Aug. 6, 2006

Senior DE Victor Abiamiri
Junior LB Maurice Crum, Jr.
Senior DL Derek Landri
Senior WR Rhema McKnight
Senior WR Jeff Samardzija
Senior C John Sullivan
Senior LB/RB Travis Thomas
Junior RB Darius Walker
Senior S Tom Zbikowski

Senior DE Victor Abiamiri

On this season’s prospects with four returning starters on the defensive line …

“We have high expectations of ourselves. We want to do better as a whole. We have more experience in the system with those players coming back. Chris Frome’s return is huge. He returns a whole leadership mentality. We are the more experienced group (on defense), so we’re taking on the responsibility of playing our best game to help out wherever necessary. No position is set in stone yet, though, so hopefully the defensive line competition will make us a better unit.”

On his breakout performance last year at Stanford …

“It was a combination of a lot of things. It was the game for all the marbles (a BCS berth), and we had to step up our game a little bit to help the offense out and the team out. Everything set itself into place during that game.”

Junior LB Maurice Crum, Jr.

On senior Travis Thomas moving to linebacker …

“I have 100-percent faith in our coaching staff and if that’s the move they wanted to make, then I’m okay with that. So far he looks good. He understands what he’s supposed to do. We’re all Notre Dame players and we all understand what we’re supposed to do. He’s adjusted well. He’s kind of like an incoming freshman trying to learn the plays, but he already knows the speed of the college game.”

On how the other linebackers feel about the move …

“Most of the guys I’ve talked to look at it as a reality check for themselves. They say `okay, they moved him over so now I have to work even a little harder.’ I haven’t seen anyone crawl into a corner. They seem to have more fire about themselves. The competition will bring that out even more.”

On when his back started to feel well again …

“It was shortly after we got out of school. I got a week off, got off my feet and started to relax. Once I started working out again, I felt great. It had been a while since I felt like that, so I was pretty happy.”

On why the defense will be better this season …

“All of the guys (we have) coming back is a big positive. A lot of times last year, we struggled with not being comfortable in the system or kind of learning it game-by-game and learning what the coaches expected us to learn. That’s why it’s such a big plus having so many guys back, because we are more comfortable. There’s also a lot of talk about us not being that good, and the group of guys we have want to step up to the challenge.”

Senior DL Derek Landri

On showing more patience on defense this year …

“Last year, we were just kind of flying by the seat of our pants. We’d go try to make every play and do everything. We were out of control a lot of times and that hurt us because we missed a few things. Now we just want to stay under control and do what we’re supposed to do and good things will happen.”

On if this will be a better year for the defense than last year …

“We think so, with this off-season and the strength that everyone has put in. Everyone has really improved and if you look at where we were two years ago and how we improved last year, it’s night and day.”

On not getting wrapped up in the hype surrounding the team …

“Coach Weis has no problem keeping everybody level-headed and down to earth.”

On if he’s excited about this season …

“Of course. I don’t see how you couldn’t be. This is what you play football for.”

Senior WR Rhema McKnight

On people forgetting that he was Notre Dame’s leading receiver in 2004 …

“I’m pretty sure some people probably have (forgotten). I’m just trying to get through camp and get better every day and hope things work out. I want to come back, bounce back, and regain where I was going last year.”

On his role, given the expected focus on senior wide receiver Jeff Samardzija …

“I can’t wait to get started. I’ll have an opportunity to catch a lot of balls. I’m assuming they will (double-team him). Why wouldn’t they double-team him? He stepped up big time (last year). I’d be really surprised if they didn’t. If they do, it means I have an opportunity to show what I can do.”

Senior WR Jeff Samardzija

On his return from playing minor league baseball with the Chicago Cubs’ organization …

“My welcome back was having to get up at 5:30 in the morning and go run with the team. When I was out playing (baseball), the big question was `how are you going to be ready for camp?’ But everything worked out. I made all my sprints in easy time and I’m feeling good.”

On preparation and focus in the face of the season’s expectations …

“There’s a lot of excitement, but we haven’t done anything yet. We have to go onto the field and prove it. As long as we can keep our heads on straight and work hard, we’ll see what happens. Anyone who knows Brady (Quinn) and how he runs things, it says something about the leaders on this team. We go, we get our work done and do what we have to do. “

Senior C John Sullivan

On last season …

“We came to Notre Dame to win games and the record of 9-3 last season was just not good enough. We’ve worked hard in the off-season to improve upon that this year. It was a big step forward, but we can’t take for granted that anything will be given to us this year based on last year. We have to work even harder to push ourselves over the hump this year.”

On the addition of freshmen on the offensive line …

“Having four veteran senior linemen in myself, (Dan) Santucci, (Ryan) Harris and (Bob) Morton helps a lot in bringing the freshmen along with us and getting them up to speed in our system. It’s like having four additional coaches on every play.”

Senior LB Travis Thomas

On coming to Notre Dame and changing positions …

“I decided to come here because it’s a great school and I want to get an education. But, I also have aspirations of playing in the NFL and the more I can do, the better my draft stock will be.”

On the physical play associated with playing linebacker …

“I definitely like to hit. That is why I play this game. As a running back, you would attempt to avoid contact, but I don’t mind it personally. I just love the game.”

On not believing the hype …

“We remember the bowl game (vs. Ohio State) and frankly how embarrassed we felt afterward. Our record of 9-3 is simply not good enough and that is the sort of motivation that we are focusing on this season. Having a preseason ranking is nice, but it doesn’t mean anything since we haven’t done anything yet. So we are just focusing on Georgia Tech and making ourselves better in these next few weeks of camp.”

Junior RB Darius Walker

On who is the marked man of the offense …

“I don’t think you can classify anyone as being a marked man this season. We have a bunch of individuals that work well together to make our offense run.”

On senior QB Brady Quinn …

“He seems to rise to the occasion every season and put up great numbers every year, no matter what pressure he may be facing. He is a true competitor that seems to enjoy the challenge.”

On what he did in the off-season to prepare for this season …

“My philosophy about being a running back is you can never be too good. You can never be too fast or too strong as a running back and there is always something to work on every year. For me this off-season, I focused on the running of pass routes, catching the ball out of the backfield and my pass protection.”

On Travis Thomas moving to linebacker …

“I can’t speak on how Travis is feeling, but I will say that I’m confident that our coaching staff will put us in places that they feel we can succeed. I know it will be a change for Travis, but he is the type of person that can adapt and thrive — as you would expect with him being one of our leaders and captains this season.”

Senior DB Tom Zbikowski

On how he feels heading into the first day of practice …

“We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. We’ve been busting our tails this summer with Coach (Ruben) Mendoza and the strength staff. Those are never fun days, but you try to make them as fun as possible. It’s hard work and it helps us to get ready for this year.”

On his weight heading into the season …

“I’m 214 (pounds) right now and I’ll probably be playing at 212. I’ll get down a little farther and get to wherever I feel comfortable speed-wise. A lot of people look at numbers like a big thing, but I look at wherever I feel comfortable with my speed.”

On the depth of the secondary and the possibility of adding some creativity …

“I know during camp, we’ll be working on the fundamentals and making sure we’re ready to go and that we have the defense down as much as possible. If the coaches feel like we’re ready to go on and do something else, we’ll do whatever we need to do.”

On being able to keep the focus just on Georgia Tech …

“We need to get through camp before we’re looking at Georgia Tech. But we are just starting (Sunday) with checking in and dealing with the media and then pictures. Then we’ll get down to work and once you get down to work, you want to get all of the fundamentals down and go from there. Once you’re at camp, it’s a long way to your first game. You have to stay focused and go through each practice working on fundamentals.”