Everything Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said before Irish vs. Army

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock spoke to local reporters Tuesday evening, ahead of Saturday’s matchup with Army.

Here’s what Denbrock had to say.

On how Army is better or different than when he’s faced them before

“I really have a lot of respect for — I think they’ve definitely upgraded their roster over the years. They’ve done, I think a nice job of also recruiting specifically to the scheme that they’re running and they’re really good at it. So it’s a big challenge for sure.”

On whether the tight end zones at Yankee Stadium will limit Notre Dame

“Well, I hope we get a chance to see them up close a couple of times on Saturday. If we get a chance, we’ll measure ’em.  

“It’s been [since] 2013, we played in there the last time and the field was frozen in the frozen tundra. But I remember it being a little bit tight, but I don’t remember it being, you know what I mean, a huge issue. I’ll have to, I guess, jog my memory and get back in there and take a peek at it when we get in there before the game.”

On if he remembers meeting Army head coach Jeff Monken in 1989 at the Aloha Bowl when both were graduate assistants

“I do. We’ve always had kind of a common thread. His cousin played for the former head coach here at Notre Dame [Brian Kelly] and me at Grand Valley years and years ago. I know a lot of their family members. I know his dad or his uncle, I think it was, was a high school coach in in Illinois for years and years and years. So there’s always been a little bit of a connection. And I’ve just always been really kind of just blown away by the job that he does. The success that he’s had at what people would term a more difficult place to maybe have the type of success. But he just churns ’em out year after year. And that’s a sign of a really, really good football coach.”

On Notre Dame freshman running back Aneyas Williams

“I don’t know that Devyn Ford’s injury has anything to do with the Aneyas’ ascension. I think it’s got a lot to do with Aneyas becoming more comfortable with our offense, with the structure of it, showing some dynamic ability on third down to not only do a good job in blitz pick up, but catch the ball out of the backfield and make some plays with it. What he’s gotten, he’s earned. And rightfully so.”

On Notre Dame senior quarterback Riley Leonard’s ability to spread the ball around to different receivers

“I think it’s him knowing where all the pieces are. Right? And if he does get into trouble, where can I go with it? Or if I need to move in the pocket, where is everybody at? You know what I mean? I think it’s evolved as the season has gone along where he’s gotten a better feel for where all the pieces are. And he knows and I believe he has a lot of confidence in all the guys that are out there doing the job that if I give ’em a chance, they’ll make a play. And guys have been doing that.”

On whether that keeps everybody engaged

“I hope it does. It definitely makes it interesting, right? I mean, it’s hard to say ‘Hey, you have a go-to guy,’ and I think that’s a good thing in a lot of ways.”

On Notre Dame graduate student wide receiver Jayden Harrison

“I was just really happy for him that a lot of the hard work that he’s put in to give himself a chance to be not only better at being a natural receiver and not just defined as a lot of people define him in the beginning as a kick returner. To see him get rewarded for that is just as good as it gets for my opinion.” 

On how Harrison diversifies the offense

I  think it just adds like we were just talking about with where do you distribute the ball? You know, it gives us another opportunity, an option to have hopefully a vertical threat. He’s proven on some inside fades and some other things that he’s going to go get the ball when it’s his opportunity and he’s done a great job. 

On Notre Dame’s attitude of “going for it” and “not holding back” and how coaches can live that

“They know whether that’s actually your attitude or not. And Marcus [Freeman] does a good job of not only explaining why that’s important to how we operate as an offense defense and as a team, but he backs it up with fourth down opportunities and backs it up with special teams opportunities to make plays. They see, right, that it’s not just a philosophical thing but it’s backed up with action. So we try to do the best we can and I try to do the best I can to replicate that attitude towards what we’re doing offensively.”

On how he makes sure he does that as a coordinator (play calling, install, etc.)

“Yeah, for sure. All of the above, right? Making sure you have maybe a few more shot plays in the game plan for that week. Being aggressive with what you’re doing in certain areas of the field, all that stuff kind of plays into it.”

On the uniqueness of Army’s defensive scheme

They are very, very — I don’t know we’ve played a defense [like them] this year. Virginia was really good. They really understood their scheme. And what I mean by that is they understood their responsibilities and their run fits and at times made it really awkward for us to run the ball. And even though we had some success in the end, a lot of that was obviously a long run and all that. It wasn’t it wasn’t like we were just smashing eight yard runs time after time. Army does the same thing. They they understand their scheme. They know the things that people try to do against them. And then they have counters to those things to try to kind of, ‘Hey, back in your court.’ ‘OK, we’re going to lob it back over. We’re going to make this adjustment to what you just did.’ And while you’re doing all that, their offense is generating points and they’re keeping possessions down. So it’s made them a really effective group because they have a lot of ways to defend run schemes that they see a lot because a lot of people kind of try to attack them the same way. And it’s a nice challenge for us to try to come up with a few things that maybe they haven’t seen. 

On if he’s come up with some cool second-and-25 plays

“I just love it. It’s probably my favorite part of calling the game. The the third-and-19, the second-and-24 that we seem just hellbent on making sure we’re in six or seven times a game. We have to just stop with the self-inflicted. We just got ourselves so bogged down in the first half because of that. It really affected the game. Thank God the defense took the ball away and gave us short fields and we put the game in a position where we had an opportunity if we played a little better in the second half to maybe put it away. And we were able to do that.”

Can’t clarify this enough after threads were started on the Lou Somogyi Board about CJ Carr playing scout team defensive back: Denbrock is being sarcastic and does not actually love being behind the chains.

On whether the touchdown to Harrison that got called back was Leonard’s best pass of the year

“That was huge. And I think that was probably as good a ball as he’s thrown, with anticipation, on time, feet in the ground, full confidence. And then I think the one he hit with Jayden later in the game on third-and-15 again. Another third-and-15. Congratulations to us. But he rips the ball down the seam and it was like he was playing the game, not thinking the game. It was awesome. That was awesome to see. Not only for Jayden but in him being able to go make the play. But Riley just cutting it loose and believing.”

On what it’s like to coach Harrison

“He’s such a positive young man. I’m sure you guys probably talked to him today, but just really his outlook on everything that he does comes from a positive place. That provides energy to everybody around him. And then when he has had opportunities to touch the ball, he’s been electric and he’s made plays. And obviously that’s something that any offense needs, ours in particular. So it’s great to see him kind of come into his own here even though it’s kind of a little bit towards the end of the season.”

On Harrison’s personality on the practice field

“He’s not a voice-terous guy but anybody that walks around and has an aura about them that they’re really enjoying what they’re doing is fun to be around. Like you guys. You know what I mean?”