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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 4, 2017Josh AdamsSouth Bend, Indiana Q. Josh, first of all, your injuries, how you feeling? Second question I have for you is who has been the biggest influence in your development as a running back? JOSH ADAMS: First question, feeling pretty good. Allergies are acting up a little bit this morning, so that's never too good, but took some vitamin C. Other than that, body is feeling very well. Of course, you've always got that after-the-game bruises, so it's kind of normal. Just going through the week progressing, trying to get ready for the next game. In terms of my progression as a running back, I think that this team has made me a better player overall of course we have Coach Denson who has stuck with me since I got here to make sure that I become a better running back along with the other guys in that room. Of course the offensive line always make it easy on me becoming a better runner. So I would pretty much say it's a combination of all those things, from my teammates to my coaches. Q. When you were being recruited and you had an ACL your senior year, when did that occur in the season? JOSH ADAMS: My junior year, about four games in. Q. Some schools backed off, Notre Dame did not, or how do you remember all of that unfolding? JOSH ADAMS: A lot of schools backed off. But Notre Dame was always there for me. So I probably heard from Notre Dame like I did my sophomore year. Ever since then started to build a relationship with the coaches. Q. Other schools that did not back off after the injury? JOSH ADAMS: I don't know. They don't really matter anymore now because I'm here, but I don't know. Just Notre Dame has always been there with me. I felt like it was family here. Came, visited a couple times even through my injuries, so it was just a great experience for me just to know that, you know, the type of people that are here are different from everywhere else. Q. When did you take your official visit and what do you remember from that weekend? I assume it was tied to a home game here. JOSH ADAMS: So I unofficially came to Irish Invasion and I brought my parents down here. We had a lot of fun here. My official visit was to the Stanford game, I believe, a couple years ago. Great game. It was a cold one, but we ended up winning the game late in the fourth quarter. I believe I was here with Equanimeous St. Brown and Brandon Wimbush, we all took the same official, that was a lot of fun, just me and those guys. That was the start of something special. Q. Who finished number two? JOSH ADAMS: I'm sorry? Q. Who finished number two among the schools who considered, or was there no clear cut number two? JOSH ADAMS: No, I mean, I think every school that I was looking at, I had good reasons for why I wanted to go there. You know, I don't think it was number two. I think they were all in consideration. Q. Who were some of the other ones? JOSH ADAMS: Of course, we had Notre Dame, we had Pitt that was up there. I remember I was about to go take a visit to Stanford before I came here, but that clearly didn't happen because this place is amazing. No, but those are some of the schools. I think they were all, you know, I had my reasons like I said. Q. I'm sorry. I don't remember exactly how everything unfolded. Did you commit when you were here, did you commit after you went home? JOSH ADAMS: No, I committed when I went home. My parents wanted me to do it on the spot because, obviously, you can't say no to this place. Q. Did you get caught up in the moment? JOSH ADAMS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I had to go home, get my mind right, think about it, kind of make a big-boy decision. That's where you're going to spend the next four years of your life. So it's a big decision for any man. Had to get home, think about what I wanted, and not too long after I made that phone call. Q. And you made that phone call to Coach Kelly? JOSH ADAMS: No. At the time it was -- I just blanked. It wasn't Coach Denson. Coach Alford was here at the time, so he was my recruiter. Called him, called Coach Hiestand, he was my recruiter for the area, so I met him. He was the start of the process. So met Coach Heistand, and then after that Coach Kelly. Q. Through five games this season, I'm curious, where's your satisfaction level with what you guys have accomplished to this point? JOSH ADAMS: I think as an offense, I think we know we can do more. I think we have guys that want to do more. We're never just satisfied with where we're at. We always want to do better. We always want to improve. I don't think we're even close to being at the level we know we can be at. So that's why we come in each week after practice and we work hard and we try to perfect our craft. This week we're preparing for UNC. We're working on our game plan and we're going to attack that. Q. When someone looks at your numbers and what you've been able to do with actually relatively few carries in some games, I'm curious, where wouldn't you be satisfied with what you've done? JOSH ADAMS: Where wouldn't I be? Q. I'm looking at your numbers, the yards per carry, the big plays. Where can you be better, I guess, because your numbers are outstanding? JOSH ADAMS: I have to do a better job playing without the ball, anybody can run the ball, especially behind this fantastic offensive line. So I have to do a better job of kind of playing without the ball, you know, in the pass protection, carrying out my fade, stuff like that, running routes full speed. The little things you can always do better at. Even running the ball, you might have missed a read on one run, but that is what it is. But like I said, just playing without the ball and doing everything full speed. Q. Is there such a thing as a perfect game for you? What would that look like? JOSH ADAMS: I'm not sure. I haven't had it yet. Hopefully I can get there. Like I said, all those areas, when you can put all those things together, then you're getting close to a perfect game. When you can run pass protect and play without the ball, I think then you're getting close to what looks like a perfect game. I'm still working on it. I attack each and every week the same, just trying to get better, trying to improve and learn from my mistakes. Q. You had two big runs last game. The second one is a big stiff arm down field where you're able to break the tackle and get in the end zone. What kind of goes through your mind when you're in that position when there is a guy to beat and it's going to be kind of a physical challenge? Somebody's going to win it and somebody's not? