Brian Kelly Talks Transfers, Spring Progress

Brian Kelly met with the media on Wednesday after practice after originally not being scheduled to speak again until after the holiday.  In case you haven’t noticed though, it’s been a bit of a busy news week for the Irish so Notre Dame’s head coach addressed the media today.

Here’s some notes on what Kelly had to say on the transfers and progress being made by the players still on the roster.

• Kelly conformed that both Davonte Neal and Justin Ferguson are indeed transferring as earlier report.  Big losses for Notre Dame here – especially in the case of Neal.   Kelly would not get into any specifics around the circumstances of either player’s decision to transfer.
• Amir Carlisle’s injury is a broken collarbone and he will miss 4 weeks – similar to Davaris Daniels at the end of the season – so his spring is over.  He will be back in plenty of time for fall camp and hopefully will drink plenty of milk between now and then so he doesn’t suffer anymore broken bones – Notre Dame is going to need him with Neal transferring.
• The news on Chase Hounshell wasn’t nearly as good.  Hounshell will miss the entire 2013 season after suffering another injury to the same shoulder that cost him the entire 2012 season.  Really tough break for a kid who reportedly work really hard in the off-season and came into spring ball in great shape.
• CJ Prosise is looking good at wide receiver according to Kelly and said that we will see a lot of him at receiver throughout the spring.  With Neal and Ferguson’s transfers and a log jam at safety this makes a whole lot of sense for the Irish.  Kelly said that Prosise has been everything that they he could be but has done so much quicker than they thought he could.
• Prosise and TJ Jones were mentioned as possible punt returners so far this spring.  Kelly said that they will test a lot of players back there though after losing both Neal and Carlisle.
• Kelly is really excited about the inside linebacker position and specifically said that Jarrett Grace has done a great job at the position this spring.  “He’s a really, really good football,” Kelly said of Grace.
• Kelly was a little tepid when asked about whether or not James Onwualu could be an option at the slot receiver position, but did say that he would definitely be a factor on all of the special teams units.
• On the other hand, Kelly said that Corey Robinson “continues to impress and catches everything in his area code.”  He also said that Robinson has to “move in with Coach Longo.”  I’ve been saying for a while that Robinson will be a great player for the Irish once he hits the weights and develops more after getting a late start at football.
• Kelly said again that the staff is looking for the best combination of offensive linemen and are open to trying players out at different positions but that it still all centers around, well, the center position.  If Notre Dame can find a center out of spring football, the offensive line has a chance to be pretty good.
• Kendal Moore has high end athletic ability according to Kelly but they “just need to get him to run and hit the right people”.  It sounds like Moore will ideally be the #2 MIKE, but Kelly also said that they could slide Carlo Calabrese over to the MIKE if Grace needs to come off the field.
• Ishaq Williams has been getting some reps at defensive end.  He will cross train at CAT and DE which will get him 15-20 more reps.  At 260 lbs, Williams probably won’t be playing DE on first down or obvious running situations, but as a pass rusher on 3rd down his quickness could be a real asset.