UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 14, 2003

Tyrone Willingham

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think what I've said in regards to that, not just today, but as a coach, you try to use all forms of motivation. There are some guys that respond well to that. There are some guys that don't respond well to that. What we have to do as coaches is just find the right button that gets our young man to perform at his highest level.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, you always talk to the players on your team about playing within yourself because that's an important part of being successful. Once we get outside of ourselves, we usually have the least amount of control, and control is important in everything that we do.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think you're disappointed as a team and as coaches that anyone has any type of success against you. When they have as much as they did, it definitely disappointed. But this is a new year.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think the game illustrated some significant improvement. But the key to that is that we continue to do that, and the key for us as coaches and team is that we continue to work and don't get the impression or the feeling that we are there. There's still a lot of improvement for this football team, and especially on our offensive line and really on our total offense. So we have to continue that course, and if we do, then we are fine.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think the play of the group was a big difference because I don't think Ryan Harris by himself can do all that was done Saturday alone, so I think it takes the whole group, and I think the group has had a fine, fine performance. And of course they were accompanied by a back that had a fine performance, two backs. I think Ryan ran the ball fairly well, 80 yards. It was a very productive evening for a lot of people.

COACH WILLINGHAM: He performed very well. I think to put a freshman in his first start in that situation against a highly ranked team, I think he performed very well. But again, he still has a lot of room to go and he would be the first to say that.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No. We don't have to bend that, at all. Part of our coaching is to be able to see the ability in young men and that's part of the vision that hopefully coaches have. So you have to combine that, with, yes, playing and performing the best. So we know there's certain things there that allow him to be a great player. It's just how can we blend that in with our present group, with our team and what's right for our team and right for our quarterback position, also.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No. The first thing you look for are the athlete. Are you making statement that offensive guys are not as good of an athlete?

COACH WILLINGHAM: But they probably don't get as much practice as the other guys but I expect them to be as equally with their athletic skill and ability to do that. Probably the difference is for many of those guys, is just blocking arms.B locking is very similar to tackling, I would believe.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Specifically he's continued to improve and hopefully distinguished himself with both his receiving ability as a tight end and his blocking ability.

COACH WILLINGHAM: If you notice the initial stages of that football game, I think Darrell had a tremendous impact on what was taking place, his improvement in the middle created havoc for their offense. And when you can have that kind of pressure, that close to the center of their activity, it is a very disruptive force. So he has been an excellent leader, he has been an excellent practice player and he's been an excellent game player.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I probably don't see him off the field as much as some other people than on the field. He's just been an outstanding young man. He's the kind of young man that you enjoy having in your program because of the leadership that he offers in your program in terms of the student and the person.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It is somewhat day-to-day, but I'll probably expand that and say that Nick will be out this week.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I thought his ability to step in and the poise displayed was a real plus for our football team.

COACH WILLINGHAM: He's out.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Carlyle is receiving the primary practice time as a quarterback. We give him limited opportunities as a wide receiver.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I probably say, in this environment, that's safe.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Never after Tuesday do they send plays. Usually they do it before Monday. We have got them in the play book, yes. (Laughing).

COACH WILLINGHAM: It will be probably as good of a test as we will have this year. They are very quick, up front they are very strong, very explosive, their back ends are skilled, excellent coverage. This is a very talented defense. I mean, obviously they've play that way this year, and you can see that. But they are as good as any group that we'll have to face, without question.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I'm like everyone else, we'll be hoping we can have, but this is a very, very good defense. Gosh, they are physical. They are quick, you just use all of the very positive adjectives you can in describing them. Very, very good. And when they cut it loose, it's impressive.

