In an interview held today after practice, Notre Dame’s head football coach Pat Fox, now in his second year with the Irish, talks about his team and the upcoming 2015 season.
Coach Fox on this year’s varsity schedule:
“Our schedule this year is extremely competitive with seven playoff teams on it. We open up with a district champion, Redford Thurston, then go into game two with Tecumseh, which also was a playoff team last year. Game three, we play Warren Michigan Collegiate, and they were a playoff team that went 8-1 in the regular season. Then we go into league play where we start with Divine Child, followed by Loyola and Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard. Our schedule rounds out with River Rouge, Owosso and possibly Chelsea. It’s a tremendous schedule, we’re working hard and we look forward to it.”
Notre Dame head football coach Pat Fox is in his second year with the Fighting Irish.
“Offensively, we bring back a lot of experience along with about 2,500 yards of rushing between junior Luke Adams and seniors Matt Durkin and Pat Anger. We feel it will be a much more balanced attack than last year. Matt Durkin has had a tremendous off-season and we expect him to be a very accurate passer. He’s gone to some of the nationwide camps and he finished as one of the more accurate passers at the Sound Mind Sound Body Football Academy, so we’re very happy about that. As far as our offensive line, though we’re young, we bring back four starters and we feel real good about that as well. Overall, our offense should be balanced and explosive this year.”
On defense:
“Defensively, we bring back eight starters, so we’ll be experienced on that side of the ball as well. We won’t be real big, but we will be very quick up front. Our linebacking corp, led by Luke Adams and senior Graham Miller, together also has a lot of experience. Add in Andy Durkin, and we feel we have a good combination of speed and strength. Overall, we think we’ll be very good against the run and put great pressure against the pass.”
On team leadership:
“When I talk leadership, I have to start with a great group of kids who have been so dedicated throughout the off-season with conditioning, working hard with our strength and conditioning coach, Jake Siebert. And we’ve got a tremendous group of kids, about 15 to 16, who have been regular all season long in the weight room and then during the summer when the group swells to about 20. When we talk about individual leaders, the seniors have done a great job this year. Our twins, Matt and Andy Durkin, have been great leaders, along with Matt Winiarski and I also should include junior Luke Adams in that group. The leadership exhibited by our seniors and juniors has been strong; they’re extremely good kids who know how to work hard and do the right thing. We’re pleased to have those kids out front of the team pulling us through this year.”
The Fighting Irish begin the season Friday, August 28, vs. Redford Thurston, 7:30 p.m., at Notre Dame Prep’s William Kozyra Alumni Field.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.