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Quick-Hitters: Brian Kelly Oct. 8 Press Conference

Brian Kelly met with reporters Thursday for the final time before Notre Dame retakes the field after two straight weekends off. The Irish play Florida State Saturday night at 7:30.

Kelly revealed Notre Dame will be without senior defensive tackle Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and sophomore linebacker Jack Kiser.

Here is a recap of Kelly’s other comments.

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish football head coach Brian Kelly
Kelly and Notre Dame return to the field Saturday for the first time since Sept. 19. (Rivals.com)

On How To Handle Players Who Have Recovered From COVID-19

“They’re still going to be following the same protocols as everybody else relative to masks and social distancing. They won’t be tested for at least 90 days. But we do use them in a manner – for example – within a locker room setting, they’d be sitting next to somebody who’s non-COVID.

"We’re going to look at the potential positives on the back end of this that they’ve already gone through virus and aren’t going to be spreading it to somebody who does not have COVID. But they have to continue to follow the same protocols like everyone else, other than they won’t be tested. We will utilize the fact they have already had the virus, the virus is not infectious and we will place them in a position where they can help us, if you will."

On How Quickly Recovered Players Get Back To Full Speed

“When you come out of isolation, you haven’t worked out. After you’ve gone through your cardio, EKG and blood work, once you’re cleared, you’re brought back into physical activity at different levels.

“If somebody can make up the ground and still be competitive in practice, we’re going to allow him to still compete for playing time. If they’re that good a player, we’re not going to hold them back if the time away has not held them back. If you’re that good a player and you can go through having mild symptoms, go through that protocol of 50 (percent), 75 (percent) and still at the end of the day be as good if not better, you’re going to see yourself playing on Saturday."

On The Offensive Line's High Marks From Pro Football Focus

“It’s kind of what I’ve been saying since preseason camp. I don’t know there’s one guy where you’d say he’s the best player in the country by far. But as a unit, the five of those guys together is the sum of those parts. All of those guys working together, they’ve logged so many hours together that they pick up for each other so well, communicate so well.

"That’s what we’re talking about here, five guys working together. There’s not a better unit in the country where all five work as well together. That’s what we’re seeing more than anything else.”

On Braden Lenzy’s Desire To Be A Complete Receiver

“You have to be aware of that before you can be that. Where I’m proud of Braden is that he has embraced the fact he wants to be more than just a guy who gets handoff sweeps. He wants the complete passing tree and wants to run every route we have. He’s working towards that.

"I give him a great deal of credit for wanting to be that complete receiver. He’s not there yet, and he knows that. He’s working towards that. To have that mindset that he wants to be a complete player, that’s who I want to coach. We all want to coach guys who are award of where they want to go and how to get there.”

On Dividing Carries Among Five Running Backs

“I don’t know that you ever try to break it down and say these guys are going to get these carries when we’re dealing with five. They do have a sense of complimenting each other well at different times in the game. We’re committed to running the ball with a physicality but also we need guys who can catch the ball out of the backfield — I think having that versatile running attack has allowed us to go deep on the running back side.

“We’re committed to all of those guys and expect to see them all touch the football. But I believe the games will still dictate how those carries will pan out. We were in a pretty clean situation against South Florida where they were able to get a lot of carries.”

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