Quick-hitters: Top nuggets from Notre Dame Blue-Gold Game sideline interviews

While the clock was ticking in the final hours of Notre Dame spring practice, fans and media got a chance to hear from a whole cast of characters at the Blue-Gold Game on Saturday.

As is often the case with spring games, there is more media access than a regular season contest. Caroline Pineda was on the sideline for the Peacock broadcast, and spoke with several coaches and players during and after the game.

Here are the three best quotes from head coach Marcus Freeman, along with a nugget from other staff and player interviews.

Freeman on Marist Liufau’s interception celebration, subsequent conversation about it

“(I told him) ‘Act like you’ve done this before. Don’t cost this team 15 yards.’ Because the referee came up to me and said ‘Hey, I might have called a 15-yard penalty there.’ That’s what they’ve got to understand. You have to expect to make big plays. When you don’t expect to make big plays, you act like you’ve never done it. And that’s what I just told him. You can’t cost this team 15 yards. I don’t care about the interception, you cannot cost this team. Nobody’s worth 15 yards from a selfish penalty.”

Freeman on the alumni event on Thursday night

“It’s a reflection of the power of this place, the brotherhood. You had over 250 former players in a room with every single current player, and you could feel the energy. You could feel the brotherhood that only certain people have been able to (achieve). They didn’t care if you were Jerome Bettis or an NFL All-Pro or Ryan Harris or anybody else. They care that you are part of Notre Dame football. That’s, to me, what we have to embrace. That’s a big part of bringing those guys back because I want our players to understand the privilege they have to be a part of a great university and a great football program.”

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Freeman on Jadarian Price, early enrollees in general

“A lot of these guys, they come in and they think that coming in to school early gives you a chance to be a starter. It’s a great opportunity to start school and learn the playbook, but usually if a guy is ready to go out of high school, you’re going to notice. I don’t care if he’s here in January or he’s here in June. JD Price is one of those guys. When he stepped on the practice field, you said, ‘OK, this guy is ready to play at this level. He’s done a great job this spring.’”

OC Tommy Rees on WR Jayden Thomas

“I think JT’s a guy that’s put together a good spring for us and has really earned the trust of his teammates and us. A guy like that, when you have a good spring, you want to see him finish it off the right way, which he has. JT will keep getting better, and we have big hopes for him this fall.”

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DC Al Golden on Freeman

“He’s plotting his own course. He knows exactly what he wants this program to look like. He knows what recruits to go after. He’s got a great blueprint.”

QB Tyler Buchner on weekly meetings with Freeman

“Meeting with Coach Freeman has been really instrumental, just building a relationship with him. It allows him to coach us harder when we’re on the field because we have that great relationship. He’s been awesome. We’ve learned a ton through meeting with him when it comes to the defensive side of the ball, things like that.”

TE Michael Mayer on improving his leadership role

“No. 1, (I wanted to) be more vocal, and I think I’ve done that for sure. No. 2, just being a better teammate, being more understanding. I feel like I’ve done a great job of that too…I feel like this entire team definitely trusts me and trusts my word.”

QB Steve Angeli on what he saw on the game-winning play

“I saw the corners and the guys backing up. It was either me or the corner, and I’m going to go make that play. That’s what I had to do for my team, and we came out with the win.”