• Kelly confirmed that Kolin Hill had been granted his release to pursue enrollment at a school in Texas.
• Michael Deeb is being forced to “retire” from football do to nerve issues in his elbow.
• Mike Heuerman also received a medical hardship because of 2 hernias.
• On the “recovering from injury front”: Nicky Baratti has “come back nicely.” Joe Schmidt is fully recovered. Jonathan Bonner’s a “full go” for Fall camp. Jarrett Grace continues to make strides. Jarron Jones will participate in Fall camp although they might take it easy on the big guy, and Drue Tranquill’s got no restrictions after “attacking rehab like no player we’ve had here in quite some time.”
• Kelly plans to “go live” on special teams during fall camp, which is unusual, but because the team’s breaking in a new kicker and punter, he sees no other option.
• Will Fuller and C.J. Prosises were both mentioned by name as possible return men.
• Both Ishaq Williams and KeiVarae Russell are still awaiting final decisions from the NCAA about their eligibility for the coming season. Kelly stated the situations are different, so while Russell is being permitted to participate in Fall practice, Williams is being held out until the team receives more clarification.
• There was a lot…and I mean A LOT…of talk about accountability. Yes, between coaches and players, but more importantly: peer accountability. Kelly made a point of noting it’s tougher to tell teammates you screwed up than it is to tell a coach or parent. He hopes that pressure pays off.
• Kelly expects the offensive line and running game to be a strength. He referred to Tarean Folston as a “feature back.”
• Kelly sees it as more likely that freshmen playing on the defensive side of the ball will get a chance to compete for playing time rather than the offensive side where all the positions are stacked with depth/experience.
• The one noted offensive player mentioned by name who could contribute early is Alize Jones.
• Finally, maybe the most interesting note, to me at least, was the announcement that Justin Brent has been moved to running back for the time being. That decision was prompted by the Bryant suspension.

Guess the Topic: A great quote from BK, can you guess the topic? (answer at end of article):

 “It’s very important for us having not been able to really solidfy the #2 position in the spring for us to have that as a priority, if you will, as well as getting your #1 the proper reps, the #2 has to get a lot of work”

Gatorade Color of the Day: Yellow Gold

Kelly Wardrobe of the Day: Tans/Browns Gold. BK seemed to have a nice gold watch. A gold monogram lapel. A gold pocket square. And golden answers to some questions.

Coachspeak of the Week: I’m always impressed by the arsenal of canned phrases that coach-bots have at their disposal. Don’t have much to say? Add in a some coach speak. “Talk about Player A.” A: “He’s a real gamer. He’s excited and we think he could make a reason impact this year.” “Who’s your toughest opponent?” A: “Our next one.” Etc….This week’s best “coach speak” came when Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated asked Kelly to explain the significance of the team’s mantra this year “Culture beats scheme.” Kelly flipped on auto-pilot for a solid coach speak response:

“It’s not X’s and O’s. It’s not individuals. It’s not anything about singular. It’s “Team 127.” It’s the culture of this program, which means you hold each other accountable. You pay attention to detail. The mission is more important than keeping your guys happy. It’s really about that, and that goes to culture.”

What BK really meant when he said…

Finally, sometimes coaches have to be polite. They can’t say what’s really on their mind. Fortunately for y’all, HLS had a chance to ask BK what he really meant when he said:

When asked about whether this will be one of his best running teams, Kelly said: “I think we definitely have 2 of the elements that are required. One is a veteran experienced offensive line that’s physical at the point of attack, and a quarterback that can certainly even out the numbers. So, without knowing what happens, right, the first 5 games we might get teams that are putting 8-9 guys on the line of scrimmage and I’ve got a talented wide receiving corp and you’re just telling us to throw the football to them.”

What he meant was: By “8-9 guys on the line of scrimmage” I mean, like, if they have 8-9 guys on the field, maaaaayyyybe I’d consider running it. But 11 on 11? Run the ball??? LOL. I wish we could play with a Vortex football.

