What Indiana Defensive Coordinator Bryant Haines Said At Pre-Notre Dame Press Conference

Here's the full transcript of Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines' press conference ahead of the Hoosiers' College Football Playoff game at Notre Dame.

Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines speaks during a press conference before facing Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. / Bryant Haines Indiana Football

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Bryant Haines has built one of college football's best defenses as Indiana's defensive coordinator. The Hoosiers rank second nationally in total yards allowed per game (244.8) and sixth in points allowed per game (14.7).

Haines has been part Curt Cignetti's staffs at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Elon and James Madison, and now he's preparing the Hoosiers to face Notre Dame Friday in the College Football Playoff.

Here's everything Haines said at Monday's press conference.

On preparing his defense to face Notre Dame's offense that frequently runs with quarterback Riley Leonard...

Haines: Post-snap nothing really changes too much. Our reads are our reads. Our keys are our keys. It all fits into that bucket. What I can call pre-snap can help with those pictures. Nothing can fully help plus one run game like a quarterback that's simply going to run the ball with a lead blocking running back. There's only so many things you can do to account for that. You got to use all 11. They use all 11 of theirs. We've got to use all 11 of ours. I can work through that with what I call, but in terms of pre-snap, this and that, we have our reads, we have our fits, get off blocks, make plays, attack.

On giving more responsibilities to his defensive linemen and why he likes to run stunts and twists with them...

Haines: To your first question, I think that's part of it. The reason I've added more is because I've been with those guys for a long time. They know what a loop game is. How many times are you going to call a loop, Coach? You got anything else? Part of that is them wanting to do some different things, so that's part of it. Then too, I'm a big fan of angles. I want to create angles and picks and rolls, like I said, good way of getting home and freeing guys up. If I can find a new one that Coach Kuntz, Coach Buddha like, the defensive linemen like, we'll try it. That's the first part of the question. Secondly, why do I like it? I like to dictate the terms of where the quarterback is going to go. I can call jet and I can come and use a lineman and they just rush and they just run up the field and they're hitting swims and they're falling down. But why? Because the quarterback can choose where he wants to go. He can step up into this gap, he can feel a vertical surge, he can step up into the pocket. I don't want that, I want to tell him where he wants to go. Right-hand quarterbacks, maybe they want to escape to their throwing hand. Whatever the situation, the game-plan is, I can use stunts to dictate the terms of the quarterback instead of vice versa.

On defensive linemen CJ West and Mikail Kamara...

Haines: "They're both really hard workers. They're both great individuals. They both want to be great. They hold themselves to a really high standard, so that's the first thing. In terms of what they bring skill set-wise, two different types of guys, and C.J. is a big powerful guy. His role is so important because as the nose guard of our defense -- and any defense for the most part -- is at the center point of everything. He's taking on double-teams. He's got to win that one-on-one against center. It's important to win the middle of the defense, and C.J. does that for us. Then similar but a little bit different, the field then is in a unique position too. It's like the funnel point to like are you going to spill the ball and the ball has to bubble over the top of you, or are you going to build the wall and build it back inside? Each call has its own purpose behind that. But Mikail kind of dictates the terms. Am I going to let this ball make it to the field? If so, how much can he make it bubble so the rest of the guys can kind of take great pursuit angles? They're very important roles, and those guys flourish in their roles."

On the importance of Aiden Fisher's leadership for the defense...

Haines: "I get that one frequently. It's hard to put into words how important he's been. Yes, the green dot component and my trust in him, but also his ability to convey for other guys. I coach all the linebackers, but sometimes when Fish says, no, no, you're doing it wrong. It coming from your teammates is different than Coach Haines yelling at me every time I misfit this thing. He's helped me develop that room. I'm proud of where that room is at, the linebacker room, we've got young guys that are there coming along. That wasn't just me. Aiden was part of that too. He's part of the culture change here. He's part of my voice, my mouth piece to the guys on the field. He's the green dot. He's the leader. He's the unquestioned leader. He knows what I want, and he's able to get it done and gets his ten teammates to play the right call. Yeah, I can't say enough good things about him and what he means to this defense."

On his relationship with the JMU transfers and how they've passed along their knowledge of his defense to other teammates...

Haines: "Yeah, I've known these guys for a long time. I was thinking about it the other day. I've known James Carpenter since 2019, and I was thinking, it's going to be weird being in a defense that doesn't have James Carpenter in it. Been together so long, so relationships are close, but that's the case with all the guys now. I'm close with all of the players in my own way. It's no different to a JMU guy to a guy that wasn't here before. I love all those guys. I'm hard on all those guys. I want the best for all those guys. That's the case in terms. I love them. They've been great. They changed the culture. They're a huge part of what you're seeing now in terms of the change in IU football is those guys we brought from JMU, no question."

On when he decided to use the "fast, physical, relentless" mantra for his defense...

Haines: "I guess I've just always, always felt like that's what I would want my defense to be, whether I was calling it. I've been with Coach Cignetti for a long time since I started as a defensive line coach. Defensive line coach, I'm not calling the defense, but what did I want my defensive line to be? I wanted them to be fast, violent physical, northbound, I wanted to play in their backfield. I just took that and become a linebacker field. I wanted that to be part of the linebackers fits too. I wanted to be downhill aggressive, slipping blocks, getting vertical playing in their own backyard. Now that I'm a defensive coordinator, I'm doing all of it. I want the same thing. That's never changed on my end. I don't know where the phrase came from, I don't know where it generated, but just philosophically, that's who we both are. That's who we are from a personality standpoint. We want to attack."

