Brian Kelly Notebook: April 7
The news of senior defensive end Jay Hayes transferring left some surprised given he started all 13 games in 2017 and was coming off his best production season in an Irish uniform with 27 total tackles including 3.5 for loss and a sack.
Though losing Hayes does impact depth at defensive end to a degree, a couple of junior defensive ends — Khalid Kareem and Ade Ogundeji — have been ascending this spring and providing quite the competition including one being considered the starter if the season were beginning today.
“We felt like Khalid had earned the starting position there based upon his work both in the weight room and on the football field,” Irish head coach Brian Kelly said. “He was going to be the starter at that position. We believe that based upon his production.”
Kareem was productive in limited snaps (287) last season racking up 21 total tackles including 5.5 for loss and three sacks while serving as the backup to Hayes. Heading into 2018, it is about getting Kareem ready to double and triple his workload per game while remaining as disruptive.
“He’s got really good length,” Kelly stated. “He has a knack for pass rushing. Just has a knack of being there and getting to the quarterback. I think for him the next step becomes how do we get him up to 60 plays.
“He was a 20-play guy for us. How do we get him up to 60? Fatigue, strength and all those things coming together, but he has some really innate ability to find the quarterback.”
Like Kareem, Ogundeji was earning more reps with his work this spring. With his growing knowledge of the game and schemes, Ogundeji continues to progress in front of the coaches’ eyes.
“There’s no question,” Kelly said when asked if Ogundeji was already earning his extra reps. “And this isn’t to beat up on Jay Hayes while he’s not here, but there was great competition at that position. Ade was coming on. He’s a young man that the football end of things – where it comes easy to Khalid — we have to keep repping Ade. It’s coming. His strength is outstanding in the weight room. His work ethic is outstanding. This is a guy that is ascending for us.
“We expected the physical development, and we knew that the football end of things was the area that was going to require the most work. But, he’s putting in the time and I’m pretty excited about where he’s going to be.”
Kelly also shared his thoughts on Hayes’ departure.
“Jay understands the standards that we have here and he felt like a change would be better for him,” Kelly said. “We granted him a release for anywhere he wants to play.”
“We gave him the opportunity to come back if he could meet the standards that we set here. I don’t know what his thoughts were, I can’t read into his mind. He decided to transfer. He’ll finish his degree this semester, so he’ll be a grad transfer and he’ll be immediately eligible. We love Jay, we wish him the best.”
CONSISTENCY STILL THE MOTTO AT QB
Whenever there is a quarterback battle, many fans want to know after each practice. But for Kelly, he isn’t necessarily looking to find separation and determine who the starter is going to be on September 1 against Michigan this spring.
“I don’t know if we’re looking for an answer as much as the consistency in play,” Kelly said. “Like today, we missed a boundary up-read when we threw the ball outside to Miles Boykin. We had somebody wide open in the seam. We want to get better at that than worrying about who’s the starter. Then that will take care of itself.
“Our focus – my focus, Tommy Rees’ focus, Chip Long’s focus – is really about how do we get our passing game where it needs to be and we can’t miss those reads like we did today.”
Ian Book’s consistency was one area Kelly singled-out earlier this spring, and he is happy with how the junior quarterback has performed of late.
“Ian has been, over the last couple of practices, much more consistent,” Kelly said. “The last time I was in here I commented we wanted more consistency out of the quarterbacks. Ian has been much more consistent the last three practices and that’s what we want from our quarterbacks. The ability to execute and work on a more consistent basis.”
Sophomore quarterback Avery Davis is also getting some looks at running back and wide receiver this spring on top of his duties as a signal caller. Kelly believes Davis will impact the Irish somewhere on the field.
“You saw him make somebody miss today,” Kelly said. “He’s going to help us. We just have to figure out where that’s going to be. He’s got to keep his quarterback skills sharp. If he’s not in the two-deep there we want to be able to utilize and athlete of that caliber while he continues to build his skill at the quarterback position. We want to get guys that can make plays on the field and we think he’s a guy that can do that.”
SHAUN CRAWFORD
One defensive back who has had a strong spring to date is Shaun Crawford. After battling a torn ACL and achilles during his first two seasons, the junior played all 13 games last season recording 32 total tackles, two interceptions, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
“As you know, Shaun is an extremely smart player,” Kelly stated Saturday. “He makes up for his size with football intelligence. What I’ve noticed more than anything else this spring is he has some suddenness to him. Change of direction, closing on the football and things of that nature where he was healthy last year, but he still didn’t have that snap that you require.