On whether they’re confident that Russell will be approved by the NCAA: “The information that I’ve gotten back from Jack Swarbrick and our athletic administration is that we’ve submitted everything. We feel confident in the information that we’ve submitted to the NCAA. And we feel very strongly about his eligibility.”

What he meant was: How embarrassing would it be if we screwed up a bunch of paperwork on this? I mean, who screws up paperwork? I wonder if there’s anyway we could cut a corner if we screwed up some paperwork…

When asked how happy he was with the team’s summer: “It was one where our guys…you know, I probably would have liked them to do a little bit better in the classroom, but overall they made good decisions. They were active in the community. They were attentive to all of the workouts. But I thought it was a very good summer from that decision-making standpoint other than maybe a couple of guys in the classroom.”

What he meant was: Did Jaylon Smith really intern with FIDM…or FIM…or whatever? What is this World coming to? I thought he was smarter than that.

When asked what Malik Zaire needs to improve upon: “He has a lot of thoughts going on, and sometimes a little bit too much going on. We really sometimes just have to get him focused on this simple phrase: “Do it this way all the time. There’s no other way to do it. Don’t vary from this.” And he’s getting better at that. Not because he doesn’t want to do it. He just has so much going on sometimes that we have to get him focused on “we just want you to do it this way.”

What he meant was: WHY CAN’T ONE DANG QUARTERBACK JUST DO WHAT I WANT AND NOTHING ELSE? THROW TOUCHDOWNS!!! DON’T TURN THE BALL OVER. GET ME A DANG BURRITO FROM CHIPOTLE WITHOUT ASKING WHETHER I’LL PAY EXTRA FOR THE GUAC!!

When asked about being the first coach to make it to Year 6 in a while: “Without being glib or wise-cracking for all those coaches that were here less than 6 years they all wrote books, right. They had many stories to tell. I’m on my sixth year. I could write several books with what I’ve learned.”

What he meant was: I’m being glib. And wise-cracking.

Answer to the mystery quote: According to my better half, he was talking about going to the bathroom.

The post BK Press Recap for 8-6-2015 appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

An academic committee has finally been formed. Should everything proceed according to plan, from what Kelly has been told, all hearings could conclude by next week. Of course, at the glacial pace this thing has progressed, “by next week” could just as easily transform into “by next month”.

You could read the frustration on Brian Kelly’s face every time a question was asked about the investigation. At one point, it forced him to make it quite clear where he stood in the grand scheme of things:

I’m not here to be the sound piece for our administration.

Kelly, however, understands that he’s also the only public figure answering questions about this topic at all. He knows part of the Notre Dame job means having to take these bullets even if it might piss him off deep down.

The frustration probably hit its peak when Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated (aka the ND Rivals site) asked Kelly for his opinion on the process in general. You could see Kelly gather himself in restraint to let the crowd know he certainly had an opinion on the matter, but he wasn’t going to speak about it. He knows better than the try and kick that hornet’s nest.

Sampson still tried, as any good reporter should, with a followup on whether or not the length of the process, and continued suspension of his players, made him believe they were guilty. As Kelly has stated in the past, he repeated that he did not have nearly enough information to make any kind of judgement on the matter.

The entire exchange with Sampson ended with Kelly quipping with a curt “yeah, my pleasure”, indicating that he might just be more relieved than his players once this is all said and done.

Of course, immediately after those questions, Kelly found himself faced with yet another one on the same subject, this time regarding why the parents of the players were kept in the dark. This lead Kelly to go into a long, sweeping answer of every question he could think regarding the matter in hopes to kill the line of questioning for the day.

Yes, he knows the parents are in the dark. It’s consistent with any other honor code violation at Notre Dame. The privacy laws demand it. Again, he isn’t a spokesperson for the administration. He doesn’t know what’s going on either. No, he isn’t aware of any vacated wins or any kind of NCAA sanctions. Read between the lines and you’ll see that he’s just as frustrated as you are that he doesn’t have the answers, but there isn’t anything he can do about and you are getting every last piece of information possible that he has.

That answer, of course, led to yet another followup question on the investigation and I wanted to hand BK a bottle of whiskey because I felt so bad for him. I know this all comes with the territory, but Kelly certainly took a full load of bullets at this presser, more so than usual on this matter. In a week in which there were major injuries and position changes to discuss, it was incredible so see just how much this topic managed to dominate the consciousness of the entire event.

I can only hope this finally concludes last week as Kelly (now) expects. It will keep us all far saner.

Position Changes/Injuries

As mentioned above, there was quite a bit of shakeup in the depth chart this week. While, Kelly said what was handed out to the press is probably a bit “premature” in its finality, it’s clear that there is a very serious desire to change things up along the offensive line.

As of now, the new starting O-line is as follows:

• LT Ronnie Stanley
• LG Nick Martin
• C Matt Hegarty
• RG Steve Elmer
• RT Christian Lombard

Lombard slides out to tackle and Elmer replaces him on the interior while Martin takes over the other guard position and Hegarty takes over the center job. The interior guard positions in particular appeared to be the major focus for Kelly. He mentioned on multiple occasions that he wanted the interior of the line to be far bigger and more physical, implying that he is quite unsatisfied with what the line has shown up the gut in the past few weeks.

Luckily for the Irish, of all these swaps, only Nick Martin has to learn a new position. According to Kelly, everyone else has the experience needed to take over their new roles.

Personally, I’m happy with this change because something had to be done about the poor performance of the running game. I’m hopeful that we will start seeing a bigger push up front against Syracuse.

In other depth chart news, Amir Carlisle is still out for next week which has bumped Torii Hunter Jr. up the depth chart as the backup slot WR. Hunter, who is recovering from a broken leg, will likely see his first action of his career this weekend.

Fun with 140 Character Limits

I love Twitter. It’s an amazing medium, especially for sports. It is also worse than a soundbyte as far as quotes are concerned.

While the press live-tweeted Kelly’s thoughts on night games and the unique challenges it poses to Notre Dame considering how many they have to play, his thought got broken up into the 140 character or less chunks. That lead to the national media, following only via Twitter to be quite confused and even scoff at the fact Kelly wasn’t fond of playing “nationally televised” games considering ND’s NBC contract.

Because context is important, here’s the quote in full (h/t to @anderwinn for saving me from the transcription process):

The biggest challenges for us are, quite frankly, playing on national television. Our kids get back at 3:30. I’ll just give you Purdue. Our kids get back at 3:30, got to be at study table at, you know, 4 o’clock in the afternoon and it’s, it’s a lot. We’ll have the same thing. We’re on national television. It’s wearing. You know, it gets to the point where you wonder: Maybe we shouldn’t play all these nationally televised games because it really puts a lot on these kids. We ask them to do a lot. It’s a very challenging academic environment. The ACC doesn’t do that to us. Notre Dame, by the virtue of its brand recognition, puts us in that position. The ACC has been great in terms of the scheduling because, you know, we’re not out on the west coast. The travel is pretty good for us. So I don’t think it puts any added stress on us from that perspective.

Now, if Kelly’s talking about getting back at 3:30, especially after Purdue, you know he’s talking about 3:30 AM which means he’s talking about the nationally televised night games. Should he have specified a bit better there? Probably, but anyone actually listening to Kelly’s full train of thought knew he was referencing the fact that ND has been playing an abnormally large amount of night games especially in comparison to other teams in the nation.

We are about to hit game four and three of those games have been in the primetime hour and only one of those games has been a true home game. Notre Dame will once again have another primetime affair with Florida State in a couple of weeks as well unless ESPN decides they hate ratings. That game will be followed by another primetime game against Navy. The game after that is at Arizona State and I’m sure that west coast affair will also fetch a primetime slot as will the Southern Cal game to close the season.

That means ND is looking at a potential 7 out of 12 games played in primetime. When looking at that kind of a schedule, and considering that academic issues are front of mind right now at ND, Kelly’s statement makes nothing but sense.

Context matters.

The post Questions on the Academic Investigation Dominate the Brian Kelly Presser appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

via @WatchND

Ever the politician, a plaid-suited Brian Kelly sidestepped a question ripe for opposing locker room material. Sure, the end of the Michigan series has opened the door for some very exciting future games for Notre Dame football, but he wasn’t about to proclaim it a “good thing” and provide Michigan with additional motivation.

Instead, Kelly called future games with Texas and Georgia the “silver lining” of no longer having Michigan on the schedule. Afterward, he looked to the eager press asking how he did in delivering the political response and even jokingly praised the reporter for doing a good job in phrasing his question for the potential trap. As the press conference ended, he stated with relief that he got through the thing without getting into any trouble.

And there was plenty potential for such trouble. Earlier in the conference, he refuted the idea that he would use the final Notre Dame/Michigan matchup as additional motivation for his team. Instead, he stated that he would frame the unique situation as an opportunity for his squad, doing his best to downplay the finality of the series.

But as calm and political as Kelly appeared on the outside, I couldn’t help but wonder what was really going on inside his head. Previously, he practically admitted that he was tired of losing to Brady Hoke. He’s been on the wrong end of the scoreboard and chicken comments. Somewhere deep inside, you just know this game matters more than he’ll publicly state.

Part of me wishes this presser went scorched earth on Ann Arbor, but, for now, Kelly’s cooler head prevails. Hopefully, drunk on victory come Saturday night, we get some of what Kelly is holding inside.

Presser Highlights

On Rice: Highlighted good predictors for victory, specifically +11 in field position, +2 in turnovers, and 9.0 yards/play. Mentioned that a “great effort” on special teams helped to deliver the great field position that the Irish enjoyed all game long.

On Michigan: Called Devin Funchess a problem matchup now that he’s moved from TE to WR. Noted that Gardner has “played great” against the Irish in the past and that ND will face a veteran defense. Later in the presser, Kelly noted that Michigan will heavily press his WR and that Michigan will deploy a very aggressive defense much like Brian VanGorder does.

On the academic investigation: There is still no update, but that could all change quickly. This is definitely Al Lesar’s favorite topic.

Injuries: Torii Hunter is out for Michigan, but could be back in time for Purdue. Kelly is “hopeful” in regards to Jarrett Grace’s progress, but notes he is still a few weeks out. Once healthy, Kelly is confidence that Grace can be thrown back into the mix immediately at LB and contribute for the team. Corey Robinson’s hand was a bit sore after the Rice game, but is fine and he is still a full go for Michigan.

On secondary communication failures: Kelly very delicately stated that VanGorder more or less chewed the safeties out for their failures against Rice. He stated that he “could hear our safeties communicating” while he sat in his QB meeting. While I personally love that kind of fire, it only works if the players respond to it and, by Kelly’s account, it looks like they are.

On James Onwualu: The converted LB got tons of praise during this presser. Kelly noted that Onwualu’s toughness and demeanor lead him and his staff to believe that he should get a shot at playing defense. After spring ball, VanGorder was sold. Later in the presser, Kelly also noted that Onwualu is someone that can be on the field for practically every snap, including special teams in which Kelly the day for that unit, largely in part for sniffing out the fake punt.

Where is Ben Councell? Kelly noted that the SAM LB position was largely unused against Rice because of how they spread the field. He noted that Council would see much more playing time against more physical offenses that like to deploy 2-TE sets. Based on what I saw from Michigan this past week, don’t be surprised if Councell sees more of this playing time that Kelly refers to.

Brian Kelly, trolling hard: The first thing he credited for the improved special teams play was the Irish’s ability to “stick [their] foot in the ground” thanks to the new FieldTurf. He admitted that he knew it sounded ridiculous, but I don’t care. Kelly praising the new turf, no matter how truly genuine, will always make me laugh.

On rotating punt returners: Cody Riggs is definitely the #1 PR, but will see split time with Greg Bryant based on how long Riggs has been on the field. Kelly stated that, especially with his secondary depth hurting, he needs Riggs out on the field on defense. If he thinks he needs a blow, he’ll run Bryant out there instead.

