KK, seven for 136 and two scores. Last time you sat here you brought up a drop nobody had asked you about. Anything to report this week?
Nah, I caught all of them.
I counted. I know that sounds like a weird thing to do but I counted them Sunday.
Their corner, Caleb Dobbs, was on you most of the day. What were you getting from him?
First quarter he’s off me and inside. So it’s hitches and slants all day if that’s what he wants to do, and we took like four of those.
Then he got up on me in the second, which is what you want. The long one is off that. It’s the same release I’ve been running since camp, he just wasn’t there anymore.
He talked the whole game. Not nasty, just talking. I don’t mind that.
You had 136 by early in the third and then almost nothing after it.
We were up. We ran it.
I’m blocking on all that. That’s fine, that’s the job.
People on campus know who you are this week. Has that been strange?
A guy in my Tuesday class asked me to sign his laptop.
I didn’t do it. It’s a laptop.
Fourteen catches and 241 yards in two games. Are you the number one receiver in this offense?
That’s Crishon’s spot. I’m not worried about it.
It’s five of us. Somebody eats every week, it just ain’t the same one.
First road trip. Notre Dame Stadium.
Never been.
Twenty-two for 158. Two weeks, two big days.
Yeah.
The first quarter and a half was tough sledding, though. Their nose was living in there.
I said all that Saturday.
Say it again for the people who weren’t there.
(laughs) All right. Their big boy was winning inside and there wasn’t nowhere to go. That’s it. I had like nine for twenty at one point and I ain’t do nothing wrong on none of them, there just wasn’t nothing there.
Then Coach starts running it out wide and off the tight ends and it opened all the way up. Everybody want to hear I ran through a bunch of people. I didn’t really. It was just open.
Are you getting twenty-five carries in South Bend?
Ask him. I don’t make the sheet.
Do you know anything about Notre Dame?
They lost two and then hung fifty-two on somebody. That’s about where I’m at with it.
I’ll know more Friday. That’s when we get the last of it.
You’ve played in loud road stadiums. Anything you say to the young guys about that?
Nah, they be more worried about the walk-through than the crowd.
They’ll be all right.
Tayou had all four sacks Saturday. One of them was yours.
Yeah, the loop. He went around Luka and I was late getting off my guy. That one’s mine.
One penalty as a team in two games. Is anybody in there aware of that?
Not really. We do a get-off period every day and it’s the most boring twelve minutes of the week.
Do people still ask you about being six-seven and playing center?
You just did.
[laughter] It’s fine. I don’t think about it during the week.
Notre Dame’s front?
They’re big. Older than us.
Yeah, that’s about all I’ve got.
Jayden, first touchdown of your career. Did you get the ball?
Somebody has it. I think equipment has it? Or Coach Sheridan, one of the two.
My mom asked me that same thing Sunday and I didn’t have an answer for her either.
What was the play?
It’s new. Like, it went in Wednesday of that week, that Wednesday.
And there’s a version of it where it goes to Cam and I’m just up in front of him, that’s the one we ran more in practice. They called the other one. I didn’t know until we got in the huddle, which, that’s fine, you’re supposed to know both.
Um. Is that okay to say? That’s fine.
Were you nervous?
The walking out is the hard part. Once it starts I’m okay.
I got sick before the first game. Not this one, though.
What’s the hardest part of the job right now?
Probably when they move the front late. Because I’ve got the second guy, and if he’s not where he was two seconds ago I’m looking around instead of going.
Coach tells me take the first thing that shows and quit shopping. And I know that. I’m still thinking about it too long, so.
That’s the hard part, yeah.
The first half on defense. What was it?
We didn’t tackle well in the first half. That’s a group thing and we corrected it at halftime.
I’ll be honest with you though, that back is hard to get on the ground. Bennett. He’s not big and he don’t go backwards, he just kind of keeps going. I had him three times before halftime and he came out the back of two of them. That ain’t a call. That’s me not wrapping.
Four of their first six third downs, and somebody was open on all of them.
Yeah. That’s the part that was actually bad, not the running.
Second half we quit guessing. First half we were all flying to where we thought it was going before it went there. Coach Rossi told us play it slow and let it come to us, and it came.
The interception. Did you know it was coming?
Nah, he threw it to me. (laughs)
I’m serious. I was standing in my zone doing my job and it came right to my hands. I ain’t do nothing on that.
Charles Brantley’s had two rough Saturdays now. Is that something the room talks about?
Charles is one of my favorite people in that building and he’s a good football player.
He watched all of it Monday before anybody said a word to him.
First road game. Notre Dame.
I’ve never been. Looking forward to it.
My people have been on me about tickets since Sunday, that’s been my whole week. My uncle wants four.
Seventy-one yards the other way. Take me through it.
I was tired. That’s my honest answer.
Around the thirty I could feel myself slowing down and everybody’s told me about it since. There wasn’t nobody there, though.
Two interceptions and a touchdown in two games at a position you moved to in January.
It’s easier in there, honestly. Everything’s closer.
Outside you’re on an island and you’re guessing off the release. Inside I can see the quarterback the whole way. Both of my picks, I was looking at him, not the receiver.
You play right next to Charles Brantley. Two weeks in a row he’s been beaten badly.
Charles is the best athlete in our room. He’ll be fine.
He was out there Monday doing the extra period with the young guys. He does that every week, that’s not a new thing this week.
That was the loudest the stadium’s been all year. Could you hear it?
Not while it was happening. I got to the sideline and then it hit me.
Notre Dame throws it to their backs a lot. That’s your problem now.
Yeah, I’ve seen it.
Two-twenty-two rating. Do you know your own numbers?
I don’t, no.
Coach had us in really good looks and guys made plays. That’s what that was.
Fifteen throws in the first half, six in the second.
That’s the plan working. We were running it well and there was no reason to do anything else.
Would you rather throw it more?
Yeah.
I mean — I’d throw it forty times if they let me. Every quarterback in the country would tell you that.
But that’s not what the game called for and I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know better than the sheet. We won by twenty-eight.
You’ve never played in a stadium like the one you’re going to Saturday.
No sir. Looking forward to it.
Anything on their defense that’s caught your eye?
They’ve got really good players and they play hard. We’ve got to be sharp with our communication and take care of the football.
Are your parents going?
Yeah, they’ll be there.
The availability ran thirty-four minutes. Charles Brantley was not on Thursday’s sheet. Michigan State (2-0) plays at Notre Dame (1-2) on Saturday. There are no injuries to report and no changes to the depth chart.