Brian Kelly Post-Practice: Aug. 13
Notre Dame held its ninth preseason practice Saturday morning.
In a moderate to heavy rain, the Irish went through their typical 24 periods, with the final several reserved for a team scrimmage. The quarterbacks — DeShone Kizer and Malik Zaire — were live during the scrimmage (removing their red no-contact jerseys) and were both sacked.
Notre Dame will return for a 5:15 p.m. session this evening, its second two-a-day practice this month.
Here is the team’s remaining camp schedule. Classes begin Aug. 23.
Sunday, Aug. 14: None
Monday, Aug. 15: 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 16: 9:45-11:45 a.m.; 5:15-6:45 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 17: 10:35 a.m.-12:35 p.m. (open to the media); MEDIA DAY
Thursday, Aug. 18: 9:45 a.m.-11:45 p.m.; 5:15-6:45 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 19: 12:50-2:50 p.m. (open to the media)
Saturday, Aug. 20: None
Sunday, Aug. 21: None
Monday: Aug. 22: 3:15-5:15 p.m.
INJURY NOTES
• Dexter Williams was in a red no-contact jersey Saturday. He went through drills and team work but was not touched.
• Josh Adams, Daniel Cage and Devin Studstill — all battling hamstring injuries — were in attendance but did not practice.
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BRIAN KELLY PRESS CONFERENCE
1. The more scrimmaging the better.
With a number of position battles ongoing this month, coach Brian Kelly told the media after practice that scrimmaging has been valuable in evaluating the team.
“With some inexperienced offensive linemen, the more looks that they can get in a live situation the better,” Kelly said. “Defensively we’ve got some young players that need that, as well as I want to put the quarterbacks in as many situations as possible. That’s really been the theme here, more scrimmaging with this group.”
The Irish had a full officiating crew on hand Saturday morning. Despite the at-times hard-hitting scrimmage, Kelly said the team escaped healthy.
The team will be off Sunday and return Monday with light work, Kelly said.
“We’re being careful with them, got out of it clean today with no injuries,” he said. “They’re tired, they’re sore. We’ve got some guys that are feeling sorry for themselves, we’ll get through this. We’re in the tough part of camp right now.”
2. Red zone install a focus.
Notre Dame spent several periods in the red zone, with both quarterbacks struggling to complete many passes. Kelly said it was more about installation
“If we wanted to gameplan against some of the things that our defense does, we probably run the ball because we play so much two bracket and it’s some tough sledding throwing the football in there,” Kelly said. “I don’t get too worked up about it.”
“It’s really about decision-making, route running, things of that nature down that. It’s really a teaching period down there more so than keeping score as I evaluate it from week to week.”
He said he feels good about the team’s capabilities in the red zone.
“We have enough guys that we certainly feel like if we can get the football into the endzone with, maybe the tight ends are going to be involved. Certainly the quarterbacks running the football.”
3. Tony Jones Jr. impressive.
Freshman running back Tony Jones Jr., filling in for Adams and Williams who are limited, has caught Kelly’s eye.
Though the seventh-year coach said he would like to redshirt Jones this season, he said the Irish are “in pretty good hands if you do sustain an injury.”
“His volume is pretty good, he can handle the intensity of the workload,” Kelly said of Jones. “Not afraid to stick his nose in there in protection, he had a couple really good pickups. Very coachable.
“He’s done really, really well for a freshman back stepping in there. Today was pretty evident that he’s a kid that is reliable and can run physical when he’s asked to. I thought he had a nice day today.”
4. The Hayes’ complement each other at rush end.
Jay Hayes and Daelin Hayes (no relation) can combined do what Notre Dame needs. Kelly called Jay Hayes a “rough and tumble, physical” player. At 280 pounds, Jay Hayes can also effectively drop into some coverage should the Irish need him to.
“You never want to put him in much other than an occasional hook to flat-drop player, but he certainly can do that, he can handle that,” Kelly said. “He’s agile enough to play in that role.”
Daelin, a five-star freshman, isn’t as stout, but is a weapon in Notre Dame’s speed package, Kelly said. Kelly said Daelin has been getting work against star left tackle Mike McGlinchey in practice and is “faring quite well.”
“They all will have a role and they all complement what our defense will look like depending on the offenses,” Kelly said. “Against a Stanford (Jay Hayes) he’s going to be in against a big tackle. When we get into some more teams that want to play fast and not as aggressive at the point of attack, Daelin gets obviously his share.”
5. Offensive line taking shape.
Kelly said Hunter Bivin is working at tackle, leaving most of the reps at right guard to Tristen Hoge and Colin McGovern.
The coach said McGovern is a “real steady performer,” while Hoge is the more athletic lineman.
Kelly on Hoge: “He got out on the screen today and he normally would’ve cut one of our guys that was in space, but he was out on him right away and gave Torii Hunter a great lane to pull up on the third-down screen. His traits are really obvious, it’s the learning curve. Then the next play Jerry Tillery beats him across his face for a tackle for a loss. It’s just that process that we’re going through with him.”
Kelly on McGovern: “Knows what he’s doing, knows the offense very well. We got two guys in there that are really probably sharing the load right now.”
Freshman Tommy Kraemer is working at both guard and tackle, Kelly said. Though it’s a long year, Kelly said Kraemer is “light years” ahead of any true freshman he’s had at Notre Dame.
“He’s the only true freshman that I’ve had here at Notre Dame that we would even consider keeping with us, and that includes all these guys that are starting for us right now,” Kelly said. “Here’s a guy that is still going to be with us and we’ll still entertain the opportunity to maybe someday this year be on the field for us.”
More notes and quotes ...
• Kelly again made the point that two of the five best players on offense are the two quarterbacks. That showed itself again Saturday, but in different ways.
"One guy is making great checks at the line of scrimmage, getting us in great protections, getting us great one-on-one matchups," Kelly said. "The other guy is making somebody miss in the backfield and throwing to a wide open back.
"They both have different ways of moving the offense down the field, and that continues to show itself as we move through camp. Both of them have a way to move the offense, they just do it differently.
• Kelly on senior cornerback Cole Luke: "He’s been (good) all camp. What he’s done really is he’s mastered his technique. He’s always been one of our smartest defensive players, but he’s never translated the smarts with his technique. It was kind of odd in a sense that you had this really smart football player but he didn’t translate that technique to being a really smart football player with his technique. He’s not a blazer, he’s got good speed, but now he’s translated that really sound technique and he just puts himself in really good position to break on the ball, stay on top of it and he’s playing physical. We expect him to have a really big year."
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