So you've got to go out there and have fun. Obviously touchdown is the name of the game on offense, so whatever you can do to get in the end zone and score is what we want to do, so just going out there and just playing with confidence, playing with the intent to score and to dominate is what we focus on anyway that you can do that. Of course we practice different moves throughout the week, so we want to kind of use those things that we've been practicing and we've been working on and try to simulate that in the game. Just going out there and finishing is our mindset. Q. Are you aware of Georgia's running back tradition, and was that a place that you knew about or were recruited or knew thinking about when you were coming out of high school? JOSH ADAMS: Tradition? Q. Georgia's running back tradition, producing great running backs who go on to NFL careers. JOSH ADAMS: No, I'm not aware of that. I wouldn't know. We're only concerned about what we're doing right now. We've just started game planning, so I don't know if that was something that will come up later or what. Q. Have you ever heard of Herschel Walker? JOSH ADAMS: I have, yeah. Herschel Walker is a big guy. Q. You have heard of that? JOSH ADAMS: Yeah. Q. What do you think about Georgia's tailbacks that are going to play on Saturday? Do you keep up with other running backs around the country, and do you know anything about Nick Chubb and Sony Michel? JOSH ADAMS: I actually just had a class end at 2:20, so I didn't have a lot of time to think about that. I rushed right over here. I have to get ready to lift. After that I have to go to practice, so my schedule is kind of tight. But you know, what we're concerned about is on the defensive side of the ball because I'm not on defense and I can't play the offense. We're just thinking about how we're going to produce our game plan and how we can get better. Q. Did you hear about Dominique Sanders and some other Georgia players saying they intended to punish you? JOSH ADAMS: No, I'm not big on social media. I only have an Instagram, so I don't really search for a lot of that stuff. No, that's interesting. I haven't heard anything about that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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