"I'm absolutely sure who the starting quarterback is. Why are you harping on the same thing? (with irritation) I'm not being disrespectful to you guys. I've already said the policy. Let it go. Do you think I am going to be so fickled that I'm not going to know who the quarterback is going to be? I never want to be disrespectful to you guys, and I won't, and I'm not going to lie to you. But I've already told you why I'm doing what I am doing. You want me to answer the question or do you want to answer the question? You answer the question for me. The question is we are repping three quarterbacks; and we are repping three quarterbacks. You asked me if I knew who the starting quarterback is and the answer is yes. I'm repping all three quarterbacks with the first offense; not with the second offense; not with the third offense - all three of them are getting reps with the first group."

Does the starting quarterback know it's him?

"I'm not positive if he knows, because if I told him, he would have to lie to you if you asked him a question. If I sit there and tell him he's the starting quarterback; then you ask him if he's the starting quarterback and he has to lie to you, then I put him in a bad situation. I feel very uncomfortable, as you guys do too, this is not some gimmick I'm trying to do. I'm trying to be as honest and fair on this issue as I possibly can. When we go out for kickoff, there will certainly be a starting quarterback. I think they have a pretty good understanding of what their roles are, but all three of those guys, may God strike me dead, are repping with the first group on offense; not with the second; not with the third. They're all repping with the first group; all three of them."

When will you tell the quarterback and team?

"If they haven't figured it out by now, they're not very smart."

"He's definitely in the mix. Sometimes when I answer questions, it sounds a tad evasive when I am saying things, but I very easily see all five of those halfbacks playing in the game - now in different roles and different amounts - but I see them all playing in the game."

"I think we are there too. The three-man competition really turned into a two-man competition and, when it is all said and done, one will be doing one and one will be doing the other. It's really playing itself out; that we go by what we see. We have one more big special teams practice prior to true Georgia Tech week and that is Sunday night when we go in the stadium. First half hour of practice after warm-ups is going to be all dedicated to special teams and then we will start nailing things down."

"I've been very happy with the addition of the freshman group. I'm very glad they are here, and I'm very glad a lot of them are very close; appear ready to play at an early stage. I told you one of the first days that you asked me, there are going to be some of them and they are going to be out there; and they are going to be out there against Georgia Tech. It's not going to be, let's wait three or four games; they're going to be out there."

"He's going to get some results on Monday. We have been texting back and forth and he's going to get some results on Monday. So one way or another, we'll have results on Monday and I will act accordingly."

"Tony is a lot nicer guy than I am. First of all, I'm never in the business of trying to get the players to like me. That's never been my manner of coaching. I want the players to respect me; I'm not looking for them to like me. I feel confident that our team respects our coaching staff. I think the player's coach sometimes goes with personality. I've never been one of those lovey-dovey types; that's never been my way. I think when they know that you are fair and that you are honest and they know you are being respectful and they also know you are cognizant of how to try to get the team in a position to win, I think that's all they can ask of you."

Do you want them to like you when you are recruiting them?

"You tell them the same thing I am telling you now. I tell them honestly, you don't come here for me; you come here for Notre Dame. In reality the assistant coaches get a lot closer to the players than the head coach does. And the reason for that is, I'm the one who is going to have to discipline them. I'm the one who is going to make the decision who is playing and who is not playing. And I tell them that on the front end. If I have an offensive lineman I am recruiting, whether they like me or not is not as important as if they like Latina (John) or whether they like Ruben (Mendoza) because the two guys they are going to spend most of their time with the next four years are going to be their position coach and their strength coach. So I would rather they like them. That's who I like for them to like, but as long as you tell them that and don't try to act like you are boys and try to act like you are buddy buddy, I think they will always respect you."

"They were all different players. When you watched them play, there were physical values that stood out on tape because you can't feel the emotional values. You're not at the game so you can't watch how they run the team. You can go by hearsay and research but realistically you watch them play and watch how quickly they go through progression. They're going to throw a pass, you watch what they do with the ball in their hands; you try to think along with them and how quickly their mind responds to things that happen on the field. In all three of their cases, I kind of liked what I saw."