On the key to stopping Notre Dame's run game...

Haines: "It's a very good rushing attack. I think it's tenth in the country overall, 224 yards a game, 6.3 a clip. You can't stop the run if they're going to run the quarterback. I mean, you'd have to over commit so aggressively to stopping the run that you would put other parts of the defense in peril. It's not necessarily about stopping the run. It's making the quarterback pay a toll every time he decides he doesn't want to run it. If that's 20 times, then that's 20 hits for the good guys. They're a very good rushing attack. I like our front seven. I think we're aggressive at all levels. We have different things we can do, whether it's blitzing, or mixing the looks up. He can run some, and he probably will, and he'll get a couple yards, but he'll also get a couple hits from the Hoosiers."

On preparing for how Notre Dame utilizes its tight ends and if that's similar to Michigan...

Haines: "They use their tight ends in a different capacity than Michigan and even Nebraska and those guys, but you definitely have to account for them. Again, it's kind of like the same thing as the run fits, post-snap, the rules are the rules. We account for the tight end in all of our defenses, all of our coverages. Having awareness of where he's at, what his alignment might tell us, those are some of the pre-snap indicator that's can help guide us into a better, cleaner reaction time, getting the ball. The coverage is what the coverage is. We're not going to overcompensate for the tight ends, but there's a healthy respect there for what they do with their tight ends."

On Mikail Kamara's development...

Haines: "First thing first, as far as Mikail, Mikail is the hardest worker on the defense. He's the harder worker on the defense, he's the last guy off the practice field, so he's always looking for his own improvement. When did I start to notice, man, he's really flashing? He's always flashed ever since I've been with him. He seems a little twitchier off the edge. I think part of this is just a mental thing. I think him coming here from group of 5, coming from JMU, can I roll with the big guys, can I roll with the Big Ten offensive linemen? Then recognizing in the spring, second, third practice in, oh, yeah, I can do the same thing that these guys that I was doing to Sunbelt offensive tackles. So it's probably a confidence thing that showed up too. He's playing confidently. When you're playing confidently, you're going to play fast. You're going to play aggressive. That's what Mikail has done all year."

On the balance between treating this game like any other and embracing the special opportunity to be in the playoffs...

Haines: "It's a delicate balance there. Of course it's the biggest game for Carp. Carp played at Roanoke Catholic High School. It's an all-in-one. I don't know what the student body is. A small school guy, walked on, walked on to James Madison, and now look at him. He's playing in the college football playoffs starting at the defensive tackle. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for all these guys, and I'm excited for the moment too. We're a process oriented operation. It's Monday. It's a rainy Monday. We've got a Tuesday practice. We've got to clean up normal downs, make sure the run fits are tight, got to figure out quarterback run still. So it's just another day. When the game gets here, I'm sure the moment will be awesome and an electric environment, all those things. But at the end of the day, run, hit, tackle, swarm, the standard is the standard. Another football game."

On James Carpenter going from a walk-on to a key piece in his defense...

Haines: "When I recruited him as a walk-on, I just thought this guy could maybe be a pretty good football player at JMU. I didn't necessarily think this is going to be my starting three technique in the Big Ten. But credit to him, he's another one of these guys that doesn't say a lot, but man, he never stops working. He wants to get better. He wants to get pushed. He wants to get coached. It's one of the reasons he came from JMU. He liked the scheme. He loves Coach Kuntz, they have a great relationship, and he just wants to constantly push himself. I'm proud of him and how far along he's come. I could have never seen this five years ago in 2019 when I recruited him out of Roanoke Catholic High School. I'm proud of his journey. Same for a lot of these guys."

On what Notre Dame's offense does well that he's focused on...

Haines: "They're a really well-coached offense. They're very balanced. I mentioned like 224 yards running per game. I think it's right at 200 a passing game. It's a very balanced offense. They're balanced even in their tendencies. Typically what I do when I game plan somebody is I want to figure out how can I attack? This formation is this, boom, I can bring that pressure, or this personnel grouping and that down and distance, I can hit them with this. These guys are balanced. I think they do a healthy job of self-scouting. They have a counter-punch to anything they throw at you. Yeah, just a good clean offense. Then guys, at the end of the day, if you're willing to run your quarterback down Main Street, that is unique. Some coaches don't want to do that. You could lose them. You could get hit. So that presents its issues."

On a moment during the season that things clicked for the defense and he realized it could be a playoff-caliber group...

Haines: "I thought we took a big step coming off the first bye week. It was when we played Nebraska here at home. I thought the defense took a step there. We made a couple changes schematically. I changed a couple of things coverage-wise and shell rotation disguise, the staff and I did. I thought we really did a good job of self-scouting and identifying a couple of flaws in our system and came up with a couple of new ideas that have really paid off. That's to me when I felt like, okay, we have the complete package now, was the Nebraska game. Since then, it still hasn't been perfect, I don't know if it will ever be what I consider perfect, but it's what I would deem a legitimate defense."

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