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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2017

Greer Martini

South Bend, Indiana

Q. Might you share with us your thoughts about the college football rankings last night, where were you when you saw it, what it means for you and the team.
GREER MARTINI: I was actually working on a group project at the time when it came out. Just the guy I was working with at the time kind of showed me his phone, said, You guys are the third team in the college football rankings, whatever. It was really exciting.

But I don't think it really means that much to us. It's not going to help us win on Saturday. But it was really definitely a cool thing to see.

Q. Knee injury aside, from a physical standpoint, how much better do you feel this season than maybe seasons past with the whole strength and conditioning program?
GREER MARTINI: Yes, I think the biggest thing is that we're getting stronger as the season goes on, which hasn't been that way my first three years here. It kind of gives you a confidence in your body. As you're building throughout the season, you're getting stronger. You just have more confidence in what you do, whether that's cutting, being more physical at the point of attack, stuff like that.

Q. Did it help you recover any quicker, could you tell it would have taken a couple more weeks had you not been in this program in seasons past?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I think definitely. The strength going in before surgery, the stronger you are, the quicker your recovery is. I think that definitely has an impact on it. I think it was also the surgeon, rehab, all those components go into it.

Q. Prior to this year, what were Novembers like for you?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, it was kind of like hanging on. Every week it was like a race to Friday just so that you could get to Friday and try to recover as much as you could before the game. I think now we're going in fresh, going into Saturday feeling better than ever, which is a big difference.

Q. Talk about some of the work you do in the weight room on Mondays.
GREER MARTINI: We're squatting heavy. We're doing various lifts with our legs. Monday is kind of your leg day, going through various workouts, making our legs stronger. We never really did that before during the season. We kind of stayed away from putting a bar on our back, lifting heavy weight.

I think it goes to prove that we can get stronger throughout the season, makes us feel better even though you'd think we'd be even more sore.

Q. How did everything feel in the game?
GREER MARTINI: It felt fine. Definitely I was only two weeks out of the surgery. It was more of a confidence thing getting in there, running around, making sure it felt all right. It did.

I think the only scary part of the game was me and Nyles collided on the sidelines. I didn't have any pain after that, so that was a good sign.

Q. Was there pain or just a scare?
GREER MARTINI: I think it was just more of a scare, kind of the first real hit I took after the surgery. I'm just glad my legs kind of came out from under me. It startled me more than anything.

Q. Were you wearing any kind of brace or support?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I was wearing kind of like a skin-tight brace underneath my leggings.

Q. How have the principles on the wall up there helped you academically?
GREER MARTINI: I think it's a combination, not only like all those traits and stuff that help us with winning football games, but I think it goes along with everyday life, carrying those throughout everything. If you don't have those, not am I only not going to see it on the football field, I won't see it in the classroom, as well.

Q. Have you noticed any extra excitement from Coach Elko this week, players playing for him, a little more excitement among you, as well?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I think there's obviously more excitement along with it. But I think the goal here has been, like, prepare for this team like we prepared for every other team. Obviously he has relationships with those coaching staffs and those players that are important to him. That must be a dynamic for him. As a coach, we haven't really seen any difference from him. It's going to be the same Elko we get week in and week out.

Q. I think there have been a couple of games in the season where the opposing offense threw something at you, it's almost like a recall from what you practiced on Tuesday or Wednesday. Is that something you got a lot last year? How does that feel when an offense runs something you know exactly what to do?
GREER MARTINI: I mean, it's a great feeling just because you feel prepared, you're ready to execute. You know exactly what you're doing. Obviously there's tons of plays throughout a game you see that you're not prepared for, you didn't get the look during the week. For the most part, our coaching staff does an amazing job, getting those tricky looks before the game so when we do get them...

Q. Is there a good example, your pick maybe against Miami of Ohio, something that happened last week that really captures that?
GREER MARTINI: I think so. Our focus on Thursday is Coach Elko will throw together a couple trick plays we might see. Last week we saw a flea flicker by NC State. We handled it perfectly coverage-wise. That might be an example of something we saw. Might not be the same exact thing, but we have prepared for it.

Q. Coach Elko call down and say this might be an instance where they might run this or something practiced on Thursday and it's on the guys?
GREER MARTINI: I think it's more on guys. They can't predict everything. For the most part, there are certain down and distance and tendencies they give us before games. If they get under center, they have more trick plays, something along those lines.

Q. Coach Kelly mentioned last night on the selection ranking show, a blueprint for this team's success changed in 2015. When you look at it, how have you seen kind of the blueprint of this team change?
GREER MARTINI: When you're talking about blueprint?

Q. He was just talking about the way the program has operated is different even from 2015. He mentioned 2012, sustained success throughout the year.
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for this team is, like, when we started in the spring with this new scheme, everything, it was always like this very attention to detail that was lacking in previous years. So everything we did, whether that was a questionnaire, it was turning in your travel suit on Sundays before a certain time, we were all held accountable. I think that accountability was huge for us in creating the blueprint you're talking about. So I think that accountability kind of fostered everything else.

Q. We've talked the last several weeks about how you guys keep this going. Obviously you've had two huge wins in a row against teams that were ranked in the top 15. How do you avoid dropping against Wake Forest?
GREER MARTINI: They always talk about avoid the noise. Almost seems better if we had kind of a big bubble around us, didn't listen to what anyone else said. The biggest thing for us is to prepare like we've prepared for every single game this year. We'll go out and it will be a good victory on Saturday if we do that. It's just about kind of focusing on us, doing all the little things.

Q. How hard is that? Obviously you may try to put the bubble up. That's not easy, especially when you're going to class.
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a hard task to do. But this team this whole year, everyone we've gotten since Georgia, we've always kind of put our heads down and gone to work. I don't see that changing.

Q. How have things changed in terms of when you're going to class, people talking to you, around campus, versus maybe the beginning of the year?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I think there's a different buzz around campus. You go to class, guys are always saying, Congratulations. That wasn't being said before Temple. It's like a different environment. You're going to class, people are saying, You're No. 3. It's one of those things where you got to kind of say, Thank you. But you can't go that far with it. You got to, like I said, put your head down and keep going.

Q. Wake Forest's quarterback has a lot of experience. What makes him a challenge?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I think he runs that offense. He can make all the throws. He's good on his feet. He's kind of like a dual threat. He kind of controls the game. He's been a starter for four years. He knows what he's doing. I think that is kind of what his thing is. He understands where he needs to be effective and he does it.

Q. What does this whole campaign mean, have the hat in front of you, revolves around Josh, but team thing as well?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, this campaign is for Josh, but it also includes the whole team. That just goes into his character. Like Josh wouldn't want this to be just about him. He wanted it to be about the whole team. This is how it kind of all ties together. It just goes to show how humble the kid is. He earns everything he gets.

For us, it's just we're willing to support him because he's a great kid, great athlete, and he deserves the award.

Q. Julian Love, one of the more I guess bubbly personalities on your team. What is it like playing with him?
GREER MARTINI: Yeah, I mean, he's an amazing player. He's kind of got that energy around him. He kind of just brings it to practice every single day. It's contagious. Guys look at him flying around the field, having a good time. It brings a good environment to want to play and get better. He's a great guy.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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