Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly Talks Seniors, Matchup With Virginia Tech
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly met with the media Tuesday and spoke about the matchup with Virginia Tech, the team’s injuries, Senior Day at Notre Dame Stadium and more.
Saturday’s game is set for 3:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on NBC.
Scouting Virginia Tech
The Hokies (7-3) enter Saturday’s game having lost last week to Georgia Tech. Virginia Tech needs to beat Virginia in its regular-season finale to secure the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division title.
Virginia Tech is under first-year head coach Justin Fuente. The new head man retained longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster, and together they’ve re-energized the Hokies.
“Defensively it’s what you expect from Bud Foster’s team, they keep the pressure on you,” Kelly said.
Kelly highlighted Virginia Tech’s ability to create negative plays on defense and get off the field on third down.
Offensively, the Hokies are led by junior quarterback Jerod Evans, and receivers Isaiah Ford, Cam Phillips and Bucky Hodges. Evans, Kelly said, is a lot like Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer in that he’s a big, physical runner who can throw as well.
“Tempo will be a key,” Kelly said. “They don’t play quite as fast as Syracuse, but they can play tempo. I mean they can move fast if they want to. And it’s a team that wants to be balanced in terms of running the football and throwing it.”
Injury Updates
Kelly gave updates to the status of Notre Dame’s injured players.
Senior wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr., who missed the Army game with a knee injury, is still day to day, while junior nose guard Daniel Cage’s status is still uncertain.
Cage, who suffered a concussion against Miami, has not played the past two games. Kelly said Cage is taking it day by day.
“So each day he’ll check with Dr. [Matt] Leiszler, and then we’ll determine based on how he feels where we take him,” Kelly said. “The next step for him is exercise and moving him through that and then from there into the practice setting.
“So as I mentioned with his meeting with Dr. [Jeffrey] Kutcher, everything is now him feeling good, and then when he feels good we'll get him moving.”
Senior Sendoff
Notre Dame will honor 28 seniors on Saturday, the final home game of the season. Many, though, still have eligibility remaining, which changes the dynamic on Senior Day.
“It’s less and less because we don’t have as many seniors that have used up their eligibility,” Kelly said. “I’m crying right now because I don’t have Will Fuller. He didn’t have a senior day. Jaylon Smith, Ronnie Stanley, KeiVarae Russell, is that enough? Those guys, you know, they’re all juniors, and they really didn’t have a true senior day. And then there’s a number of guys that have eligibility remaining.
“So it’s kind of changed a little bit. Where my first couple of years you knew who those guys were. Now it’s a lot grayer as to who is a senior and who’s not a senior.”
There are some seniors who have no eligibility remaining. Cornerback Cole Luke, linebacker James Onwualu, and defensive linemen Isaac Rochell and Jarron Jones will play their final game at Notre Dame Stadium.
Kelly said those players’ demeanor changes slightly on Senior Day.
“But it’s never been too emotional,” Kelly said. “It’s been just about right. That there’s been a good balance of really excited about a new chapter in their life. But a bit, after the game, certainly reminiscing and a bit emotional.
“And I’ve always talked to them about there should be great enthusiasm and that the emotion should kind of show itself after the game.”
And there are players with another year or two left who could not return next year. The logical candidates are Hunter Jr., Kizer and senior running back Tarean Folston. Kelly said he has a gauge on who might return, and has direct conversations with those players after the season.
Kelly said he hasn’t given any thought to if it might be Kizer’s last home game.
“But that would be another possibility, as well,” Kelly said. “When you have really good football players that have the opportunity to go to the NFL, that’s going to be a reality here at Notre Dame.
“I’d love for everybody to stay and use their four years of eligibility, and have their degree and do all that. But the reality of it is that those situations are going to keep coming up.”
Odds & Ends
• Kelly on his young defensive backs, who now transition from the option back to defending a conventional offense: “For two weeks we didn’t play any of our coverages that we rep all camp and essentially run for the first nine weeks of the season. So getting back to that.”
• On his senior leadership: “They’ve been resilient. That’s how I would put it. They have not cracked at all. They’ve been positive. They have been — they’ve worked harder than I would say any group that I’ve had, but as hard as any senior group that I’ve had in keeping this football team together, working hard every day. So you want their last home game to be a win.”
• On Hunter Jr.’s plans for 2017: “We all know he’s been drafted in baseball. Look, I think that if all of our guys have great options and they’re smart guys They’ll sit down and weigh their options and will make a decision and get it out to everybody once we know.”
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