BYU linebacker Jake Clifton may not have meant to hand Notre Dame any extra motivation this week, but his “little elbow” remark did exactly that.
Clifton spoke with the media Wednesday after BYU’s latest practice and talked about the approach he believes the Cougars need to take against Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr on Saturday night. The message was clear: make him uncomfortable.
“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 last part is the one that stands out. The “little elbow” line, more than anything else said by a BYU player or coach this week, is the kind of comment that can land on an opponent’s wall and stick there. Notre Dame’s offensive linemen will hear it, and they won’t be thrilled about a defender saying Carr should know he’s going to be “there all game.”
The comments themselves are not over the line. They’re just the sort of thing most teams usually keep behind closed doors.
Once they’re out there publicly, though, they tend to take on a life of their own. Notre Dame will almost certainly be paying close attention to Clifton and the rest of the BYU defense, especially if any contact on Saturday feels late or a little too heavy.
Clifton also made sure to show respect for Notre Dame, while still framing the matchup as business as usual.
“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.”
BYU may need Clifton and the rest of that front to carry even more of the load with the Cougars’ top running back, LJ Martin, out. Clifton enters the game with 15 tackles, which ranks fourth on the team, and 1.5 sacks, second-most on BYU.
He transferred from Kansas State this fall, and while his remarks weren’t outrageous, they were enough to put a target on his back heading into Saturday’s game against Notre Dame.
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