“I think he’s going to be a guy we can play at the field corner position and he’s going to be an immense help to us on all special teams.”
Kelly and the Irish staff won’t restrict Crawford too much now that he is completely healthy.
“I think we’re amping him up because he’s showing us that he’s 100 percent back from the injuries that we had his first two years here,” Kelly said. “Weight training up, strength up, all those areas we look towards. His catapult numbers in terms of workload is up. He’s at that point where we’re letting him go. Go be the player that we know you can be.”
COMPETITION AT SAFETY
It is no secret the safety position was not as productive as the Irish staff would have liked during the 2017 season.
Notre Dame has added some new blood to the group with Navy transfer Alohi Gilman and early enrollee defensive back Houston Griffith, who moved from cornerback to safety this spring. Both are upping the competition in the back of the defense for Kelly and defensive coordinator Clark Lea.
“What we wanted more in that move was we think Houston is a guy that has a combination of playing away from the ball and having a good sense when the ball’s in the air,” Kelly said. “And then he’s a good tackler.
“We do a tackling drill virtually every day, and through our circuit tackling and live tackling he really stood out as a good tackler. At safety, obviously, that’s crucial and then we saw him at corner with really good ball skills and the size.
“So it just made sense we wanted to push the competition back there because we all know everyone that talks about our defense knows we need more production from the safety position. Whether it’s Nick Coleman, Jalen Elliott, [Devin] Studstill or [Nicco] Fertitta, Houston Griffith, [Jordan] Genmark Heath. We have a lot of guys out there that can push for competition and he adds to that list … There are no starting safeties at Notre Dame in 2018 on April 7.”
Kelly has stated in the past Gilman would have been a starter for the Irish in 2017 if he were eligible. The Navy transfer didn’t get off to a hot start this spring, but is rounding into form.
“When I say slow start to the spring, I think he just feels so much more comfortable,” Kelly explained. “He wasn’t taught the defense last year. He was taught everyone else’s defense because he was on scout team. That kind of put him back a few practices.
“But now that he knows what he’s doing, he can play fast and play physical, and we’re really starting to see that skill set that he showed when he was at Navy.”
Coleman is also still part of that equation despite the staff getting him reps at the nickel position.
“Nick Coleman has an opportunity to be a starting safety,” Kelly reiterated. “However, we moved him over to nickel because there’s a lot of guys and a lot of rotation this could give Nick even more opportunities to be on the field because we like his ability to play close man-to-man coverage at the position.”
IRISH STILL NOT SETTLED ALONG OL
The Notre Dame staff knows Sam Mustipher will be the starting center and Alex Bars will be the starting right guard coming into 2018, and the duo will lead the Irish up front.
But, the other three positions remain unseen with multiple plays battling across the board. Kelly doesn’t see the starting five getting settled this spring.
“We’re settled with Sam and we’re settled with Alex Bars,” Kelly said. “We know we’ve got two guys in [Tommy] Kraemer and [Robert] Hainsey that can play right tackle. I think we’re still fluid as it relates to what the combinations are going to be right now.
“Josh Lugg has been impressive, it’s hard to keep him off the field. Trevor Ruhland didn’t practice today. He has a pectoral injury on the other side from the one he had last spring and he’s been really consistent for us.
“I don’t know that we’ll leave the spring going this exactly what we got, but we do know who those guys are that are going to compete for us on Saturdays.”
NEW INDOOR FACILITY
On Friday afternoon, Notre Dame announced plans to complete a new 111,400-square-foot indoor athletics facility to be used the football and both soccer programs, which is expected to be completed in July 2019.
The addition will ease the schedule of the football team.
“It’s much needed, obviously,’ Kelly said. “We’re very excited about the fact – for our schedule, for example, we now can come back in the afternoon in the off-season and do our running program. We have to get up early in the morning to get both our running program and weight training program in the morning because Loftus is booked all afternoon. That’s hard on a football team when they have to get up every morning at 5:30 it takes its toll.
“Reducing that overload was crucial to our development as a program. And we’ll be good custodians for other sports as well. We’ll be able to work out schedules. Soccer will get a chance to get in there obviously as well. From a football perspective, for me, it’s our lab. We really didn’t have a lab for us to go in there and do the work we needed. Now we’ve got that.”
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