AL GOLDEN
10102023
Is Riley Mills doing a better job of getting off blocks in recent weeks? If so, how has he been able to accomplish that?
“I thought he did a great job. I think he's truly playing with leverage and extending. And then his block destruction has been really improved the last couple of weeks. So, even if there's a blocker in front of him, he's able to play his gap — we call it gap and a half. He's able to play his gap, and then if you're in control of the block, then obviously you can make a play in an adjacent gap. And I think he's been doing a lot of that and doing it well, the last couple of weeks. So, I'm excited about his progress. His last two games have been his best two games, so that's great for him.”
Are those the things you've been trying to emphasize to him?
“Yeah. Again, for us, it all fits into block destruction and then what we call escapes, so I think he's executing it really well right now. It's something we focus on as a defense. It's something that obviously we focus on as a front seven, just being able to lock out, being controlled, and then how we escape a block.”
Last year Mills was kind of bouncing inside and outside. How much do you think him being a fixture on the inside this season has allowed him to excel?
“It's been huge for him. His strength gains, his size, his mass — all of those things are really benefiting him right now.”
Are you going to get him back next year?
“Trust me, I'm just trying to get through Tuesday. I can't talk about next year.”
Let's talk about USC QB Caleb Williams. What are the rare challenges that he poses for a defensive coordinator?
“He's got all the tools, right? I mean, he's got hrm strength. He's got vision. He's got great poise in the pocket. He can create on the run. And every play, it's a two-part series. If you let him extend, he'll extend. And downstairs [doing TV interviews] I called it “his ability to improvise.” And I say that with a great deal of respect, because it's the way he conducts the game and it's the way they utilize him within the scheme. And he does a great job at it. So, I think he's got all the tools. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great, great challenge for us, and looking forward to getting out there Saturday and competing with him.”
It's amazing with the mobility and the legs he has that he leads the nation — by a lot — in pass efficiency?
“Yeah. Again, the guys do a great job of getting open and sitting down in zone. They have the speed to run away in man. And his ball placement is excellent. It really is. And it's excellent when he's on the move too, which is really, really hard. So, again, there's no hype machine. I mean, he is really, really talented and skilled. There's a difference, and he has both.”
Does having faced him last year help you with your preparation, over just watching film?
“I think it helped us understand what we need to get done in the game to have some success. But I don't know how last year is going to have much bearing on what transpires Saturday night.”
Coach Freeman talked about the defense getting put in some not very advantageous situations and responding to that in the Louisville game. How do you keep your guys focused and not get their heads down when those situations come up?
“We just call it sudden-change defense. We always talk about that we don't choose when we go out there or what time the game is or where the game is, but we choose to fight. And we’ve got to go out there and fight when it's time to go. And I was really proud of our guys. I think our whole staff was proud of the way they fought, because there were some tough situations. And instead of pouting and giving up, they stood their ground, which was really important. I think there's a lot to be said about that. And in terms of how we can impact that moving forward, obviously, if we can take the ball away and give our offense shorter fields or more possessions, that's going to help the whole team. So, we have to do a better job of taking the ball away.”
How has the scout team done replicating what USC does on offense, including Caleb Williams?
“I think [Kenny] Minchey has done a great job, and Minchey did a great job today. Can you replicate it? That's a strong word. But can you simulate it to a degree? Yeah, I think so. But I was going to look for Minchey after this [interview] and just tell him ‘thank you’ — just did a great job today. He's got arm talent. He's moving around back there. He's trying to extend plays for us, and he made it challenging, and we'll learn a lot today because of it.”
Because your back end has to kind of reset, it’s an internal clock?
“You're right. As I said earlier, there could be a part two or a part B on every play. And that's what makes Caleb, Caleb. He's different that way.”
The second- and third-level tackling on some of those touchdowns against Louisville, how can that be fixed?
“We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve just got to keep tackling, keep fitting it, keep working through it. You're right. There were a couple tackles there that should have been — even earlier in the game, like sometimes you miss a tackle earlier in the game and someone bails you out. But you cannot, as a coach or as a standard on defense, say, ‘Oh, that's OK. That's OK.” Because it's not OK. I mean, we missed tackles early on, on a couple of screens. And they were two-yard gains that ended up being eight-yard gains.
“That changes that series of downs. And then, as you said earlier, we just have to do a better job. So, we're working on it. But we’ve got to get the ball on the ground. And I think if we get the ball on the ground, our guys have confidence that we can get some red-zone stops. If you don't get the ball on the ground, you don't have that opportunity. If I was angry about anything on the long run, it was just — get the ball on the ground, and let’s play the next down.”
You got a long look at your young vyper ends, Junior Tuihalamaka and Josh Burnham, in the first half against Louisville. What were your impressions of them? And then Jordan Botelho when he came back, how do you think he did?
“It's nice to have Jordan back, but it was also nice to see those other guys get in there and go have a chance and compete. So, I think they do compete when they go in there, Junior and Burnham, which is good. We need depth, and I think sometimes you look for the positive in a suspension, and the positive was that we got a little deeper at that position in that game.”
You played Cam Hart in the slot a little bit. How do you think he did there, and is that an option, moving forward?
“Yeah, I think he did really well. I think he practiced well. I think C-Lew [Clarence Lewis] practiced well and played well in the game. So, again, I think that's going to make us better moving forward. No, I wouldn't rule out Cam playing there at some point, but having Harp [Thomas Harper] back helps — helps us at safety, helps us at nickel.”
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden met with the media after Tuesday's practice, per usual. Here's everything he had to say. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may be edited for brevity and clarity.
Do you look at some of the things Arizona did last week against USC and see if you can glean something from the way they defended the Trojans?
“You look at everything. Look at everything. Every game is a different Bingo board. I know I've said that to you guys before and sometimes people are like, ‘What?’ How you’re constructed, how they view [the way] that you're constructed, and then how they set forth on their gameplan and how you set forth on your gameplan. you just don't know how it's going to end up at the end of the week when you meet. And each game is different.
“So yeah, we could probably take some things from Arizona or Arizona State or whatever the case may be. But they’ve got to fit what we do, and we’ve got to be able to execute them. To just take a play that Arizona has run 132 times over the last three months and say, ‘Yeah, we want to do this’ and rep it three or four times, and then they give you a shift or motion or they go to empty, and you’ve got all these other things involved. But in terms of maybe larger concept, in terms of how to play a certain thing, yeah, I think you're always looking at that.”
With Caleb Williams being able to extend plays, are you looking to try out some different personnel at linebacker, like Jaylen Sneed, Drayk Bowen or Jaiden Ausberry?
“I think we'll have to play more guys. I think that's fair. We'll have to sub more. I don't know if we're going to change our depth very much, but I think we know that in a game like this and the way he extends and the way they attack the perimeter, we know we're going to have to sub more.”
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