BGI Video: Brian Kelly Addresses Michigan Game, Quarterback Play
Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly addressed the media today following a 45-14 loss to rival Michigan. He touched on moving on from the loss, quarterback play, he provided an injury update, confirmed wide receiver Michael Young is in the transfer portal and more.
Kelly: “I'll start off with certainly the best thing for our team is to get back on the practice field, and begin getting ready for Virginia Tech. It's certainly for our team focusing on what's gotten us the success over the past three years is building back our identity as a football team, and that is focusing on, you know, our process and the standards that we have set and the program. We got away from that this past weekend, and we'll work diligently in putting those things back in the forefront and exhibiting that this Saturday against a very good Virginia Tech team that's playing very, very well. Certainly on pace to find themselves at the top of the league.
“So a great challenge in front of us which we're excited for.
“Obviously the quarterback situation seems to be clarifying itself the last three games, Hendon Hooker is really playing great football form. Got banged up in the North Carolina game, but appears to be back. We're preparing for him. Dual-threat quarterback, really good runner. An exciting player that's really sparked their offense.
“I think we obviously played against Willis, but I think even Patterson late in the game showed us similar kind of athleticism and it certainly seems that that is the direction that they're going offensively. Again, I think that's kind of what they're looking for, that kind of offensive structure.
“We remember, it is a younger offensive line, but I think this really suits in terms of what they want to do offensively with a duel threat.
“Hazelton is kind of coming into his own. He's got I think five touchdown catches, and I think he has, like, ten total. He's still a threat. We remember him from last year some young players that are exciting, athletic. They put up over 30 points over the last three games. So an offense that will certainly challenge us.
“Definitely, Bud Foster, again, a legendary defensive coach that has really settled this unit down since the Duke game and they're playing much better defensively. They're still an attacking, aggressive defense.
“Defensively, four out of the six returners up front and I think unquestionably the linebacker Ashby is one of the best we have seen. A little undersized, people may say, but he's all over the field. Athletic, can do a lot of things, just an outstanding player. So we're going to have to know where he is. He lines up in a number of different positions. He's blitzing. He can do a lot of different things.
“I really like their corners. Farley we saw last year. He's done a really nice job as he continues to get the assignments against the very best wide receivers play in and play out. Wallers, the other good corner. I think they have three picks a piece on each side.
“Very good secondary guys that can play man to man. I'm sure they'll try to match them up with our guys.
“Again, a pressure defense that has really done a nice job over the last few weeks.
“It will be a great challenge. We're at home. You know, again, we have played well. We're going to have to get back to really who we are and our standards. We do that, and we should be playing the kind of football that we played over the last three years.
“With that, I'll open it up to questions."
On the statuses of Troy Pride, Michael Young and Tony Jones:
Kelly: "Pride is not on the injury report.
"Mike Young is in the transfer portal, just got that from compliance a few hours ago.
"Tony Jones, upper-body injury, but he's expected to practice on Tuesday."
On Tommy Kraemer’s status:
Kelly: “He has an MCL sprain.
“Those are anywhere from, you know could be anywhere from four to six weeks depending on each guy is different. No surgery is necessary.
“Yes. Ruhland and Lugg, both those guys will play.”
On running back Jafar Armstrong getting more involved:
Kelly: “We had nine 3 and outs. You could probably try to find those carries, you know, in those situations. You know, I think he's still finding himself. You know, a young man that's been out for a while, trying to get back in the flow of the game. I think he'll be better as we kind of go down the line here and get him involved in the game more. We expect a little bit more from him each week.
“We like what Avery Davis is bringing to our offense. He needs to play more. We expect to get him into the game more.
“I think your observations are right in both instances. Jafar as he gets more I think comfortable in the game and getting contact remember, he was without contact, really, for upwards of eight weeks. I think once he gets through that.
“And every time we see Avery Davis, he starts to you know, he gets our attention. I think that's prompted us to really force him into more competitive situations as be move forward.
On quarterbacks under Brian Kelly struggling in year two and if that’s a fair criticism of Ian Book:
Kelly: “I think any time the quarterback doesn't play, you know, up to a standard, that he has, that others have for him, that he's going to be in the spotlight. It comes with the position.
“I don't know that anybody really played well or coached well on Saturday, including me.
“Is it fair? Sure. I think it is fair criticism of everybody, including me. Yeah. I think we all have to coach better, I think we all have to play better.”
On why his team didn’t have the physicality necessary against Michigan:
Kelly: “I have been doing this a long time, and you try to gauge your preparation based upon things that you have done in the past, and try to you know, look at all the difference things that go into preparing for an opponent. At the end of the day, you've got to match your preparation with game time I guess emotional readiness. We didn't match that.
