Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly met with reporters via Zoom Thursday afternoon for the final time before the Irish host South Florida on Saturday (2:30 p.m., USA Network).
Here are some of the things he addressed, including a few injury updates.
On The Status Of Safety Kyle Hamilton And Wide Receiver Ben Skowronek
“Kyle is day-to-day. He’s in a PPT program — prayers and personal thoughts are welcome. Bennett Skowronek is out with a hamstring. Those would be the two right now.”
On The Status Of Wide Receivers Braden Lenzy And Kevin Austin
“We had a good day with [Lenzy] yesterday. Hamstring injuries are such with skill players they have to feel comfortable, feel a sense of being able to run out and do the things necessary at that position. The big thing with him is his speed and ability to push it deep, get out of breaks. I think he feels that way now.
“[Austin] had his six-week scan. It showed good signs. He’s no longer in a walking boot. He’s on the AlterG [the anti-gravity treadmill]. He has begun a running progression. We’ll do a new scan, a low-radiation scan that allows you to do these scans every two weeks to see the progress. We’ll get one more scan done in two weeks. At that time, he could be cleared to begin practicing. Good progress.”
On Safeties That Could See The Field More Than They Did Last Week
“We have to be able to see a lot more of those guys on the back end of our defense. [Junior] Houston Griffith, certainly. I think you’re going to see [sophomore] KJ Wallace involved as well. He’s healthy from that preseason surgery and groin injury he had been coming back from. We like his presence back there.
“[Graduate transfer] Isaiah Pryor as well. There are roles for all these guys, in a sub-package, first and second down or in a rotation.”
On The Use Of Outside Zone Runs Against Duke
“We’re going to start with a base of what I want and what [offensive coordinator] Tommy Rees wants. Each coordinator has a sense of what they want and my input. [Offensive line coach] Jeff Quinn has a say in this as well. We start with the outside zone as our base play. We’ll start there. We have to have those other schemes. You can’t just be an outside zone play and that’s all you do. We have to run the outside zone as our base and come back with pins and pulls, counters and misdirection.
"Where are you going to begin your teaching progression and where are you going to start? We believe with the size we have, athleticism we have, the ability we want our offense to look like utilizing multiple tight ends, misdirections, boots and things we want to do off that, that [outside zone] is what we believe is our system from a running game perspective. You’re going see that as our base and we’ll work off that week to week.”
On Practice This Week And What He Wants To See Different Saturday
“We have to get off to a better start. Our practices have been really good, very purposeful, guys have been locked in. Flipping from a practice mindset to a competition mindset is a big difference. I’d like to get sharper there.
“We talk about four quarters of football. For us that’s get off to a better start, have an attention to detail. Our attention to detail wasn’t great at times, especially defensively. We gave up some uncharacteristically big plays, which is about attention to detail. The second half, which is about effort and enthusiasm, was outstanding. And we finished strong. Those are four quarters of football for Notre Dame, and that has always been our standard.”
On What He Saw From USF Last Week In A 27-6 Win Over The Citadel
“You don’t get anything from The Citadel in terms of what you’ll see defensively. That defense was set up to stop the triple option. You didn’t get to see Glenn Spencer’s defense. You’re looking at FAU film, Oklahoma State film to get a sense. You’re looking at last week’s film to evaluate personnel.”
“They had a number of players (12) out and unavailable. Who’s going to be available changes dramatically what the quarterback situation could look like. We have to shift just like we did against Duke and be prepared to make adjustments. This is a team that ran for more than 300 yards. we have to be really good against the run.”
On What He Wants To See Quarterback Ian Book Do Better
“More than anything else, [he was] probably a little too amped up. Just needed to settle him down this week. A little more patience in the pocket, too anxious to make some plays. He has had a really good week.
“From my perspective, watching him this week he fully understands how some of those smaller plays turn into big ones. He has to make those for us, and I think he will.”
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