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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2017

Mike McGlinchey

South Bend, Indiana

Q. I think there's a lot of talk about the left side and the right side of the offensive line. We never talk about Sam Mustipher a whole lot. How have you seen him performing this year in his evolution?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Sam has done a great job. Sam does a great job for us up front, not only just executing and blocking his ass off, but he controls what we do up front. Every call that we have goes through Sam. He identifies the fronts, he makes sure we're all on the same page, he's taking that role with a great responsibility, and he has done an awesome job and is going to keep growing, and the amount of work that he puts into this, the amount that he studies and the amount that he truly cares about himself being the best and helping us get to be the best, as well, Sam is an awesome guy, and he's an awesome football player, and more great things are going to come from him for sure.

Q. Besides what you guys are doing and run blocking and the tight ends, when you watch film, how much of an assist have the wide receivers been in that area so far this year?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I actually said that to Q this past week when we were watching film. I think that's one of our greatest improvements on offense this year is just noticing how our receivers and how our perimeter players are working and just busting their butt off to get down and stay on people and spring the big plays. I think that we hadn't seen that before, at least to the extent of what we're doing right now in the four years that I've been here, and that's a credit to Coach Alexander and all the receivers and Coach Long and having the mindset that they have right now in terms of doing whatever they can, whether it's the ball in their hands or whether it's blocking downfield to put points on the board.

Our receivers have done a phenomenal job, and they've -- you just can repeatedly look on film, and you see them body on body down the field. It helps bring huge plays, and I think that one run by Dexter in either later in the second quarter or the third quarter when he wasn't touched for 15 yards until he got into the end zone because of guys being body on body downfield.

Q. You mentioned Quen, and obviously we can see what he does on the field, but what is his personality like in the locker room and what is his leadership style like as a captain?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, I think Q leadership-wise is very truthful, very honest. He will never, ever sugar coat anything when it comes to what you're doing or the way he views something. He's extremely passionate, cares more than anybody on our team, and he is just as good as they get in terms of his preparation, and he makes sure that everybody else is coming along with him.

Obviously as the player, there's nobody better in the country at what he does, and we think Quenton Nelson -- you can try and scour the country, but I'll bet you a lot of money you're not going to find somebody better than him, and that's because of the way he works, the way he leads, and the way he just goes out and balls. You have to commend Q for the amount of work he's done for four years now to put himself in the position that he's in, and the sky's the limit with him. He's just phenomenal across the board.

Q. Coach Kelly talked about how his leadership has developed going into this year and decided to come back for another year; have you seen differences with him in the way that he leads and the way that he communicates going into the season than in the past?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think so. I think he is obviously like myself, Q is a very emotional guy, very passionate, lets it loose on his sleeve, and I think that's been the greatest area of maturity for him is he has now found a way when he's communicating and trying to lead, has found a way to properly communicate that across the board, whether it's to another offensive lineman, to a quarterback, to a DB, no matter who it is, Q is very, very good now at communicating what he wants done and what our head coach wants done to all facets of our football team. I think that's been the greatest growth of his maturity, and noticeably in terms of the off-the-field stuff, he doesn't let his emotions drive him as much as he used to, and obviously it's a battle for both me and him each and every day, but I think that that's been the greatest area of his improvement in terms of his leadership for sure.

Q. Obviously after the Georgia game you took great responsibility for the missed play, but as a unit, the offensive line got a lot of criticism after that game. Was that motivation for you guys over the last couple weeks to show people what you guys are really all about?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I don't think we let criticism drive us at all. I don't think we give it -- I was about to -- I don't think we give much of a crap about what anybody says about us or what's going on in terms of outside the world. We look at it as if we don't get our jobs done, we're the ones criticizing ourselves. We take a lot of pride in being the engine that makes this team and this offense go, and when that doesn't happen, then we have to make sure it does, and we've got to clean it up. Obviously we didn't have a lot of success against Georgia, but in terms of motivation from the outside world, we haven't looked at that at all. We know what we're about in our room, what we're capable of and what we're supposed to be doing, and that's all that matters with that.

