Quick hitters: Notre Dame OC Gerad Parker on Sam Hartman's downfield passing

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker spoke to reporters after the second practice of fall camp. Here’s what he had to say about Sam Hartman, working in the red zone and several Irish receivers.

On what Hartman’s ability to throw downfield means for Notre Dame

“Everything we say and do is gonna be monitored by everyone, right? But we’re going to play to our strengths and play to our quarterback’s strengths. And that’s certainly something he does very well and it gives everybody confidence.”

On evaluating the receivers against Notre Dame’s cornerbacks

“You evaluate it on win-loss. There’s only one way to evaluate it. And the quicker we win more than we lose, we can start to get to the point where we can have some big-time short-term and long-term success. … Our guys have already made strides. You can see where they’ve come from and where they’ve developed.”

“They’re in a very competitive situation, in the low red zone, kind of a tough situation on us to start those days, but it keeps our legs shortened so we don’t get any soft-tissue stuff early in camp. So it makes it challenging. The lower [in the red zone] you get, the harder the drill is to execute, because everything happens faster. So it’s a good evaluation tool, and then we can put them out in space like we did today and get a little more air to win.”

On what he liked about Notre Dame’s red zone work

“I like some of the things we did with the timing of our stuff, like the timing of our routes, the timing of some meshes, all those things. And then our alignment was pretty good. I was really proud of how we did pre-snap and operated in a pre-snap alignment in Practice 1. You get out there sometimes, and I don’t want to say worried, but you’re concerned with, ‘Hey, can we operate, get in and out of the huddle, get the ball snapped, keep it off the ground?’ Those things were good yesterday.”

On Chris Tyree looking good at slot receiver

“I know that’s no secret anymore, so we can talk about it, I guess. It’s early, but C.T. has done a good job investing in catching the football. I think he’s getting lost in the details of what it means to win, but also why. There’s not just one way to win a route. … So he’s learning, ‘When do I use this method? When do I use this one?’ To get the same result, which is to win and be on time. And we really believe CT is learning how to do that.”

“I’ll laugh with him [about spending time catching passes outside of practice], like, ‘You want a cookie for improvement?” That just gives us the best chance. Just because he got on the ball machine, it doesn’t guarantee success. It gives you a chance at success. But has he invested the time and the things it’s gonna take for him to be a good player? Yeah.”

On what Tobias Merriweather can do to maximize his potential

“Get lost in the work. Keep working. I know this, it’s not thinking about future success, it’s not thinking about having future success, it’s not hoping — if he just works, his talents and abilities are good enough to have a very successful year. And I believe that. We [at Notre Dame] believe that. And he knows that. If he just works and continues to improve his craft, his body will take over.” 

On Jaden Greathouse’s growth since the Blue-Gold game

“Well, he’s a very confident guy in a very good way, not in a bad way. He’s extremely confident. So the ability to have confidence at a young age really helps, and then of course, talent and abilities. He’s changed his body some. You can see him being slim where he can be slimmer and trimmer. And his prep[aration], knowing what to do and now, knowing how to do it.” 

“I think there’s a lot of things he did well based off of just good play and feeling the position. Now, he knows it and he knows how to do it better. And I think you see that in the first two days of the summer.”