Brian Kelly Notebook: Spring Preview

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Notre Dame hits the field again tomorrow morning with the start of spring practice. The next several weeks will give the Irish staff an opportunity to experiment, a look at what the 2018 version of Notre Dame could look like and much more.

For head coach Brian Kelly, this period will give his staff a chance to pinpoint any question marks and how to improve the team before fall camp begins.

“So for me, flying at 35,000 feet, I want to continue to test our football team and their endurance,” Kelly stated. “I want to continue to test our football team and the gains that they’ve made from a physicality standpoint.

“Then I want to put them in positions where we can see what their skill sets are, how they can contribute, where our issues are, and what we need to prop up as we move into the summer months and then certainly into camp.”

Notre Dame has already been in the weight room since January and Kelly is looking forward to seeing how year two under Matt Balis looks on the field in terms of the team’s strength and conditioning.

“There’s a lot of things that have gone on over the past six to seven weeks that I’m very excited about,” Kelly explained. “The overall development of our football team in our second year in this weight training and conditioning program. We’ve really been able to see a big difference in the endurance conditioning-wise of our football team.

“We’re able to do things that we couldn’t do at this time last year, which obviously is going to bode well for us as we get through the season. The workouts have been strenuous. They have been at a different level than they were last year at this time, and we have seen clearly the gains from that.”

The Irish still experienced some staff turnover this offseason, but not to the degree of last offseason changing offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators along multiple assistants and a new strength and conditioning program.

Clark Lea now mans the defense for Kelly, but a sense of continuity is certainly there for the Irish heading into this spring.

“You’re drilling a little bit deeper,” Kelly said about his approach this spring without facing major changes. “You're looking at specific matchups in a particular practice. You’re looking to highlight a particular player because you know your system is in place.

“You know that confidence is not the issue that you’re dealing with more so than making sure that you have the right players for that particular drill on that day.”

Kelly talked at length about the potential impact of the second offseason under Balis and the benefits it could have for the Irish this spring.

“I think it’s particularly in workload,” Kelly said of one change. “We weren't able to sustain the kind of workload with our running and strength training last year that we can this year.

“I think the easiest ones would be the ability for our players to bounce back after a really difficult workout and come back and run the next day at a high level. Whether it be timed runs, which we have for all of our guys because we’re in competition in everything that we do. We weren’t able to make some of those timed runs last year. We’d have a group of guys that couldn’t make them. We’re not in that position this year.

“We want to be a better football team in November.”

The Irish also developed a speed school to develop the team’s explosiveness and in other related areas. Kelly is happy with the progress he has seen so far.

“In that speed school, one of the most important pieces is not continuously running 40s, but your change of direction and hat burst,” Kelly said. “An outstanding 10 is sub-1.5. When we started our speed school, we had only one player that was sub-1.5, and that was Troy Pride as you can imagine. His first step and his ability to get out.

“We had eight already which are sub-1.5, which is remarkable.”

Year two under Balis is proving very beneficial already for the Irish.

“The strength gains for our football team have been clear and across the board,” Kelly said. “We’ve seen the kind of physical development that you want as we develop our football team in this second year of our conditioning and weight training.”

Spring allows coaches to move players around in order to put them in the best position to make an impact whether it is a new spot on a particular side of the ball or switching sides.

Kelly addressed several changes heading into the 2018 season. On offense, sophomore wide receiver Jafar Armstrong will also see some time at running back.

“Jafar is more towards that Theo Riddick, if you will, where Theo was a wide receiver but took reps for us at the running back,” Kelly said. “I think I’d like to kind of move in that same direction.

“He’s going to be a guy that I think can touch the ball coming out of the back field, but also can give us some work at the running back position.”

The Irish defense will also see some tweaks including senior Drue Tranquill moving from rover to the Buck linebacker position.

“Drue’s moving inside, so you can write that down and get used to it,” Kelly said. “We need to go through the spring and in terms of answering questions [at rover]. Asmar Bilal will run out as the rover and start there. We knew he was a big rover, right? If we get into a 10 game with 10 personnel on the game. He’s got to be able to play linebacker. That's just the reality of it.

“So, who is the next guy in? Is it Jeremiah Owusu? Do we move Isaiah Robertson down there? Is it D.J. Morgan? There are going to be a number of guys that have the opportunity to be that next guy. Or we go to nickel. We run a nickel out there.”

Junior linebacker Jamir Jones will shift down to the Drop end position and that will open a spot amongst the linebacker group.

“We feel like he’ll be best suited at the end position,” Kelly said. “Which now puts Jonathan Jones in a position where we have to leave this spring knowing can he be our number two there? Can he back up Te’von Coney?

“We believe he can. He’s got to go now do it. He knows what his role is going to be. He’s got to be a great special teams player for us as well and we need a lot from him this year.”