Q. So you do have a bit of a filter?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Every now and again, yeah. It could get worse, believe me.

Q. So then I guess I should ask, was there self-motivation for the group?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Absolutely. And that's the -- if you're not self-motivated, then you're probably not going to wind up being a good football player and especially not a good offensive lineman. That's the only thing that should drive you. I have it sitting up outside my locker is the man in the arena quote from Teddy Roosevelt, and it's just about the critics aren't the one who counts, it's the guy that's in there, blood, sweat and tears, and putting his work in each and every single day and leaving it all out there, and until you get to the point where you're perfect in your execution, which is never going to happen with football, then you stop working, but there's a great desire and there's a great responsibility in our room to be the ones that carry this football team and to play to the best of our abilities, and we're not going to stop working until that gets done.

Q. Obviously you guys have played really well on the road, but are you looking forward to being back at home in front of your home crowd this weekend?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Absolutely. I mean, it's always great to play in Notre Dame Stadium. Obviously traveling takes a little bit more out of you, longer nights on the road and getting back and traveling back after games is obviously not very fun. Thank God we were on the winning side of it these last two weeks, but yeah, any time you're back in Notre Dame Stadium, back at home, family coming to town, that's why we come here. That's why we play. There's no place like it in the world, and we're excited to get back in front of our home fans.

Q. Coach Kelly mentioned that Miami's offense was kind of like Navy in terms of they really like to control the time of possession; how important is that for you guys as an offense to maximize your opportunities because of that?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, I think that's our goal every single time we go out and play football on offense is to be as efficient as we can be and put as many points on the board as humanly possible, and we believe that every time we touch the ball, there should be points on the board for Notre Dame. It doesn't really matter who has the ball longer, as long as we have more points at the end of the game, then that's all that matters.

Q. We've obviously seen a lot of Shaun Crawford the last couple of games. What has been your impression just the way that he's been able to come back from his injuries and make such a big impact?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I think it's the biggest example of heart in college football, I think, could be Shaun Crawford. He's just one of those kids that he just puts it all on the line every single day, doesn't let anything affect him. I mean, he's had more bumps in his path to success in college football than many of the players that I can even think of, and he keeps coming back for more. You have to give all the credit in the world to him and what he's able to do. He's a phenomenal football player. He makes plays all over the field, and on top of the fact that he's just a great guy, and we're lucky to have Shaun in our locker room. He's a positive influence across all assets of our team, and sky's the limit for him, as well. He's so good. He's such a good playmaker. He puts everything he has into his game and his preparation and to the way he plays, and you can see it every single time you turn on the film.

Q. Did you kind of notice his rehab process at all, kind of see him around and what he was doing to get back?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Absolutely, I mean, you saw him every day. He was grinding in the training room with Rob Hunt and his staff, and he treated that preparation and that rehab the same way he does his preparation in football, and that's why he's back after the traumatic injuries that he's had. He takes care of himself. He makes sure he's doing the right things and doesn't let anything get in his way of getting back and getting successful.

He's a perfect example of what everything that you want in a football player and in a teammate, and like I said, Notre Dame is lucky to have Shaun Crawford.

Q. Kelly was asked this yesterday, and I want to get your opinion, too, your assessment of the defensive line through four games?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: They've done a great job, and I said this before the season and I'll keep saying it over and over again. Our defensive line is ready to play. They are a good group, and they've done a lot of great things for our football team already this year. They've made dramatic improvement from where they were. That's a credit to Coach Elston, Coach Elko and the guys that they have in their defensive line room, and they just keep going to work every single day. You can feel them getting better, especially as an offensive lineman, you can feel the things that they're doing to you. You can feel how hard they're playing, and you can see the fire with which they go about their business every single day, and it's translating to good success on the field, and only more of that to come.

Q. I'm not too sure I've ever heard somebody use an inspirational quote from Teddy Roosevelt; are there other people that have inspired you that you keep their quotes around?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I don't know, I'm not much of a quote guy, and I kind of almost regret saying that in front of everybody, but yeah, I mean, there's things that you look for just to get yourself a little juice. I don't know if -- I think the man in the arena really kind of came to me and actually was my best friend Hunter Bivin who kind of put it in my life, and I think he treated it out, but he had shared it with me previously. That was right after the Georgia game, and obviously I wasn't on my chipper spirits after that game and certainly had a lot of things to think about, and that kind of put it all into perspective for me.

That's where I think I needed to grow the most is to block out the noise and to worry about myself and worry about how I'm going to get better and how I'm going to keep improving and helping our football team win. That's kind of my biggest challenge is spreading myself too thin and letting my mind get off the things that are really, truly important to me and what's going to make me successful, and I think President Roosevelt did a hell of a job with that one.

Q. I believe you guys are 100 percent in the red zone this year; has that been a focus from the coaches during training camp, and what makes you guys so successful once you get down in the red zone?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Well, I think just as a whole, we look to be as efficient as possible on offense, no matter what spot we're in. We obviously rep red zone. We rep two-point plays. We rep deep into the red zone, back in the red zone, whatever it is, to be prepared for those situations. I think that it comes down to the mindset that we have, when we're in that part of the field. We want to put our foot on the gas pedal and put points on the board, and we've been successful in doing that thus far, and I think it's just a great play calling, great execution, and the mindset of not letting anybody come in between us and the end zone.

Q. How was the run game different in any way, whether it's Josh or Dexter back there?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: I don't think it is very different. I mean, I certainly don't know who's -- to be honest with you, sometimes I don't even know who's in the game when I'm lining up to play. They do the substitutions on the fly and all that. But both of them have their different talents. They're both different skill set, and both of them are great football players. They've become all-encompassing running backs at this point, and it's not just them running the ball through the holes and hitting the holes hard and scoring points and touchdowns and all that, but you see it in their blocking. You see it in their pass pro. They've taken a great amount of pride and responsibility with that, and they're sitting with us on Thursday, Friday, Coach Denson, Brandon and Tommy Rees, we're all working together to walk through blitz pickups and walk through different situations that we're going to see that's requiring them to do things without the football in their hand, and I think that's where I'm so proud of those guys and the evolution of their game that they've taken, because Coach Long puts a lot of responsibility on the running backs and definitely cuts them loose to where they need to be the engine for our offense and make plays, but at the same time, they're willing to stick their nose in when it's not their time to shine, and that's where the two of them have grown, I think, the most.

Q. When you looked at the Michigan State film Sunday and Monday, is that the best sort of overall team performance since what?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: You know what, I really can't remember a time that we felt like that good about what we did and how efficient we were. I think we had 60 or so plays on offense and wound up with the 33 points, I think, or 32 points because one of them was a defensive touchdown. That's obviously a lower number than we're used to with Coach Long being our offensive coordinator, but I think we were very efficient. We didn't stall out like we had seen us do in the past, and everybody across the board was executing their job. And I think it was as clean of a game as we've had here in the past, and I think that that's got to be the standard, and until we match that week in, week out -- there's obviously still a ton of things that we can improve on, but that was definitely as clean of a game as I can remember here, and it certainly feels good, and we're going to do our darndest to keep it moving.

Q. I want to ask you about that. So if that's the standard, what's the hardest part about hitting that level, that peak level every week?
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Just that it's college football. You have things thrown at you all different times, people have bad days, good days, but it's about being the same player and being the same team consistently throughout the way at all times no matter what. That's the best football teams and the best football players figure that out and take that with a lot of pride and make sure that nobody can tell what's going on with them, whether they have something going on in their personal life or they're not just feeling good that day. You have to step up, do your job no matter what at all times, and until you do that and that's the standard and you've got to try and meet that every single week.

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