COACH WILLINGHAM: They are doing some of the things. A lot of the things that they do will be adjustments that they will make coming into our ballgame. Some will be not-so-subtle change-ups they will have especially for us.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think any time you can have a background of success, and being the higher the program, the higher ranked the probe, the more success the program has, the more tradition the program has had, it allows for individuals to kind of internalize the concept of the program and take that with him. In Ryan's case, you have a very bright young man that has very ambitious thoughts about how he views himself and I think that was visible in his play.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Quaim (ph) at this stage was a lot bigger man. So the size difference, I think Ryan will be where Quaim (ph) was when he started at some point. I think Quaim (ph) reported with 6'7, 6'6, somewhere, and around 303 pounds when he reported to us, or pretty close to that. Ryan is really growing, and that's a very positive thing for Ryan, because it really allows him to mature and grow into that type of body.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I have been impressed with all of them but I think it is 21, to me that really jumps out of the group. Not only does he have speed and quickness, but he seems to have kind of an explosive powerful nature to him also. You see him run through a lot of tackles but it is a very talented group, and when you have three guys of that nature, what it does, it puts constant pressure on you because there's no letdown in that group. They just keep coming at you and coming at you and that's kind of very similar to what we hope that we have; they just keep coming at you. When you make a mistake, one of them will capitalize on that mistake.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It is very difficult because they do offer different styles. What you have to do is just basically have your base plan in place and really execute and just concentrate on the fundamentals, mentally first of all, and physically if you are executing, then you have a chance to make the play.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think No. 1, he is athletically gifted. He has amazing strength, quickness, and the mind to really be a defensive back, that whether you get beat, he can bounce right back. Whether he has success, he can bounce right back, and I think those two qualities allow him to be able to do the job he's done, with some of the finest receivers in the country. I think that growth has become a part of him because he has listened to his coaches and he's continued to work and strive to be the best.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think what took place in that ballgame is something that I think I spoke of in some form after the game. There's a very nice cycle created when you have success, when the back makes a play, the line kind of internalizes that and reflects on and gets energy from it, wants to do their job better. When the line is doing their job better, the backs get excited and they want to do their job better. I think our backs went into this ballgame believing that they had to make something happen, but yet make it happen within the structure of our offensive plays. And I think our line fed on that and our backs fed on the line and it was a very nice cycle for us to create and hopefully we can keep creating that type of feeding frenzy where we are doing some very positive things.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, he's very talented and he had an opportunity to kind of see a very good quarterback, probably even better than that in Palmer, perform just a fantastic year. I think there's also some learning that takes place when you're that second guy just sitting and you're watching and you're learning from someone who is pretty good. But he has done an excellent job of stepping in, not being intimidated by their program or by the fact that he is stepping in.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No. I don't think the days of super programs are over. I think there are all going to be some teams that are going to be very consistent and very near the top of the ladder. But I do believe that with, I guess, the three years of limited scholarships, it has changed the landscape to a great degree where it's going to be a lot more competitive each weekend.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I don't know if I quite said he wasn't. Obviously in some form, I am hoping for him to develop and take on more leadership which is what I expect from all of their guys. First of all, I expect them to lead themselves and contribute to the every all leadership of the team. Julius, with the way things have transpired in his career has kind of had to regain that spot within the structure of our team. But I think our football team, even in his absence, felt a lot of it and he made himself available to our football team and that was very positive.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think first of all, it starts with behavior and what you do and how you practice. He's leading first of all through his actions, but he's also contributing in the things he says and how he communicates with the team.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I'm hoping that this will be a part of every weekend for us, but I know that there's a reason that records aren't broken every day. So we don't quite -- I don't quite envision that happening. But I do envision a very sound and solid performance from all of your young men.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I don't know if we'll call it an operational expense; I do know that it is not uncommon. It has been done over the years for different reasons. You would hope that a young man would be able to get to a place and be there for all of the right reasons, but also sometimes those things may change in their mind or the mind of the program. It does affect your recruiting because if you expended that time and that energy to place that young person in your program, it now leaves some type of gap there, so you've got to find ways to replace that.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I don't know if you can characterize it as a gamble, just taking the quarterback. I think recruiting is a gamble. I think all of it, to determine whether a young man will go on and do all of the things you hope and wish he'll do. I think it's somewhat of a risky proposition.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Not necessarily did I see anything. But it's something that you are always hoping for. You are always hoping your team hits some type of stride. It was very fortunate against Pitt that we had success running the football, but it was also obvious we had success running the football. We are still working to develop our complete football game, but I said all along, our young men have continued to work, they have continued to come every day with great attitude and great approach to Notre Dame football, and if we continue that, I've told them that good things will happen.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think our guys are intelligent young men and they recognize that it is far better if you can perform it, pull it off, to have your opponent chase you and get off to a great start. So I think they wanted to do that, and to be honest, I think they have been trying to do it other weeks, but yet for certain reasons, we were not successful.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, that statement or posed as a question is true. I have a great deal of confidence in our coaching staff. I have a great deal of confidence in the young men in our program and that we recruited young men that want to play championship football, that want to be great students that want to be great people. And because of that, I have all of the belief in the world that the things that we are asking them to do, that they will work diligently toward and they will accomplish at some point.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I must say, that is an easy one. They are talented. They are talented and they play hard and they play well together. I mean, that is a formula for success at almost any program. If you have talented young men they have great size, great strength, great explosiveness and they play well together.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, Julius left me with the impression that he was determined to be back at Notre Dame. There were some things from an educational standpoint and from an athletic standpoint that he wanted the opportunity to try to accomplish. So I felt very comfortable that he would do that and do the things necessary. But it's always a wait-and-see, also, even though the individual tells you those things, he's following the plan, but until it really happens, you just have to wait and see.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Julius stayed fairly close to the program with his teammates and also on occasions, we communicated to make sure things were going well.

COACH WILLINGHAM: From a year ago, he has learned a great deal more about our system and has really worked very hard to have his athletic abilities show within the structure of our system. He has grown in terms of knowledge, he has grown in terms of physical skills and in terms of leadership and expectation of his self and his teammates.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, you have two outstanding programs that somewhat reshaped college football landscape year, many years ago by starting this rivalry. And because of that, because of that time span and because of the great teams that have existed, you have just the right makeup for a lot of great finishes, a lot of great games and a lot of the national spotlight of these two teams have occupied and because of that, that makes this game very special.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No. I've always said that I don't coach the opponent. I coach our team. What they do is their prerogative and what we do is ours.

COACH WILLINGHAM: What I'm doing is praying for our Purdue passing game and our Pittsburgh rushing game.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Yeah, we are in agreement there. But no, it's very difficult to think along those lines when you play because we play with the USC defense. Of course, Coach has done a great job of structuring that side of the ball. We do need a balance because that group again is very talented. They play great defense, they fly around the football, all of those things that you like to see great defenses do, they do.

COACH WILLINGHAM: They are a very explosive group. I have always said that it starts with the rushing game and again they have got three backs that contribute very well to that offense's ability to be explosive and they have got some receivers, I think in, Williams and Coburn (ph), I think it is, if I'm pronouncing it right. They have got some excellent guys. They have got talent, they have got skill, they have got great a system and they do great things.

COACH WILLINGHAM: You are always concerned about the physical shape, even though he does have a propensity to work out and keep himself in pretty good condition. I was not worried because of the family structure that was in place. He spent that time with his brother. And his brother, of course was a professional football player, so therefore, you just felt good about that situation and about the training, and the mind, the mental advancement he would have because of being around a young man that is involved in pro football.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think you would have to ask him that.