“Michigan was all over the field. We got what we deserved, and Michigan outplayed us. They outhustled us. They were more physical. They outcoached us. And, you know, those things, unfortunately, are the realities of it.
“I don't know that because we were off that that caused us not to be physical. I think that we got away from our identity. Our identity is to be gritty. Our identity is to play smart. Our identity is to be locked in. We were not. We got to get back to our identity.”
On if he has a situation similar to last where Ian Book is struggling like Brandon Wimbush did:
Kelly: “They're totally different, Tim, in a sense that you know Ian is a different quarterback than Brandon was. It is hard to compare and contrast those two. They are really quite different.
“Phil obviously sees the field very well. He's tall. He's ranging, 6'5". He has a strong arm. We like him as a quarterback. You know, I don't know that there is any appetite there isn't from mine, but there is no quarterback controversy. There isn't any kind of conversation about making a change. Ian Book is our starter, will be our starter, and Phil will continue to be ready if he's called upon.”
On getting Ian Book’s play headed back in the right direction:
Kelly: “I think it is all the things you saw.
“I mean, we have to, you know, continue to work ongoing through your progressions, you know, hanging in there. You know, he had some key drops.
“We need all 11 guys to play better quite frankly. This isn't we didn't lose that game because of Ian Book. He has to play better, no doubt. Things that we have been talking about for the last few weeks, he's got to continue to work on.”
On how backup guard Trevor Ruhland played when he came in for the injured Tommy Kraemer at right guard:
Kelly: “We thought he did very well for a guy that had not played all year. We liked his activity, working up to the second level on backers which we did not do a great job of. We're pleased with his work and obviously in a situation where he had to come in right off the bench.”
On the offensive line play against Michigan:
Kelly: “We got to be better. It was all around. I mean, there was new lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Look, the basic tenants of this game haven't changed. You know, you control a line of scrimmage, you really have a great chance of winning football games. Michigan controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides.
“Our job now is to get back and get to Virginia Tech and control the line of scrimmage. If we do that, we have a chance of winning. That's really our focus moving forward.”
On concerns regarding Ian Book’s improvement:
Kelly: “We're coaches. We're teachers. We're so much more optimistic than you folks are.
“We believe that Ian Book is a young man that is going to work on the things necessary to be the kind of quarterback we want him to be. He's won a lot of games, you know.
“We didn't win last week, I get it. We're all disappointed. We're going to move on. We're going to learn from it. We're going to be humbled because of it. We're going to get back to being who we are. It happens.
“Ohio State lost 49-20 last year to Purdue. They did okay after that. Sure, it was a bad week in Columbus that week, just like it is going to be a bad week here in South Bend, I get that.
“We're going to keep coaching. This game teaches you great lessons, that's why I get it, winning is important. Our nation wants to win. I want to win too! But you can learn great lessons from this game too.
“Our guys learned some lessons. Our coaches learned from it. I have learned from it. We're going to carry those things moving forward.”
On working in receivers Javon McKinley, Lawrence Keys and Braden Lenzy with Michael Young in the transfer portal:
Kelly: “They all have to be involved. You know, I thought it would be nice to catch a couple of balls here and there, you know, we got Lawrence in the game, might have been a little bit of a low throw but we would like to see hem make that catch. We have to keep getting him in competitive situations.
“We know what Javon can do, obviously he's really good on the outside. I just think that they all have to be in the rotation in some fashion so we'll continue to get them involved as we move forward. They're younger players, but for Javon, he's young inexperience, but older in terms of being in the program. They all have to be involved and we have to keep working them in there.”
On preparing for next year for the first time in two years where his team is not competing for a playoff birth:
Kelly: “There's so much more at stake here. This is so much more about who you are as a person, and who we are as individuals. You know, playoffs, bowl games, all kind of get put aside, you know, after weeks like that. We really start to focus on who you are as a person, and what's your why. Why are you doing this? That's so much more important after a week like we had.”
On backup quarterback Phil Jurkovec competing with starter Ian Book:
Kelly: “I think what we're interested in is both of those guys to continue to develop. We put them in competitive situations each week. It's ongoing. They don't stop growing, you know, just because one is one and one is two. They're still in competitive situations during the practice week.
“I think that Phil has gotten better and will continue to get better. He's challenging Ian every single day even if you guys don't see it. Just because he's two doesn't mean that he's not challenging Ian and making him better every day in practice. You know, how that fits the analogy.
“We think that he is better as a football player and a quarterback than he was when camp started. We just hope that continues to move in the right direction and we're pretty confident it will.”
On what Phil Jurkovec needs to do to take the next step:
Kelly: “He's not played a lot of real football. It has been a lot of practice football. You know, it's an incredible game, right, you know, you practice, practice, practice, practice, you know, and then you play only 12 games. He's practiced a lot, and hasn't played a lot in college.
