‘They Want To Freakin’ Win’

After a week off, Brian Kelly and the Fighting Irish are back in South Bend and preparing for Saturday’s game against the Miami Hurricanes. Kickoff is at 3:40 p.m. and will be broadcast on NBC.

Kelly held his weekly press conference inside the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, touching on his team’s psyche, what challenges Miami presents, junior quarterback DeShone Kizer and his team’s running backs.

The story of the season has been Notre Dame’s inability to close out games, with all five of its losses coming by eight points or less.

“We’re going to. It’s just a matter of time. We're all frustrated,” Kelly said. “But the attitude’s been great. Our kids have worked hard. They want to win. We’ll find a way to win one of these games and we’ll keep battling until we get one, and hopefully it’s this weekend.”

Kelly was later asked about how he’s able to motivate his team, even in the midst of one of the worst seasons in school history.

“These kids, all these kids, come to Notre Dame because they want to be challenged,” Kelly said. “So they have incredible intrinsic motivation every day to get up, to go to class, to want to succeed. It’s why they come here. There’s an immense amount of pride. They want to freakin’ win. They want to win.”

The seventh-year coach punctuated the end of that statement, then continued on by saying that players aren’t in it to get bowl game gift packages. It’s instead about just playing football and being with their teammates.

“They want to be successful on the football field,” Kelly said. “That’s why they came here. That’s why I’m here. That’s all we talk about. That’s all we do every day, is think about how we can be more successful. So there’s no carrot there that is really more appealing to us than wanting to win a football game.”

There isn’t any talk of Notre Dame’s record and how it stacks up through history.

“If I’ve got to get them motivated to be successful by using, ‘You guys don’t want to be one of the all-time losingest football teams,’ then we recruited the wrong guys,” he said. “These guys got a ton of pride. I don’t have to hit them in the nose with a newspaper and remind them of that. We don’t talk about that. We talk about, ‘How do we get a win?’”

Though Miami enters on a three-game losing streak — falling to Florida State, North Carolina and Virginia Tech since starting the season 4-0 and rising to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll — Notre Dame is on high alert for the Hurricanes.

Kelly complimented junior quarterback Brad Kaaya, regarded as a future NFL prospect, as well as wide receiver Stacy Coley.

“This is, again, for us another challenge that we’re going to have to face in terms of an offense that has some very productive players,” Kelly said. “Kaaya leads Miami in a lot of categories. But I think he’s established himself more as a very consistent player for them on offense. … This will be a very athletic team, one that we’re very familiar with. Another exciting challenge for our guys to get better.”

Under first-year defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, Miami ranks 23rd in the country in total defense, allowing 345.7 yards per game.

That success is a product of a simple but effective scheme that lets athletic players create havoc. It’s Notre Dame’s job to exploit that.

“From an offensive standpoint, we can just be who we are,” Kelly said. “Let’s practice what we’re good at and let’s be better at execution in this kind of game.”

Miami has suffered plenty of injuries this season. The Hurricanes were without starting defensive ends Chad Thomas and Demetrius Jackson, starting cornerback Sheldrick Redwine and reserve defensive tackle Gerald Willis when they fell 37-16 Thursday night at Virginia Tech.

“They’ve rolled a lot of players in on the defensive line,” Kelly said. “You mentioned injuries. They’ve had a lot of injuries. But they do have some pretty good depth. Now, they’ve been tested recently with that. But a lot of depth there. Then the linebackers stayed pretty much injury-free.

“A lot of young talent. A lot of guys flying around. Like I said, I think Coach Diaz has done a nice job of keeping the points down. He’s not getting too exotic. They bring a fair amount of pressure, but they don’t put themselves in high-leveraged situations. They go track you down, they run you down.”

Though he’s still atop many NFL mock drafts and projections, it’s been an up-and-down year for Kizer.

Kelly was asked about Kizer’s tendency to put too much pressure on himself and taking the blame for Notre Dame’s struggles.

“The development of a quarterback like DeShone, it’s happening every day,” Kelly said. “It happens with quarterbacks in the NFL still. He’s in that learning curve. When I say ‘learning curve’ I don’t mean, ‘What’s that coverage?’ I mean fundamentals, mechanics. All those things are happening every day.

“So I’m not worried that he’s putting too much pressure on himself. I just want him to not get frustrated and continue to work and improve on the things that he can control.”

Kizer has thrown seven interceptions through seven games, a big spike after he tallied just 10 in 2015.

“It’s a combination of pressing a little bit, wanting to make some plays,” Kelly said. “That’s where we have to do a better job of protecting him. We’ve got to do a better job of being more specific in routes and knowing where they’re going to be. We’ve got to be able to help him in those situations.

“It doesn’t take him off the hook totally. He’s responsible, as well. We all are. I’ve got to do a better job of putting together a game plan offensively where all those pieces are where they’re supposed to be. So who’s not grasping, 'Where is my check down,' 'Where is my late add into this route?' That’s on me, too.

“I’m not worried about him in that. We’ve got to do a good job of giving him a game plan where he knows where all the pieces are on a play-to-play basis.”

After a breakout first season in which he ran for a Notre Dame freshman-record 835 yards, sophomore Josh Adams hasn’t had the same level of success in 2016.

Through seven games, he’s run for 416 yards, an average of 59.4 per game.

One reason he hasn’t matched his productivity? Kelly said the 6-2, 220-pound back hasn’t been completely healthy this year.

“It’s fair to say that he hasn’t been at the level that he wants to be,” Kelly said. “He’s been great in terms of his work ethic and getting into the training room. But a running back and soft-tissue injuries can sometimes linger.

“He’s fought through it. But I’d be less than honest to say that he’s been 100 percent, but he’s been fighting through it.”

Kelly said Adams was one of the main players that benefitted from Notre Dame’s bye week as the sophomore was able to get off his feet.

• There is no change to the status of indefinitely suspended senior cornerback Devin Butler, Kelly said.

• Senior cornerback Cole Luke and sophomore wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown were two other players Kelly mentioned specifically as needing the bye week to rest.

• Kelly on what Richt has done to Miami’s offense: “This isn’t grab-bagging all over the place. There’s a clear stamp what Mark wants to accomplish on offense.”

• Kaaya is the most veteran quarterback Notre Dame will see this season. That’s what stands out the most to the coach.

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