Brian Kelly is on to Louisville.
The Notre Dame head coach spoke with reporters Monday to wrap up the Irish's 42-26 win over Florida State and preview the Saturday game against the Cardinals (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC). Louisville is 1-3 and 0-3 in the ACC after a 46-27 loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 9.
Kelly noted junior linebacker Paul Moala is out for the season after he tore his Achilles against Florida State. He was the primary backup to Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah at rover.
Here are some of the topics Kelly addressed.
On The Defensive Performance Against FSU
“It’s not the kind of defense [coordinator] Clark [Lea] has put out there or the kind of defense I want to put out there. There were some factors that were unique in that we had a lot of those guys who were not practicing during the week, and it showed. You have to practice this game to be at your best.
“There were some uncharacteristic defensive lapses that occurred that we don’t normally see. We’ll address those. Our guys are aware of them. They’ll be corrected for this weekend.”
On Kevin Austin’s Workload
“It’s an interesting confluence. We’re trying to bring Kevin back and at the same time we’re trying to elevate [fifth-year senior wide receiver] Javon [McKinley] within our offensive structure. In one sense, we want to get Kevin back in the mix, but we don’t want to take away from the success of Javon. We’re trying to feed him in the sense of building his confidence. It’s a tricky situation for us.
“Kevin is now at the mark where we feel like we can put him in and not have to worry about his numbers and how much he’s playing. You’re going to see him in the game at the same time as McKinley. They had been working at the same position. Now it’s going to be a very competitive situation during the week of practice.”
On The Trust In Kyren Williams And Chris Tyree
“Both of their ability to pick up the tough yards. They’re both willing to run inside the tackles. If you look at Kyren in particular, his rushing yards after first contact are pretty impressive. In some circles, you may say he’s not very big. But he plays big.
“Tyree, we’ve been impressed with his patience. One of his long runs on an outside zone play was cut back underneath on a tight end wing block. That requires a lot of patience, confidence and trust. You usually don’t get that with a young back. They become impatient and want to bounce it outside.
“There are a couple categories that don’t usually occur until there are a lot more carries and a lot more maturity. One is yards after first contact and the second is patience and trust Chris Tyree shows in running the football. Those have been differentiators in running the football.”
On TaRiq Bracy
“He got stronger. One of the things that was priority number one was we felt like he needed to be a little more explosive out of his break. He got his weight up to over 180 pounds, got stronger in his lower body.”
“His one-on-one tackle on a big, physical back coming out of the backfield where he was able to neutralize, flatten out that back and run him out of bounds…He probably would have went for a low tackle on that at the ankles last year. This year, he feels a lot more confident in his ability to physically neutralize a bigger opponent.”
On Owusu-Koramoah’s Less-Appreciated Traits
“His ability to cover man-to-man. From a size standpoint, he’s closer to 220 than 215. He can play the slot man-to-man, play a skill player man-to-man. That’s having a linebacker playing a skilled receiver man-to-man. That’s a great tool to have.
“In our sub-package, you don’t take him off the field. He has been an effective pass rusher in our dime package. He just gives us a lot of versatility as a guy that can play on all downs for you and do a lot of different things. He’s on our kickoff team. He does a lot of different jobs.”
On Left Tackle Liam Eichenberg Returning After A Hit To The Eye
“All of our guys in the locker room after the game, they had a lot of respect for him anyway, but it solidified the kind of respect they have for him as a leader. He had it from the guys who he goes against, the defensive linemen.
“When you see guys like cornerbacks and guys who he doesn’t see a lot go up and talk to him, you can tell that had an effect on other players in our program.”
On Paying Attention To The ACC Standings
“Not really. I pay attention to the teams that are on our schedule coming up. I know Clemson’s good. The other teams that we play, certainly, Louisville. We live such a one hour to one hour, it’s hard to get out in front too far of what we’re doing.”
----
• 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, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @MasonPlummer_ and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.
