Notre Dame Football Quick-Hitters: Brian Kelly On Fall Camp Day 1, Roster

Saturday was what college football is all about.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly strode into the media room on the north side of Notre Dame Stadium with a smile on his face. Around two dozen or more reporters — some seated with laptops and others behind cameras on a platform in the back — waited for him to settle in at the podium.

Most of them had smiles on their faces, too.

Football season returned to South Bend Saturday, and Kelly spent nearly half an hour recapping the Irish's first practice of fall camp. Below are some of the most important soundbites from Kelly's press conference.

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"This won't be a long, drawn-out camp. We'll make a decision after the first scrimmage (the sixth day) as to who the starter is.

"We feel like we got a pretty good sense of where this is going to go, and we want to make sure we make the right decision and give everybody the chance over the next week to make their case."

"It's a permanent thing. He's going to be our starting center. As we looked at a couple things, one — what's in the best interest of Jarrett Patterson first? He's one of the top centers in the country, and it's hard for me to take a player and really put him in a position that could affect him down the road. He's done so much for our program.

"Could we be better served if we put him at another position? You could make the case. But I think my feeling was we're a good football team with Jarrett Patterson at center, and it helps him in the long run playing that position."

"He brings other intangibles. He's smart, he's tough, he's athletic. The physical things he brings relative to the guard position certainly outweigh the fact he's not 325 pounds. There's the plus/minus there."

"I would not leave this conversation here and say (freshman) Blake Fisher is the starting left tackle. Here's what I can tell you; Jarrett Patterson is the starting center. And Josh Lugg is going to play for us. Those two guys are the veterans on this offensive line that I can commit to right now. Everybody else has got to earn their way. Those guys have earned their way with me and this football team. The other guys have some work to do."

“There was some kind of rumor that he wasn't cleared to play, and that hasn't been the case. Rumors start. Somebody thought something happened that didn't happen. We've had those happen before.

“Look, if somebody is off the team we're going to tell you. We're going to let you know. If somebody is not playing at Notre Dame, we're going to let you know. We're not going to hide that from you.

“If there is something with academics, I can't comment on it. But this isn't an academic situation. This isn't a drug testing policy situation. I don't know where this came from, to be quite frank with you. He's cleared to play and compete.”

"We're so deep at that position. I've asked Marcus (Freeman) 10 times how we're going to get all these different guys involved. I should sit next to you guys and we should put Marcus up here. I ask the same questions. He'll be up here. You guys can ask him a million questions.

"We're deep there. When you're deep at a position, you try to be creative. You're trying to look at situations where can somebody play situationally? Can somebody be in our three-down package? Can we maximize someone there? We're seeing the same thing you guys are seeing from that perspective."

"He's really emerging. He's long. He's athletic. He's playing with a lot more confidence. I think you have to add him into the mix there as well."

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