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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 10, 2018Daelin HayesSouth Bend, Indiana Notre Dame - 42, Florida State - 13 Q. How important was it to get out early and just kind of put Florida State away? DAELIN HAYES: Huge. That was Coach Kelly's statement to us. He really wanted us to come out and dominate at home. Protect our house for our seniors. Q. How was it like playing in 25 degrees? DAELIN HAYES: Really didn't feel it that much. As much -- I feel like practice this week was a lot colder than the game was. Yeah, didn't feel that bad. Q. When you see Brandon pumped up running out there on Senior Night, you guys feed off that? DAELIN HAYES: Absolutely. I mean, the whole gist of this game was really to send out our seniors the right way. Our seniors have done a lot to turn our program around; they endured a lot as the young guys, sophomores at that time, and the transition to being the team that we are today. I think they've been huge in that transition and leading us to be the best version of ourselves, so... Q. What does Brandon show you guys with the way he handled... DAELIN HAYES: Brandon, I mean, if any of you guys know Brandon, he's a high-character guy. He's a great guy to be around. We love him. Love him to death. It was our job to go out and have his back. He came out, and obviously with Ian being the starter he handled that as well as anybody could possibly handle that situation. So with that, man, we as a defense really wanted to emphasize, Man, we got your back. Early turnovers. Nick with the great -- getting it close in the fumble recovery. We really just wanted to have the offense's back and allow them to feel comfortable and settle into the game. Q. You guys had three (indiscernible) goal lines that kind of ended the game. Is that just selling out the run when they're within one yard? Looked like you guys changed packages for fourth down. DAELIN HAYES: Yeah. Just getting our big guys out there to match their guys. That was one the things Coach Lea talked about. When Florida State has efficiency, they get that their A off of big plays, not long drives. It's huge for our defense to really make the offense extend their drive as long as possible, and hopefully they'll make their own mistakes and we can bend and not break. Q. The blocked two-point runback by Julian there, how fun was that? DAELIN HAYES: That was pretty cool. That was pretty cool. Jerry finally got one. That's what Coach Polian has been stressing to us. He was like, Man, you guys keep coming off the ball you're going to get one eventually. Glad today, you know, what I'm saying, he was able to do that. Q. Second half there, might have been the third quarter, you had a goal line stance; started inside the five and kept them there; knocked them back a little bit. Was defensive line just able to finally take control of the interior there? DAELIN HAYES: Yeah, for sure. Got to go back and watch the film, but I'm pretty sure those guys -- I think (indiscernible.) Q. Third down, yeah, he cut through. DAELIN HAYES: Yeah, mean, that is something that our D-line prided ourselves on all year? And especially coming into this game just dominating the line of scrimmage. We knew that would be key to winning this game for sure. Q. (Indiscernible.) DAELIN HAYES: Means everything, man. I mean, that's all you dream about as a recruit coming in to play for the University of Notre Dame. You just want to make everybody proud. We've been blessed to have the coaching staff -- I mean, the impact that Coach Bayliss has had since he's been here has been huge for our team. That's who we spend the majority of our time with on the off season point or whatnot, just changing the mindset of our guys. Being young guys coming in, that's all you want to do is win. You just need a little bit of guidance to really put you in the right direction. Everybody has bought into it, and it's evident in the way that we play. We play for each other. We love our guys. Q. What's it is been like to see Drue Tranquil come back from his injury and basically miss no time? What has that meant to this defense? DAELIN HAYES: Everything. Drue is our guy. Drue is who we follow. When we go out, that's our quarterback, him and Te'von; they run the defense. Again, just referencing that senior leadership like I mentioned earlier, Drue is a guy who is going to do everything the right way no matter the circumstance. The guy who had a sprained ankle high ankle sprain whatever, all that stuff is huge, man, to see a guy come out and battle through it. It really inspires you to really go out and give it everything you have for your brothers. Q. Mentioning that senior leadership, Jerry, kind of the leader of the defensive line, how has he held that group together this season in really some dominant performances from him? DAELIN HAYES: Yeah, you mentioned the dominant performances; I mean, that inspires you. You go out and see a guy have a game against a traditionally well-coached and well-executed offensive line, against Stanford. You know what I'm saying? His level of play throughout the season is pretty inspiring, we just want to match that each and every week. Q. (Indiscernible.) DAELIN HAYES: Yeah, I mean, I don't -- not really. I mean, it was really just a guessing game, like when it would come, like when I got my -- when I fell comfortable coming back. No, it was just a day-to-day process. Q. (Indiscernible.) DAELIN HAYES: Broke my hand, broke my finger against Michigan. No, I've been cool other than that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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