UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 16, 2023

Jack Kiser

Press Conference

Q. Jack, with JD not there, what kind of a difference does that make and how were you guys able to make up for that?

JACK KISER: Yeah, JD is a captain, he's a vocal leader. He knows what he's doing on the field. And that's very impactful. Like, there's a reason he wears a C on his chest. But we knew going into the game we weren't going to have him. Other guys got to step up, whether the vocal piece or making plays, right?

And so, you know, the kind of defensive ideal or, you know, pieces this week was, Have each other's backs. It's about us. You know, we got to hold each other accountable, we got to make each other better. And so, when -- you know, DJ was out today, too. And that was a big challenge for the younger guys. Listen, you're going to get an opportunity. Make the most of it, you know?

Q. How did you feel like the defense was able to bounce back after giving up a little bit on the ground in the first half?

JACK KISER: Yeah, there was a lot of missed tackles out there, just some disciplined mistakes that you wish you could fix. Second half, though, we came out. Able to just put our feet in the ground and, you know, play Notre Dame ball and play within the system and scheme. And so, a credit to, you know, the guys upfront, they were able to get in the backfield a little bit more. And, you know, we just went back to playing basic football.

Q. What was your biggest adjustment playing Mike? I know you've played Will, you've played inside before. But how did you feel going into the game? But also what adjustments did you have to make in the game when you see the flow of things and how they're attacking you?

JACK KISER: I think a testament to the coaching staff. Like, ever since I've been here, I've been a guy that's swung back and forth between inside and outside. So maybe there's not as big of a shock as when I do get put inside at Mike.

It's something that every offseason I try to showcase that I can play inside, play outside. So the big thing, I mean, you just got to know what piece of the puzzle you are now, right? That's the big obstacle that you have to overcome is, All right, now I'm the inside piece, not the outside piece. How does that relate into this scheme, this fit? So this particular play, but yeah.

Q. Throughout your time here, you've had a lot of defensive linemen rotating in front of you. But is there a challenge with your back seven, especially in your secondary, how much rotation is going on now and you lost one of your cornerbacks back there, in DJ Brown? Was that difficult today to try and communicate things in that first half?

JACK KISER: No. I think we always have to challenge ourselves to have that communication piece crisp and sound. Every single play, get the call, make the checks, be on the same page as everybody. And we hold everybody to the same standard.

It's not like DJ is out, someone else come in, we can let it slip here and there. No, everybody has the same standard. And that's executed in practice on a weekly basis, whether DJ's in there in practice or not. So X and Ramon and are our nickels, and everybody's doing a great job, and echoing the call and we make sure everybody's lined up. The big piece is, is post-snap. We got to execute and make sure everybody's doing the right thing.

Q. Hey, Jack. What have the halftime adjustments been like under Coach Golden this year? And what was it like today in terms of making some adjustments, but not too many?

JACK KISER: Yeah, I don't think it's necessarily big adjustments. And, you know, we're going to scheme everything out and come out in the second half and just play amazing. It's more so the message. Like, Listen, there's a little bit going on, we just got to get our feet in the ground, play football, go back to the basics and make sure everybody is doing their job.

We got to execute. We got to tackle. Just stuff like that. It's not a big rah-rah speech or anything. It's just collect ourselves, go out there as a unit and play a lot better football.

Q. And then overall, the penalties have really piled up on both sides of the ball the last two games. When you see those kind of numbers, those kind of mistakes, can you call this a disciplined team yet or is it a team that still needs to learn overall to be disciplined?

JACK KISER: Yeah, I don't think you're going to be a disciplined team off one game, right? It's a snap by snap. Like, every snap you have to be disciplined, to your point. And there's so many flags, we can't have that moving forward. In a tight game, those are going to matter.

But it's tough, you know, trying to tow that line between, Do I take that extra step and get the extra hit on the quarterback or a half second too late? Some of those, it's tough. And at the end of the day, you don't want to pull that out of a game, right? You don't want to tell him stop, slow down, don't play hard. But like you said, there is too many flags on the ground right now and we got to clean that up and we got to be a cleaner football team.

Q. Hey, Jack. In training camp, I think people watched some of those practices, got pretty excited about your defense. And it seems like you've proven that. What would you say is the identity of this defense you've been able to establish? And then, what's out there still for you guys to prove as a unit?

JACK KISER: Yeah, I mean, I think that the identity of this defense is we're going out there and we're trying to play our best on any given snap. What we mean by best, we mean ball disruption, effort. You know what I mean? Unit strength. You know, technically, knowing situations, tackling, being out there every single snap and have great effort, get the ball down and get back.

And you know, just say, Put the down -- put the ball down anywhere, we're going to play, we're going to, you know, put our backs against the fence and not give a yard.

And, you know, I think you look at it, our ball disruption has gone up a lot. Now, are we getting them? No. And so, that's the next progression. Like, we're getting the ball out on the ground. We just got to populate the ball and get on the ball.

And so, there's still ways we can increase and make our defense better and continue to build that identity. You know, today, tackling, like, that's got to be better. We can step up on that. But, yeah, as an identity, I think we're trying to come out here and play our best ball every down.