Quick-hitters: Notre Dame OC on Tommy Rees on running backs, wide receivers, first down, Mitchell Evans

Tommy Rees‘ seat wasn’t ever hot. But Notre Dame fans who felt he deserved criticism for the Fighting Irish’s 0-2 start aren’t as vocal a month later. Notre Dame is on a three-game winning streak, and the Irish are averaging 32.3 points and 456.3 yards per game during it.

To be fair, Rees himself said he deserved every ounce of blame for the 15.5 points and 302 yards per game in the two losses. But doesn’t that mean he’s worthy of praise when things are going right?

Rees isn’t searching for compliments. He’s trying to keep the Notre Dame offense headed in the right direction. Here’s everything he said about his side of the ball in Tuesday night’s media session.

On Notre Dame controlling time of possession

“We want to be able to dictate the game and the terms, control the tempo and the pace of it. Obviously we’ve run the ball pretty well the last couple weeks which is credit to that. Playing that style can be a little arduous but it’s something that when you’re up in games in the second half, that’s the style of game that’s kind of dictated by it.  We’d love to have those stats and time of possession. I think it helps the program. I think it’s a team identity. The defense gets stops quickly: they get a safety, they get an interception. I think there’s a lot of credit that goes both ways.”

On getting three running backs involved

“Coach [Marcus] Freeman tells us to ‘Choose hard’ so we’re finding a way. Look, we have a lot of confidence in all three. Obviously you’ve seen them in there together. We’re just trying to spread it out; mix and match, trying to find the best personnel groupings we can. Try to continue to put them in positions to do what they’re best at. I’m proud of the work that the staff and those guys have done to buy in.

“I don’t know what our final rushing number was—probably north of 40 from a couple nights ago. When you run it that many times you can probably get all three involved. Obviously we feel like we had a missed opportunity there with Chris [Tyree] in the passing game early which probably adds a little bit to his production. Like I told those guys, there’s going to be some of those days where two of the three explode where one is a little less. There’s going to be days when all three of them [explode].”

One the management of the three backs

“When we’re running it well it’s easier. I think we’ve developed a good plan as far as who’s in, who’s out, and how to get multiple guys on the field together and not be predictable when two guys are out there together. The balance is going to be a continuous work in progress. We’re going to continue to find ways to get them out there, but I also think that there’ll be times when a guy is playing well and we’re going to let him take a couple series.

“Logan [Diggs] kind of sparked that Saturday, Audric [Estime] had a couple of big runs to close it out, and a couple of weeks ago that was Chris, to just continue to find throughout the game flow how to maximize those guys’ opportunities. We had a critical down second and 17 and we put two backs on the field and we converted for a first down. It’s going to continue to be part of the plan and it’s up to us to maximize our players.”

On Notre Dame wide receivers Jayden Thomas and Lorenzo Styles

“I think [Thomas] and [Styles] had the same number of catches. Jayden’s were maybe a little more impactful. JT, if you go back and watch it, we probably didn’t get him the ball where he’s open. We have a lot of confidence in JT in those situations. To see him out and make a 50-50 play and beat man like that — we had a throw early in Week 2 where we missed it and it is what it is. Similar type route and we went and executed this time. 

“Continue to build that in. I thought Zo played a really nice game. He made a big catch to start a drive. We have to get him a couple touches early. And I have to get Braden [Lenzy] going. That’s on me. I have to find ways to continue to get him going; he’s playing at a really high level, it doesn’t show in the box score but he’s playing at a really high level and we have to find ways to get his ability out there.”

On Notre Dame wide receiver Braden Lenzy

“He’s been a stud all year. I told him, he’s in the front of my mind. He’s doing things at a high level, he’s playing hard, he’s been a great leader, a great teammate, great with Drew [Pyne], doing little things on the field well. We’ve had opportunities to get him the ball that we’ve missed—had some play designs that he was open on a dig on third down, we kind of danced around and threw it to JT, ball should’ve probably gone there on schedule and it’s probably a 25-yard again for him. We have to continue to put him in the right spots, he has to continue to work as it is, and we have to get him the ball.”

On success on first down

“All these things have a big impact on third down. We show our guys our conversion rate and we talk about run efficiency. As confidence grows it allows you to call some stuff on early downs that allows you to have more success, if that makes sense. I think we’re finding out who we are and what we execute and what we believe in and trust. And look, when you can run the ball effectively, and you can mix in some down-the-field throws with some ball-control throws, you have a nice balance to keep teams off balance. So we’ll continue to find ways to be successful on first down so we can be good on third down.”

On Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans

“We have a ton of belief in Mitch. I think going into the season he was thought of to be a focal point of what we wanted to do now he’s slowly getting back here. Mitch is an extremely skilled tight end. He’s a big kid and he gives us another tight end body that can give us some mismatches to create some things in run and pass. Mitch is a pretty low key kid. [Michael Mayer] kind of runs that room. But he’s excited; he’s excited to get back out there. I think he kind of found himself this spring. You can tell there’s an urgency to get out.”