BYU linebacker Jake Clifton probably did not mean to light a fuse on Wednesday, but he may have done it anyway.
With Saturday’s matchup against Notre Dame already carrying plenty of heat, Clifton added a little extra during his media availability after BYU’s latest practice. Asked about quarterback CJ Carr, he laid out exactly how he thinks the Cougars should attack him.
“Yeah, just get that guy uncomfortable,” Clifton said about Carr. “He has some studs in front of him at O-line.
These guys are bigger than what we've seen, right? These guys have played in some top-10 matchups in their time.
Get this guy off the spot, make him uncomfortable and give him a little elbow every now and then. Make sure that he knows that you're going to be there all game.”
That “little elbow” line is the one that will stick. It wasn’t a wild statement, but it was the kind of detail opposing linemen tend to remember. Notre Dame’s front is now on notice that Clifton plans to bring constant pressure, and that sort of language can travel fast into a locker room.
Clifton also made a point of saying BYU views the game through a straightforward lens, not as some giant occasion that changes the way the Cougars operate.
“I think every guy and every coach has come up here and said that this is a routine game. Obviously, we respect these guys a lot.
This is a program that's known to put dudes in the NFL, and they stay there for quite a while. So obviously, this quarterback is obviously in the Heisman run for a reason.
And they have three running backs that can do the job. They have a tight end that left last year and went to the NFL.
He was a beast, but there's two other guys coming in to fill his spot and do just as good as he did. So overall as a team, you can't do anything but respect them, and that's it.”
There’s also a practical side to all of this for BYU. The Cougars may need even more from their defense than usual with their best running back, LJ Martin, out.
Clifton has been one of BYU’s more productive defenders so far. He is fourth on the team with 15 tackles and second on the Cougars with 1.5 sacks. The linebacker transferred from Kansas State this fall, and while his comments were hardly outrageous, they were still the sort that can put a target on a player’s back heading into a Top 10 showdown.
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