TRANSCRIPT: Brian Kelly's Notre Dame Dec. 25 Update
Christmas Day was still a business day for Notre Dame as it prepared for this Saturday’s Camping World Bowl versus Iowa State (noon, ABC-TV). However, pleasure was mixed in when presents in the form of scholarships to senior running back Mick Assaf and junior center Colin Grunhard were distributed.
That was the main topic when head coach Brian Kelly met with the media prior to Wednesday’s practice. Here is the transcript.
On Assaf and Grunhard:
“Two guys that have worked really hard in our program. We have a period here where we have a couple of scholarships for the semester and the summer, so we’ll put them on aid for the rest of the academic year."
On letting Assaf know before the Boston College game that it could be a possibility:
“These guys have plans. (Assaf) is going to be very successful. He has his own start-up company right now, and he can do some other things. But he’s very valuable to us too. He performs a lot of roles for us, from special teams to scout … (roommate) Ian Book’s private Uber driver. He’s just a valuable player, well liked, well respected by the coaches and myself, and so we thought it was appropriate to reward him. …
“He hugged me, almost broke my rib, and I almost took the scholarship back. The guys, the reaction was what we thought it would be — overwhelming support from his teammates, and that’s the kind of kid he is.”
On how the two scholarships don’t necessarily carry over into the 2020 fall semester:
“This is really rewarding them for the work that they’ve done. There is a gap here of guys who have left the program where we have aid that can disseminate to guys that have really earned an opportunity to be rewarded.
"This is still real money that they have to pay out of their pockets, and it really helps them with this semester, into the summer, and then we’ll see where we go from there.”
On how crucial Wednesday’s practice would be after the first night on Dec. 23 was more about taking in the scenes of Orlando, Florida:
“The night before (Dec. 23) was their night to go out and kind of see Orlando, sow their oats and reward themselves for a pretty good year. It’s kind of been my way of organizing our bowl trips to give them that.
"Bowl trips — not playoffs. That was different. But in bowl game operations we’ve kind of given them that first night and go out and be college kids — and they were college kids. And they practiced (on Dec. 24) like they were out late.
“Today I challenged them that they have to be mature and professional with the way they do their business, and I expect they will."
On whether there was a curfew last night:
“There was, 11:30. It was appropriate and they were all back. I think the last shuttle came in at 11 o’clock. They’ve been great all year, so they’ve earned it and they deserve it, but they know they have to come out here and they have to practice.”
On how it never gets old to reward walk-ons with scholarships in front of the rest of the team:
“No, because it has to be right. It can’t be contrived. They have to have earned it, and their teammates have to see this is real. In other words, these guys deserve this opportunity, and the response that we got from their teammates was obviously appropriate, that they in fact have the respect of their teammates. So it doesn’t get old from that standpoint.
“If you just do this to do it, to get a rise out of the team, then you’re just doing it for social media hits. This was really about two players that have earned their opportunity, and because we had some flexibility in this period of time, it just worked the right way. And then when you throw Christmas in there, they’re all kind of timed up the right way.”
On his perception of Iowa State when he interviewed for the head coaching job 13 years ago and how he feels now:
“It seemed to me at that time with a new athletic director in Jamie Pollard there was a vision for where they wanted to bring their program. There was a want and desire to build facilities, to compete and challenge and to not just be a regional program but be a national player.
"That was kind of my sense early on. The president was involved, there seemed to be a commitment from top to bottom, and that was a little bit of my take away from it.”
On Iowa State using the tight end position so much (72 catches for 949 yards, 10 touchdowns, led by second-team AP All-American Charlie Kolar) and the challenge it presents the defense:
“It’s a similar situation that we have. It’s matchups, the ability to play-action pass, get those big bodies on linebackers in space. We see it with Stanford, we see it with other teams that we’ve played, Boston College in different seasons.
"They're challenging matchups when you have those kind of tight ends that are used effectively in their passing game.”
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