For the first time since September 8th, or four days before the Duke opener, the No. 4-ranked Notre Dame football team has nobody in quarantine and/or isolation from COVID-19, per head coach Brian Kelly, during his Thursday meeting with the media.
From an overall health standpoint, Kelly indicated that only junior/slot Lawrence Keys III, who is in stage 3 of concussion protocol, might not be available for this Saturday’s game versus Louisville.
After having to postpone the Sept. 26 game at Wake Forest until Dec. 12 and having 39 players in isolation or quarantine before or during the Oct. 3 bye week, the entire operation was relieved to have an uninterrupted routine.
“This felt as back to normal as we’ve had, even more so than Duke week,” Kelly said. “This really felt like a normal work week that you would have during a non-COVID season. Our guys felt a lot more comfortable.
“We had had a number of tests where they were negative … that wasn’t the topic of conversation. It was ‘back to work,' from that perspective.”
That made for an overall more upbeat atmosphere in practice while preparing for 1-3 Louisville (0-3 in the ACC) this Saturday afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium. (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).
“When you have all your guys back, you feel complete,” Kelly said. “You’ve got your team together. You have depth, you have competition, you have practices that are a lot different, that are structured in a manner that brings that competitiveness out during your preparation.”
Part 2 of that is the practice reps were distributed far more evenly amongst the players, rather than one having to take the lion’s share.
“As we worked hard to get back, the workload was not balanced out,” Kelly noted. “We were getting guys back, but some had to carry a lot more of the load. Quite frankly, many of you didn’t know this, but it affected guys [and] how they performed on Saturday because they carried way too much workload.”
Finally, it created a reassurance in the overall program that the right steps are being taken in the best interests of everyone. This included what Kelly revealed was a “new testing procedure” over the weekend. What that was is unclear, but tests were administered on Sunday and Tuesday this time instead of the routine Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule (although linemen have been tested daily).
“They know that what we’ve put in place is effective,” Kelly said. “…Everything has come back clean, so they feel really good about the new procedures and protocols that were in place because there were no positives. That builds a lot of momentum within the group as well.”
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