Quick-hitters: Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees on Drew Pyne, Logan Diggs, freshman tight ends

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees‘ emphasis for quarterback Drew Pyne heading into his third start is the same message he shouted over the phone in the first half of the California game. Without the four-letter words and in a calmer tone, though.

It’s not that Pyne has frequently made Rees want to scream through a phone since then. Those instructions are the focus every week, no matter how his quarterback or the entire offense is performing.

“You guys are going to laugh, but all we talk about is doing your job,” Rees said. “That obviously came out in a different way, but that’s the emphasis to the whole offense. If every guy can, play in and play out, doesn’t matter how big or how small your job is, if you can just focus on doing that and play with relentless effort, good things are going to come.”

Rees has some specific emphases with Pyne, of course. The choppy starts that prompted the tongue-lashing can’t happen. Notre Dame has gone three-and-out on its opening possession each of the last two games. That requires Pyne and the offense to do their jobs, but also Rees to pull the right strings. Rees has also experimented with some footwork adjustments and tweaks for Pyne.

“Certainly we want to start with a little better tempo and start better than we did the first two weeks, so try to get him in a rhythm early,” Rees said. “We’re looking at some specific things footwork-wise to help with some of those drops. Continue to run the offense, but focus on yourself, doing your job and being the best leader and quarterback you can for this team.”

Rees spoke with reporters Tuesday night for his weekly press conference. Here are some highlights.

On Notre Dame freshman wide receiver Tobias Merriweather’s lack of playing time

“It’s not anything specific to Tobais as much as it is we’re building in opportunities each week. He has shown he has continued to build trust. He’s practicing at a higher level. All those things he needs to do as a young player to earn that time are happening. I think he’s going to continue to progress as the season goes on and have those opportunities to make some plays for us.”

On freshman tight ends Eli Raridon and Holden Staes

“He’s a big, strong kid. You probably don’t anticipate that, but you meet the kid and he’s a physical presence. Both of them have different skill sets we’ve been able to mix and match to optimize the room. Mitch Evans is back and running around, certainly a good thing.

“You look at the tight end room, similar to [freshman quarterback] Steve [Angeli] and other young guys who have had some roles, there is so much improvement every day we come out of practice because of the amount of reps and work those young guys are getting. We’re going to continue to try and put those guys in the right spots. They’re certainly asked to do everything now with Kev’s injury, but continue to try to charge those guys on. They’re both talented guys with a lot of care and want to.”

On sophomore running back Logan Diggs

“He was playing a ton for us last year for a reason. He’s a talented runner. When the ball is in his hands, he has good vision and balance. He has the ability to make the first guy miss. We feel like we have three backs right now who can all be featured. We feel like we have three backs who can all be complementary and do certain things.

Logan has a blend of Chris [Tyree] and Audric [Estime] in his game, and you saw that a little bit with the ability to run between the tackles and ability to be out on the perimeter. He’s a talented kid who has played a lot of meaningful snaps for us in his young career. We want to continue to use all three of them the right way, and I’m sure there’s a game where he’s going to get hot and he’ll be in there for an extended period of time, but all three of those guys are doing a nice job of working and being ready to go.”

RELATED: More Notre Dame football:

• Why Notre Dame is set up for the first ranked win of the Marcus Freeman era vs. BYU

• Commit tracker: Notre Dame football recruits in action

On the offensive line’s improvement

“If you look at the collective five we have right now, this will really be the fourth week playing together in preparation. All spring ball, we didn’t have all five of them. A majority of camp, we didn’t have all five of them. The first prep and week, we didn’t have all five.

“You’re looking at a group, although they’ve been anointed, they’re relatively young playing together. I think you’re seeing the dividends pay off the more time they have together, the more communication. You’re seeing a more confident, more communicative [center] Zeke Correll. You’re seeing tackles who are trusting what they’re doing and being able to play to their abilities. You’re seeing two veteran guys inside really owning the group and demanding the expectations of everybody.”

On the Notre Dame offense’s success vs. North Carolina and how much was UNC’s defensive mistakes

“We’ll give credit to our guys. They went out and executed the game plan. It’s not like there was a magic call or magic anything. It was our payers going out there, executing what they had been preparing to do. Carolina played a hell of a game this past weekend [a 41-10 win over Virginia Tech], so I’ll give credit to our guys for the way they prepared and the way they executed.”

On receiver Lorenzo Styles getting a game ball after UNC

“His touchdown kind of sparked us. We’re very focused on individual improvement. He did things nuanced in the game that highlighted that. The route he ran [on the touchdown] was something we covered earlier in the year and talked through. He went and executed it.

“There were a couple physicality plays he went and executed. We’re challenging the guys to want more after the ball is in their hands. He went and did that. We wanted to highlight someone who was taking ownership of the things he’s being challenged to do.”