“He's really missing that college it is faster, you know. So that's really all he's missing right now. I mean, in practice, he looks pretty good, but you know, it is getting to that point where he actually plays in some of the games and making those quick decisions, changing protections, you know, making some quick decisions, those are the things, you know, that he's going to have to continue to work on.”
On if he will work Phil Jurkovec into the game plan:
Kelly: “If I felt like playing Phil for five plays, four plays would make us a better football team, I would do it in a second.
“I'm only interested in how I can help our football team win. This is not about an ego or we have to play one guy, two guys. I just want to win football games by playing the best players that will help us win. If I thought for a second that Phil Jurkovec would be on the field to help us win in some fashion, he would be on the field. This is as honest as I can be with you.”
On what Jahmir Smith adds to the offense:
Kelly: “He's progressed in pass protection. He showed that on Saturday on a couple of nice pickups for. Us, so some reliability and trust, first of all is an important piece of this whole picture at the running back.
“The second thing he's got good vision. He can see a jump cut. He knows when to spill it outside. He's got a burst, a quick first step bursts. Runs hard. We thought he's been hit and miss a little bit in terms of catching the football, but he came up with a nice catch on Saturday with contact. We think he's making good progress from that perspective.
“Pass protection, which equals trust, pretty good vision through the whole and then a burst, and I don't know if that makes him different from Tony, but he's starting to exhibit some of the traits necessary to gain more trust.”
On if they need to use Book differently to accentuate his skillset:
Kelly: “So we lost the game and, you know, you have to look at everything, the quarterback, the safety, the middle linebacker, the offensive line, everybody. But then you also have to sit down and look at, all right, where are we at the quarterback position as well, and what can we do as teachers and what can we do to put him in a position to keep advancing our offense? Those are the discussions we have Sundays and Mondays as we lead into our preparation.
“Yeah. Those discussions take place because they need to take place because that's our job. If we're not having those discussions and you guys are having them, you should take our jobs. Quite frankly, those are in depth conversations that should take place, that do take place we take it serious that we have to look at all of those things and they have to be vetted out each and every day as we move forward to improving our football team.”
On if teams have adjusted to Ian Book after his first five starts in 2018:
Kelly: “We don't necessarily see that as being the case. We think that there are things for him to improve upon. We think there are plays that he will need to grow with for our offensive to continue to get better. He knows that. He's been challenged, just like Jalen Elliot has been challenged, just like Alohi Gilman, they have all been challenged. Chip Long has been challenged. All of our coaches have been challenged that we need to be better.”
On what he’s done to not lose back-to-back games since 2016:
Kelly: “There is a lot of changes we have made within the program. You know, just with our identity, our standards within the program to make certain. Obviously we were dealing with an interim defensive coordinator, there were a lot of different things. We lost I think to this Virginia Tech team 34-31, it may have been the last time we lost to a confererence team. A lot of different things. As I mentioned earlier at the outset, this is about our football team getting back to their identity and the standards that have gotten them to this point. We got away from it, it is time to get back to it.”
On run game adjustments to make against Virginia Tech:
Kelly: “We're not coming out with a new defense. We'll come out with a defense that is much more focused on their job and attention to their detail. As we have talked about, at nauseam, much more physicality. Our guys know what they need to do, and that is they have got to reclaim their identity and we lost it, we're going to get it back, and we have already addressed that.”
On why the team did not play to its identity and standard against Michigan:
Kelly: “That's the great question in competitive sports as to why teams sometimes lose that edge or they don't stick with the script, especially one that's worked so well. You know, you come back, you hope that lessons are learned, that consistency in your approach and sticking with things is a great life lesson, and that hopefully that you can carry on and understand how important it is to have these traits that will show success for you.”
On if the coaching staff has a better idea of why the team played so poorly against Michigan and if it’s comparable to the loss against Miami:
Kelly: “Miami was a different story. We turned the ball over seven times in that game and just got away from us. This was kind of a different scenario.
“No, I think our players clearly understand we have a lot of veterans on the team that have already been in my office and addressed the fact that they know exactly what needs to be done, and a great part about it is the word that kind of brings everybody together at the end of the day is are you accountable or not accountable? Are we accountable as coaches, and are we accountable as players? If everybody is accountable, then you get up, you get going again, you know. It is how you're going to deal with the adversity that you just were hit with. I'm very confident our guys are accountable guys and I know our staff is and we'll get back to work.”
On helping his players avoid outside noise:
Kelly: “They're used to it. I mean, they know they have to avoid the noise. They won't be defined by one game. They've got a great opportunity in the month of November. You know, they can be remembered by winning the month of November. They win the month of November, the noise will change. All will be happy.”
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