’09 Freshman Media Day Notes

Notre Dame held its Freshman Media Day on Friday. After watching all of the free video interviews of the players, here are some highlights and notes.

• Cierre Wood said that this year’s freshmen are a very tight group. He talked about being the closest with Theo Riddick, Shaquelle Evans, and Manti Te’o noting that Te’o is his closest friend on the team.
• Wood said that his best asset is that he has a good combination of skills for the running back position and that the toughest part for him will be adjusting to game speed.
• Wood also said that fellow freshman back Theo Riddick doesn’t talk in front of the coaches, but that away from them he talks quite a bit. He even said that the two argue back and forth quite a bit in a good way.
• EJ Banks said going through spring practice helped him out a lot in terms of learning the defense and knowing how Corwin Brown wanted the DBs to play.
• Banks said that he fell in love with the coaching staff when he first game to Notre Dame and that was a major factor in him coming to Notre Dame.
• Raeshon McNeil, Darrin Walls, and Robert Blanton have been helping Banks out the most among the older players.
• Tyler Eifert said that he needs work on his blocking technique but that he is getting better at it. He also said that his route running and receiving skills are more advanced than his blocking skills though since he’s more familiar with that aspect of the game.
• Shaquelle Evans said that he was a little homesick when he first got to Notre Dame, but that he quickly got over that and is settling in well.
• Evans said he was worried about being able to pick up the offense before he got out to Notre Dame, but that he ended up picking it up much quicker than he thought.
• Jake Golic said that he loved to block and thinks that’s where he thinks he can make his most impact, at least in the short term.
• Golic also talked quite a bit about being used to dealing with the media because of his dad’s celebrity status. He said he’s very comfortable talking to the media and that he’s used to nothing in his life being a secret.
• Zeke Motta talked about not being concerned with the depth ahead of him on the depth chart saying that he came to Notre Dame for a lot of reasons other than the depth chart.
• Theo Riddick talked about not being worries about the competition at running back since this is Notre Dame and you expect to compete with the best of the best.
• Riddick said he’d be very excited to return kickoffs this year saying, “that’d be nuts”.
• Riddick also said that all of the veteran running backs have been very helpful so far.
• Tyler Stockton credited the coaching of Randy Hart and Bryant Young as the reason for him being in the mix for playing time already. He said that Hart is an energetic coach who is great at getting the players ready for practice each day.
• Stockton also said that the Notre Dame defense line this year is going to be really fast and that the attacking style of the Irish defense attracted him to Notre Dame.
• Nick Tausch came in with the mindset of competing for the place kicking and kickoff duties and thinks he has himself in a good position for both.
• Roby Toma talked about the crowd at the open practice not knowing what to expect from him since most people considered him a “thrown in”.
• Toma repeated a couple times that he is just trying to play hard every day so that he can get on the bus with the traveling team.