Brian Kelly Notebook: Aug. 11

Notre Dame continued its preparations for the 2018 season on Saturday with the media getting the chance to view almost the entirety of the session.

Though it wasn’t the first contact practice for the Irish this August, it was for the media in attendance.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and company will ramp up the contact next week as the Irish inch closer to facing Michigan in the season opener on September 1.

“Next week will be a lot of contact,” Kelly explained after the open practice. “The following week — the week prior to the game — we’ll start to dial that back a little bit and focus primarily on Michigan. So, we’ll have two weeks for Michigan. We’ve got a lot of live work. We’ve had three tackle opportunities … Next week we’ll probably have three more.”

Kelly will have his eyes on certain players and areas as the Irish get into more of their contact and live work.

“We want to see [sophomore Jafar] Armstrong,” Kelly began. “We want to see [sophomore] Avery Davis. We want to see the tackling on defense. We want to see live balls from the quarterbacks in live situations … Saw some good things today in the live work that I think we can build off going to Monday.”

During the full 11-on-11 live session, senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush went 2-of-5 with a drop while junior quarterback Ian Book went a perfect 4-of-4 including a touchdown to freshman wide receiver Kevin Austin. Book went against a second-team defense that did include multiple players with starts under their belt.

Kelly is pleased with how his defense has played this preseason and continues to push for more consistency out of the offensive side.

“I’ve got to watch the film specifically,” Kelly said when asked about the two quarterbacks’ play during the team period. “We had some opportunities on offense to make some plays that we didn’t. I figure our defense was pretty good. I feel we have some great depth where we have maybe some guys on the second team that could actually help the first team be a better first team.

“I think it’s a little bit mixed bag. I walk away knowing that defensively the structure in what we are doing is pretty good. We’re pretty good up front particularly. Offensively, we have to make some plays. We made a coupe late. We had a nice tunnel screen to Miles Boykin, who showed good speed. We have to be more consistent than anything from an offensive standpoint.”

In 2017, wide receiver C.J. Sanders handled much of the kickoff return duties while fellow wide receiver Chris Finke manned punt returns. Sanders returned 29 kickoffs for a 22.6 average while Finke had a 6.5 average in 24 opportunities.

Sanders is now at SMU leaving the competition open for the kickoff return job while Finke appears locked to remain in his spot on special teams.

Before Kelly and company get to making decisions on who will lead the charge on kickoffs, they are focused on other areas in that regard.

“Kick return is still a fluid situation,” Kelly explained. “What we’re trying to do is get the personnel group in front of that solidified before we make some decisions there. We’ve had Nick Coleman back there. We’ve had Shaun Crawford. We’re going to look closely at some of the young players. You saw Michael Young back there …

“Punt return we’re focused on, right now, Finke. He’s had a great camp. The big difference for Chris is the strength. Much more explosive when he puts in the ground and translates that explosiveness. He’s very confident. That’s what you want in a punt returner. The ability to get you five or seven yards…and catch the football.

“I think backup situation is Alohi Gilman and Michael Young.”

Since being moved from wide receiver to work at running back this spring, Armstrong has seemed to come multiple times in terms of players impression.

With the uncertainty of Dexter Williams' situation for the time being and a young running back room in general, Armstrong could very well be in line to receive several carries against Michigan.

The sophomore's skill set as ball carrier and pass catcher is putting Armstrong in packages to take advantage of his ability and create mismatches.

"Jafar is the closest thing that I’ve had to Theo Riddick since I’ve been here," Kelly said. "He’s tenacious, can go all day, runs physical inside and has the skills to catch the ball coming out of the backfield. I’m not ready to put him into that category, but I’m just comparing to the kind of player he is. We haven’t had that guy that can bang it up inside with that physicality.

"CJ [Prosise] was nice, but he’s not Jafar. He had great speed. This kid is going to be a really good player for us.

Fellow Class of 2017 signee Avery Davis, a converted quarterback, is also making noise in his own right. Both players are showcasing a knack for making plays and could be featured together, but also alone.

"Avery, once we put the ball in his hands you think it’s three yards and you look and it’s eight," Kelly stated. "That has a lot to do with his ability to run the football too.

“I don’t want to anyone to leave here that they are packaged together. That is just one thing where we can get two guys on the field at the running back position that really adds some flexibility. They can stand on their own."

Kelly updated the status of a few Irish players who are rehabbing from injuries, but none are deemed serious at this time, including sophomore rover Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, sophomore right tackle Robert Hainsey and freshman safety Houston Griffith.

“He has scar tissue in the hamstring,” Kelly said of Owusu-Koramoah. “We’re working…to get that looser for him. He’s been dealing with a tight hamstring. He’s such a fast and explosive player and he hasn’t been able to cut him loose. It’s just a matter of time before we get him on the field.

“Robert Hainsey has a lower leg strain. We’re going to do an MRI, but we don’t think it’s anything but muscular, calf strain. We want to be careful.

“[Houston has] had a hamstring, which has decreased his reps. We started cranking him up yesterday.”

With Hainsey not healthy for now, the Irish will get a look at some new players after they shuffle the line a bit to make up for Hainsey’s absence. Junior right guard Tommy Kraemer will shift over from right guard to right tackle, where he played last year.

“That will open up the opportunity for [senior] Trevor Ruhland and [sophomore] Josh Lugg to compete at the right guard position and compete there," Kelly stated.

Kelly also singled out a couple of underclassmen who are also impressing along the offensive line.

“Guys that are coming on that are not there yet, but we expect to get them ready, are [sophomore] Aaron Banks and [freshman] Jarrett Patterson,” Kelly said. “Jarrett is much further along and a guy we think can compete. We’ll continue to develop them.”

----

• Talk about it inside Rockne’s Roundtable

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook.