Transcript: Notre Dame HC Brian Kelly On Preparing For 3-5-3 Defense, More
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly spoke to the media today and touched on who will call plays in the bowl game, preparing for a 3-5-3 defense and more.
On why the team decided to practice inside the Camping World Bowl Stadium instead of a local high school field:
Kelly: "Well, I just think getting in the stadium for the first time, they haven't been here, just the logistics. A normal Thursday at home, we're in the stadium getting used to just the environment. So just normal protocol for our guys."
On how things have been since the team arrived in Orlando:
Kelly: "It's been good. I mean the facilities are great. Obviously, Camping World does a great job of taking care of the players and from our perspective, we get all the work necessary before we come down here and then it becomes repetitive in a sense in that we practice like we normally would during the season and then these guys get some downtime and are able to enjoy being together. We celebrated Christmas yesterday, I had dinner with the family, so it's been a good week."
On how focused the team is heading into the game:
Kelly: "Well, I think the focus needs to continue to improve. Obviously, you come down here, you're down in Florida and the guys are enjoying being here. They are preparing well, but these next 48 hours are crucial now as they begin their mental preparation and getting ready for a really good football team in Iowa State. I thought yesterday's practice was what it needed to be. Today their attention has got to be even better as we get closer to game day."
On if he feels sentimental knowing this is the last time he will get to coach many of the seniors:
Kelly: "Well, I just enjoy being around these guys. This entire group, the seniors, those that are coming back with eligibility remaining, they're part of the leadership group as well. They've done an incredible job of... their preparation in terms of week-to-week, 365 days a year. In terms of January and February, March, spring ball, the summer, all those things combined, we see that much more than you guys. You see the season.
"But just the way they've handled themselves throughout the entire calendar year and their preparation and preparing and representing Notre Dame both on and off the field, it's been fun as a football coach to be around these guys. So we want to take advantage of the next few days because they won't be with us anymore. And so we want them to be able to enjoy it. And the best way to enjoy it is to win a football game."
On letting his players know that Iowa State plays hard from start to finish:
Kelly: "Well, they've watched enough film, they've seen them play. You can tell just by the way, first of all, how they're coached on both sides of the ball. Then just the games that they've played, the competitiveness, every down they are physical and flying around and they've got a quarterback that when he's got the ball in his hands, they've got a chance to win. So our guys are smart. They've played a lot of football. They see really good football teams and they know regardless of what their record is, how good of a football team it is. Can't fool these guys. They know a good football team and they've got a lot of respect for Iowa state."
On who will be calling plays on Saturday:
Kelly: "I think it's pretty obvious that Tom [Rees] is going to call the play. I don't know that there's any secrets out there.
"There'll be collaboration as there has been. I think Tom will be in the box. He'll send the plays down through me and not that I'm going to be micromanaging what he's doing, but we've done a really good job of collaborating, all week and obviously, before we came down here in terms of what we want to accomplish, so I feel really good about it."
On if Rees has simulated calling games in practice:
Kelly: "Pretty much every practice has been dialing it up. Every single practice that we've had has had at least a 15 to 20 minute period of play-calling without a script, just to get that sense of calling plays without it being scripted, I thought was important. So we've had, What is this? The ninth, 10th practice, so we've had enough work in that respect."
On if Kelly can tell how Rees will handle the "art" of play calling:
Kelly: "No, you don't. There's going to be a first time for everything. Everybody gets the first time, you had a first time, you had a first time. We all had first time. What do you need to be prepared for that first time?
"I think you've got to have a, first of all, a great background leading up to this. I think he's got a great background leading up to this. He's been in this arena before. He grew up in this arena of college football, and, and he'll be well supported during the game. Obviously, in the box he'll be able to see the field and then I'll help him strategically. That's really the only thing is to make sure that strategically that we're doing the things that we need to do. But dialing up plays, we've got plenty of plays. We've gotta go execute them."
On what's the best advice he can give him as a first-time play-caller:
Kelly: "I just think don't be afraid to come back and repeat. Sometimes we want to touch all the toys and play with all the toys. There's nothing wrong with repeating and going into the things that are successful — make people stop you."
On the type of defense Iowa State plays:
Kelly: "It's more of a 3-5-3 look."
Which is very unusual, right?
Kelly: "Yeah. It's a different defense. Again, it has some complexities to handle the Big 12, right? One week, you're in five wides the next week you have play Kansas State. They have to morph into different looks. I think Coach Heacock has done a really good job of putting this defense together, where it has to be stingy against the run, but it also has to be able to handle a lot of differences."
On what allows Iowa State to be successful against both the pass and the run using a 3-5-3 defense:
Kelly: "Well, again, the teams that they're playing are not going to necessarily be in the top 20 of rushing offenses, either. Not to take anything away from them, but they don't see a lot of two tight ends. They don't see a lot of multiple tight ends sets. Kansas State was the one team that showed a lot of two-tight end sets against them. You've got to be able to pick and choose in terms of what you want to do against a structured defense that causes you some concerns."
On why the team will need to emphasis running the football against Iowa State:
Kelly: "Yeah, but I think, more importantly, we wanted to really work on ourselves, as well, in terms of who we want to be, what we want to look like in terms of a more structured running game and that's about us as well."
On if blocking schemes are more difficult for offensive linemen to handle going against a 3-5-3:
Kelly: "Just some of the things that they do. Their backers scrape over the top and you've got to do a really good job of finding guys that are hard to get to. We've got some challenges, but we have some personnel that matches up well against in terms of what they do as well. So it's going to be a good football game and it'll be one fun to coach and make adjustments as the game goes along."
On if there's anything, in particular, he's looking for in this game in terms of making offseason decisions:
Kelly: "The most important thing is to add to a talented offensive staff and rise everybody. That's the first thing. That will be job one and then job two will be continued to recruit. We've got an outstanding class that we're building on. We want to continue to work on that and we have some things in the works that we want to establish from a recruiting standpoint that changes our, I think view as it relates to national recruiting.
"We want to break out of the 15th ranked or the 10th ranked, and we want to get into that next echelon. And so philosophically we have to do some things to get to that level. Those are two of the most important things for me is to elevate our offensive staff with that person that will compliment. And then secondly, breakthrough that recruiting threshold, that I publicly talked about that we couldn't, but we need to. I think we have some things that we're going to implement that will allow us to do that."
On if he sees a top-5 recruiting class as possible:
Kelly: "I do now. I've changed. We're going to change the way we do some things that I think will allow us to do that."
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