Notre Dame Football: Assessing Brian Kelly’s Fall Camp Praise Of The Irish
Just like that, Notre Dame football fall camp is almost over.
Two weeks of practice are in the books. Within a week the Irish will switch attention from installing basic concepts to working on specific schemes designed to beat Florida State Sept. 5.
Head coach Brian Kelly has been through this process many times before. He knows what a successful fall camp feels like. He probably knows when one hasn’t gone great, too. From what he has said in three press conferences since camp started Aug. 7, it’s clear Kelly has been pleased with what has taken place so far.
First, he spoke highly of Notre Dame’s leadership in press conference No. 1 of camp.
“I think I can confidently say it's the deepest group of leaders that I've had here,” Kelly said.
That’s no small assertion. This is Kelly’s 12th season in South Bend. He’s coached what many would call outstanding leaders in that time. For him to say this is the best collective group of them he’s ever had, that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
But perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise, either.
Just look at the seven team captains. Senior wide receiver Avery Davis played quarterback in high school. He was a scout team running back in his first year at Notre Dame. Then he switched to cornerback. Now he’s a starting wide receiver. That’s a guy who has a lot of perspective to offer, and his teammates clearly respect that enough to make him a captain.
On the other side of the ball, senior defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa caught a red-eye flight from Hawaii earlier this week to get back to practice as soon as he could after mourning the sudden loss of his father. It goes without saying the amount of respect his teammates have for him too.
Those are just two examples of the leadership this Notre Dame team has. There are many more — enough for Kelly to “confidently” make the claim he did. Kelly hasn’t been short on confidence the last two weeks. That much was evident again on Aug. 12. He was nearly speechless when describing his team’s makeup.
“This is a very mature football team,” Kelly said. “For having some young players, their demeanor has been outstanding in the way they handle themselves. … Early signs show this team has handled themselves through the summer and through the first six days (of fall camp) that —”
Kelly paused as if he had numerous directions to take that quote.
“We’re having fun coaching them,” he finished.
Fun is an apt word to describe beating teams by four touchdowns or winning a close game over a highly-ranked opponent. It’s not usually an appropriate adjective for the monotonous grind of fall camp. Like Kelly calling this team’s group of leaders the best he’s ever had, there is plenty to take away from him starting a quote by praising the maturity of his players then finishing it by saying he’s having fun coaching them through fall camp.
This week, Kelly continued the compliments.
“I like the team,” Kelly said. “I like the way they come to work. They understand our process. If your process has been established and a standard of the way you do things every day has been met or exceeded, you feel really good because you know it works.
“We’re going to have to go make plays and there will be some tight situations and things will have to happen, but I think you know going in that when they meet or exceed the standards that have been set in this program you feel pretty good about your football team.”
He continued, “Overall, this group has done all the things necessary to prepare for having a great season.”
The season is just over two weeks away. This is the window on the calendar when fans tend to elevate their optimism levels. Kelly has given Irish supporters no reason to hold back from doing so. Still, every comment has been calculated.
He lauded the leaders, and with reason. He said he's having fun coaching this team. That might sound like nothing, but at this time of year it's certainly something. He said this team has met the Notre Dame standard so far. What's the team's mantra? "Graduate champions." Thus, the Irish have a championship standard. Kelly has certainly talked about this group as if it's capable of living up to it.
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka and @ToddBurlage.
• Like us on Facebook.