Brian Kelly addressed the media on Tuesday for his weekly press conference with Purdue on the agenda for this weekend.
- On the injury front, Tate Nichols is not available this weekend; Amir Carlisle has been cleared to practice this week but Kelly didn’t mention how much he would be involved in the gameplan; Danny Spond was cleared for everything but physical contact and could be available by next weekend. Cam McDaniel got a little banged up at the end o the Navy game and isn’t quite 100% right now, but Kelly expects him to be for this weekend.
- Kelly mentioned that the thing that he was most impressed with regarding Everett Golson was how comfortable for a first time starter. Golson was also extremely communicative on the sideline with Kelly.
- Ronnie Stanley and Nick Martin are the two backup tackles – Stanley on the right side and Martin on the left side behind his brother.
- The staff was very pleased with the play of sophomore Matthias Farley in his frist action. Kelly mentioned that he was always around the ball and near the action.
- Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix will split reps at the backup quarterback position. Kelly said that Rees needs more work right now since Hendrix got the majority of reps at the backup spot leading up to the Navy game.
- Kelly thought Davonte Neal was a little apprehensive as a punt returner at first but said he thought the freshman will continue to get better week to week.
- Stephon Tuitt made the choice to be “dominant” on and off the field this off-season. Kelly mentioned that he had a GPA over 3.5 over the summer and that when the team ran some of the summer conditioning drills, Tuitt ran with the DBs.
- On Ishaq Williams, Kelly mentioned that his comfort level has increased since last year which has allowed him to unleash his skills more on the football field as we all saw on Saturday. Kelly specifically credited Bob Diaco and the relationship he has developed with Williams for the improvement we have seen from him on the field.
- Tommy Rees handled himself very well and was a great teammate to Golson and Hendrix during his suspension.
- Kelly gave new offensive line coach Harry Hiestand a lot of credit for the success of the offensive line and mentioned that the players love playing for him.
Evan
No, you can’t have too many good backs. But you can’t take the ball away from a hot back (or two). Always ride the hot hand, or feet in this case!
If it’s possible and recommendable, then perhaps the best bet would be to preserve a year of eligibility for Carlisle, who could then compete for the #1 job next season.
Amir Carlisle the forgotten one after this past weekend… hopefully he gets a few touches.. can you have too many backs?
Useless interview. I feel bad for Kelly having to do that each week. What a waste of time merely to justify paying a bunch of reporters over exposing meaningless aspects of the sport.
Notre Dame needs to pass just a little bit more with more down field success. They can run past Purdue, but do need to keep all defenses honest in the coming weeks. Simple a little more down field passing. But keep that run game going.
Notre Dame needs to play better in the secondary. No doubt the line and linebackers will be solid this week. The secondary needs to improve. Better coverage and nastier tackling.
Simple, a little more passing and down field, and better pass coverage by the secondary.
Don’t be surprised to see ND receivers running past defensive backs on play action the next few weeks. With teams having to respect the run game ND is developing, there is no doubt there will be big time play opportunities in the passing game. Another 40 plus points this week against Purdue!
I reserve the right to retract this statement as soon as Tommy Rees enters the game.
Ah come on C-Dog,
Your’e getting crankier and grumpy like me. Hahahahaha.
Good point, reporters are shaped by a culture of like minds. Better known as mindless redundancy.
I’m sure Kelly would rather be on the practice field reviewing CB progress with his staff. Especially during a jet lag week with essentially no time to spare.
Here come the Irish!