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, I almost got caught from behind again. So that wouldn't have been too good if I didn't finish that one. That happened to me a couple times this year. No, the only thing that's going through my mind is finishing the run, trying to put points on the board. You don't want to go all the way down there and do that much work to just stop short. Definitely want to finish every run. That's mainly what I was trying to do. Just make sure I can get in the end zone this time and not get taken out and not be able to get in there, you know what I mean? It was a fun game. Just watching the different guys get in there, just having fun with my teammates and just enjoying the sport of football. Q. You mentioned getting caught from behind. Is that something that gets brought up in the film room? Do you end on the wrong side of some ribbing when that happens? JOSH ADAMS: It should get called out in the film room. You're doing so much hard work and you didn't finish the run. So as running backs, you want to finish everything. We take it upon ourselves, every guy in that room, to get in the end zone. I mean, that's how we can contribute to the offense. Number one name of the game is scoring points on offense. So we want to help in any way possible. If we get that close, we want to finish. Q. If Brandon can't go this weekend and Ian Book starts, what gives you confidence that you can go on the road and run the offense first, primetime, or first real start for him? JOSH ADAMS: I think he's here for the same reasons that Brandon's here, to become a great player and academically, you know, be outstanding. We want to excel towards excellence in both of those areas, and I think Ian's here for the same reason we're all here is to get better and progress as players. He goes out there and works every week like the rest of us do, and from the moment he got here, he's progressing. He's having fun. He goes out there and practices and knows he might make mistakes. But he still comes back the next day trying to get better and trying to improve. Just like the rest of us, he wants it just as bad. We're all here together. We're all here as brothers and all on the same team. So we want to see each other succeed. He wants to contribute to the offense just like everybody on the offense wants to. So, I think he has the right mindset. Q. How well do you know him off the field? JOSH ADAMS: I mean, we hang out a couple times here and there whenever we get some free time. I think the whole offensive unit as a whole has a good relationship with each other. We do spend a lot of time off the field. I've known him since he came in last year. Obviously he didn't get a lot of action last year. But, you know, the start of knowing different players on the team, and I feel a fairly good relationship with him. Yeah, I mean, if he's out there, he's working just like everybody else. Q. How was practice for him yesterday. He was getting reps at a different level than usually? Q. I think he looked pretty good. He looked confident. Like I said before, he's a guy that doesn't seem like he has a lot of worry. He just goes out there and trying to have fun. I think that's pretty big at the quarterback position and not forgetting to have fun with it, because a lot of pressure falls on those guys. Looked like he did that yesterday. He just went out there and tried to be as comfortable as he could be. As his teammates. We've got to try to make it easy for the guy in that position. So we're taking it one day at a time. Today's Wednesday, so we're going to attack it and try to do better than we did yesterday? Q. (Indiscernible)? JOSH ADAMS: It's just guys doing their job, not trying to do too much. Knowing he has a job just like the rest of us. We all can't do each other's job, we have to trust in each other. Try to do the best we can, knowing that you're going to make mistakes and moving on to the next play and just playing football. So I think that that confidence comes with each and every rep. Just being patient with the timing. Q. From your freshman year to this year, what kind of improvements have you seen in the offensive line? Is there a better cohesiveness that maybe the offense has run as well as it has so far? JOSH ADAMS: In the offense or the offensive line? Q. The line. JOSH ADAMS: No, since I've gotten here, those guys have always been great. It just seems like no matter who you put in there, they're always working. Coach Hiestand does a great job with those guy, and they do a great job taking that coaching and putting it on the football field of course they have a great connection with each other. They don't go anywhere without each other. So they constantly build that relationship with each other and it shows on the field. So those guys do a fantastic job each and every year. They come out and they give it all they have. Q. Is it comforting to have a quarterback like Brandon Wimbush who can run so well to kind of help alleviate your workload a little bit? JOSH ADAMS: I think if you called (indiscernible) run plays, he'd find a way to run the ball. That's amazing. Just to see him going out there and having a fun evening, he tried to make something out of nothing. It's amazing what that guy can do. It's just a lot of fun to go out there and just play football with him. Not forgetting that we have a job to do. It's just amazing the things you can do. Q. You get enjoyment out of your touchdown runs. But Saturday you had that pass out on the flat that you just misconnecting with. How much did you want that one? JOSH ADAMS: I had a wheel that I dropped. I think that's what you're referring to, dropped the wheel ball. It's something that we practice almost every week, you know, throwing that ball. I didn't catch it when I needed to. So you never want that to happen, but that was on me. I've got to finish that play. If not for me, for him. He threw a good ball. He's getting hit in the pocket, so we can't let him down like that. No, we joke about it, but it's definitely a play that I need to make. Q. Coach Kelly was telling us earlier this week how he made an effort to (Indiscernible) how do you feel like that's helped with camaraderie? JOSH ADAMS: I think it's really cool. It's definitely something new. Definitely helped, you know, different guys get to know each other. For instance, I'm next to Brandon Tiassum who is a defensive lineman. In past years I probably wouldn't have even spoken to him if I wasn't next to him, you know what I mean, that type of deal. But I did speak to him. He's in my class. We're cool. But just as an example. It helps you build relationships with different guys on your team, and it kind of forces that bond, you know? That's something that we needed. It makes us closer as a team. I love that you're getting to know different guys from first year players to walk ons, to guys that are seniors and about to leave. I love how we're all connected in a way, and we all get to speak to different guys that we might have never spoken to before. So it was a lot of fun. It was an adjustment that we needed, but I'm glad that it happened. Q. So previous years it was as position? That's how it was organized? JOSH ADAMS: Yeah, it was kind of by position and then by units. So we were offensive guys were in the general area of other offensive players. But, no, this year's definitely something new. It's a part of the process. So that's what we're sticking with. Q. Make new friends? JOSH ADAMS: They're all my best friends. I love them all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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