Junior defensive tackle Jerry Tillery will shift over to the three-technique to better take advantage of his pass rush abilities while senior Jonathan Bonner will man the nose while potentially moving to strongside end in certain situations.

“We’ve seen tangible signs of his ability to get stronger physically, move better,” Kelly said of Tillery. “He’s in better physical conditioning, and he’s going to be able to play. We’re going to move him up to the three-technique. It’s important that he works on his pass rush. He’s been diligent in that respect.

“He’s been pushed out into a position of leadership which requires accountability. … He’s working on those and he’s getting better at it.”

Notre Dame will be looking to replace its top option at both running back and wide receiver in 2018 with the departures of Josh Adams (1,430 rushing yards and nine touchdowns) and Equanimeous St. Brown (515 receiving yards and four touchdowns).

In regards to wide receiver, Kelly is more interested about individual development compared to what the group looks like this spring.

“I think some young guys are going to get a chance now,” he said. “Michael Young gets a more prominent role within the offense. Chris Finke is going to be seen and Miles Boykin, who didn’t play much until midway through the season. I think those guys get called upon to really show themselves.

“We’ve got some receivers coming that I think are going to be able to be counted on in the depth chart. … Continue to work on the skills of a Chase Claypool, refining his skills. I think there's a lot of work to be done.

“I think that Miles Boykin handles himself with a lot more confidence that he can be a playmaker for us. I think he jumped close to 40 inches. He’s got incredible traits physically.”

At running back, Tony Jones Jr., Dexter Williams and Jahmir Smith will get a lot of the carries with Armstrong cross-training at the position as well.

“I think Dexter has made really positive strides in his volume of work,” Kelly stated. “If there was one area where I really feel good about what he’s been able to do is that he’s broken through some barriers as it relates to his volume and his workload. That’s all on him. He’s had to do it himself. I feel confident going into spring that he’s going to take on a bigger load.

“There is no guy in front of Tony that’s a workhorse in Josh Adams, so he sees that. That’s a huge motivator. I think his strength in work volume is better than it was last year. That’s going to prove itself to be probably equally as important because he’s going to stay healthy. He wasn’t healthy most of the season as well. Stronger, he’s got a coat of armor on him. His work volume is better. And finally we recognize how important he is and we have to make sure he gets the proper touches within this offense.”

Notre Dame will aim to replace multiple key members of a group that won the Joe Moore Award for the nation’s top offensive line.

That includes potential first-round NFL Draft picks Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson along with now Chicago Bears offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. The Irish will, however, return four players who saw significant action last season in center Sam Mustipher, right guard Alex Bars, and the right tackle duo of Robert Hainsey and Tommy Kraemer.

“It’s not a worry of mine by any means, but I’ll be involved in a lot of conversations about who is going to be on the right side, who is going to be on the left side and cross training,” Kelly said of the group. “… I think we’re going to put five really good players out there when we run out of that tunnel.”

Hainsey will start the spring as the team’s left tackle with guys like Kraemer and sophomore Josh Lugg cross-training.

“I think it’s going to be an extremely competitive situation,” Kelly explained. “One that I’m kind of looking forward to because there’s probably four or five different combinations that we could run out there at the offensive line.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of them in the spring.”

The hire of Jeff Quinn will provide a different coach in the room, but much of the same on the field.

“Different personality, but Jeff has always treated that group in a similar fashion about their identity, the closeness of the group and the standard,” Kelly said. “So, there won’t be much different there in terms of the day to day.

“But they’re different coaches. Our philosophy won’t change. That was one of the real big pieces of maintaining some continuity here that philosophically we’ll be doing the same things.”

Kelly also updated the status of several players dealing with injuries this spring — including early enrollee tight end George Takacs, who underwent a cartilage surgery and will be out.

“Javon McKinley is totally cleared,” Kelly said. “Nic Weishar will be limited with his shoulder. He’ll be in a red jersey. He’s working really hard. Claypool will be in a red jersey. He’ll be in a non-contact situation.

“Bonner had the wrist, so he’ll be limited and Brock Wright will be limited. But they’ll be actively involved in virtually everything we’re doing whether we take them down to the ground, but probably not this spring.”

Notre Dame welcomed several new members to the program this winter with its early enrollees including Smith, Takacs, wide receiver Micah Jones, linebackers Jack Lamb, Bo Bauer and Ovie Oghoufo, and defensive back Houston Griffith.

Kelly updated how the group is progressing so far.

“First of all, they’ve acclimatized themselves extremely well socially and academically,” Kelly said. “Then in the weight room, have been really pleased. ... Other than George, all those guys will get in there and compete.

“Bo Bauer has been a tiger in the weight room. He’s been very impressive. Houston Griffith has got a great skill set, so I think you’ll see all those guys compete very well in the spring.”

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