What Notre Dame DC Al Golden said before Stanford game

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden spoke to reporters Monday evening before the Irish take on Stanford. Here’s what Golden had to say.

On Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman saying the board in his office looks like he’s a “mad scientist”

“Well, Sunday morning, I try to get in early and just clean up the previous game for us, and then I move on pretty early. So by 9:30, 10 o’clock, I’m on to the next opponent. And in this case, I was just finishing the last two games, because we started in the bye week. So, just see what direction they’re going, write thoughts up on the board, look at the challenges that are presented, and they’re numerous. They are. Some people might say there’s gimmicks. I think it’s clever, what they do. I do. I think they’re clever. I think [Stanford head] coach [Troy] Taylor is really good. Watched his body of work, and there’s challengers all over the field.”

On freshman DL Armel Mukam and Devan Houston, freshman S Ben Minich and sophomore DE Tyson Ford (all of whom played for Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest):

“Yeah, let’s start with the D-lineman first. I just said downstairs, as you get to this bowl game, you would hope some of those guys understand — like, I think about [sophomore linebacker Jaylen] Sneed a year ago. I know there were others that, you know, they get to the end of the year, and you don’t use a redshirt year and all of a sudden, they have two or three weeks to get ready for a game. And you’d love to see some of those guys make a big jump and hopefully contribute, somehow, in the game. So we’re all looking for those D-linemen to continue to do that and hopefully one or two of them say, ‘alright, I’m good enough to get a couple series in this game. I’m to the point where I can do that.’ In terms of Ben, I’m excited about Ben. He’s a smart kid. He’s tough, he’s fast. We’re excited. Same thing with him, you know, all of a sudden he’s going to be eligible for the bowl game, and does take significant reps somewhere, including special teams?”

On what stands out about Stanford’s offense

“Just a lot of formations. A lot of personnel groups. Two quarterbacks. Two quarterbacks on the field at the same time. A couple of running backs that can really go. Number 3 [senior Bryce Farrell], wideout, can really go. He was a 10.5 guy in high school. He’s becoming comfortable with 13 [sophomore wide receiver Elic Ayomanor]. He’s becoming comfortable with 86 [sophomore Sam Roush], the other tight end. There’s a lot there to digest in a short period of time, and we just got to make sure that we handle what we need to handle and execute what we need to handle. And whatever things occur on game day, we have to adjust to.”

On what’s difficult about the two-QB system

“Well, first of all, I really think they’re both really good athletes. They’re a little bit different, you know, 8 [sophomore Justin Lamson] is a little bit bigger between the tackles, but 14 [sophomore Ashton Daniels] has done that too. So, 14, a little bit more elusive. Both can throw the ball, so 8 could be on a jet sweep, for instance, and all of a sudden decide he’s gonna throw the ball, and that’s difficult. 8’s lined up at one, taking a reverse, and then throws the ball. We saw that last week. 14 can line up out there, so, just makes it challenging. You got to have your antennas up and limit what we need to limit to play fast and execute.”

On his pitch for senior safety Xavier Watts to return to Notre Dame

“I’m not gonna — that’s for X and his family. And if there’s any conversations, those are private. Listen, I don’t believe in pitching. If young people ask questions, you know, I just came from the other side, right? I spent six years there. I know the inner workings of it, what all goes into those decisions, what they’re looking for, how it’s scouted, how it’s evaluated, and ultimately, how those decisions are made. So, I can help them with the secret sauce on the other side, but in terms of making a decision, I’m not here to influence anybody. Just make sure they understand how important they are and the role they would have moving forward, but other than that, we give them the facts and then they have to make the decision.”