The post Brian Kelly Presser: Michigan, Opportunities, and Silver Linings appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Kelly came across as optimistic and eager. The new June OTA opportunities and Coach Paul Longo’s continuing efforts in the weight room have the team in position to get after things quicker than in seasons past.  The players reportedly are “crisper” and Kelly said that “we’ve handled the practice structure very similar (to year’s past) but we’re ready to move quickly and get into a higher level of competition with 1’s and 1’s and 2’s and 2’s if we need to. We’re starting as if we had no OTA, but we are prepared to really accelerate the process.”

Regarding the new staff, Kelly said they are all in and that “all the scripting is done.” All that remains between now and Rice is to get the players in on Sunday and head down to Culver Academy, where Coach Kelly “really likes the geography.” Culver offers two fields, one of which is FieldTurf. I note that neither Coach Kelly nor the media addressed cancer or blood pathogens in today’s press conference.

Coach Kelly also likes the proximity of Culver Academy to Notre Dame and the medical and laundry facilities that Culver provides, so that nothing needs to be brought in or waited on. While Shiloh was a “great opportunity,” Culver is “even better.” With just two hours for practice, Culver Academy offers much to the team in the remaining twenty-two hours of the day.

Coach Kelly was clearly excited about the talent he has coming into 2014’s “incredibly difficult” schedule. All players are in good academic standing and he is very pleased with where Jarrett Grace and Ben Counsell are in their returns from injury. Noting Counsell’s “violent hands,” Kelly thinks that he and Grace are “big” on the field. Incoming freshman Daniel Cage and Pete Mokwuah are three hundred pounders whose “volume is ahead of any freshmen that we’ve had.” The only question is what their football ability is. Coach Kelly said that “it’s time” for Ishaq Williams.

The offensive line is a definite strength. “Getting Christian Lombard back healthy has been huge. He’s healthy and strong and moving well.” With four returning starters on the O-line, the Irish are in a “good place.” With two quarterbacks who play off the same script, Kelly is eager for that to “trickle down” throughout the offense — a scenario that has not been there in seasons past. This should allow the offense to score more points, a need Kelly recognized, and to play faster. Golson is now learning the “why’s” of the playbook, while Malik Zaire is able to play “winning football.” Kelly wants him playing “championship football.”

The tight end position is solid and Kelly extolled both Durham Smythe and Tyler Luatua. Smythe in particular is a tough kid who battled Jaylon Smith in a “tire war” that showed a lot about his competitiveness and fire. Koyak “looks great” and is good to go.

At receiver, the Little Admiral had a great summer and Will Fuller will be used more. Tory Hunter looked impressive. DaVaris Daniels “has put on strength and muscle. He’s more mature. I saw some leadership. We want to see that every day. We’re seeing some really good signs of that, but taking it to the championship level means doing that every day.”

Addressing new DC Brian VanGorder’s approach and the defense, Coach Kelly noted that with VanGorder,  and the importance of scheme versus fundamental soundness, BVG “brings a unique talent for utilizing the individual talents of the singular players. This is where he and I are on the same page, and always have been.” Both coaches look to put the right player in place. Cody Riggs “is a leader and we’ve got him into shape.” Riggs will bring his SEC speed and experience to the corner and nickle positions.

Player losses include Niles Sykes and Tony Springmann. Springmann is done with football, having returned from a knee injury but done in by a back issue. As to Sykes, Kelly said that “it just wasn’t the right fit. He’s in a situation that he feels is a great situation. He’s a great kid. Nothing he did that put him in a bad situation (with Coach Kelly or the University). We wish him the best.”

Kelly also addressed where the program is heading and where it needs to be. Bottom line? Coach Kelly wants ND to be “part of the national conversation.” With 128 teams competing for four playoff spots per season, Kelly wants the Irish to have a “serious shot” at one every year. From his words, look, and demeanor, he clearly believes that he has the tools and the talent to take that shot in 2014.

The post IT’S HERE: Brian Kelly Opens 2014 Campaign with Presser appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

So, without further ado, if you please, Coach Brian Kelly:

The post Football is Back, Baby appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Louis Nix has got a lot in the Bank of Trust with me.

If you remember back to last year, and after Stanford and Oklahoma and Pitt I forgive you if you cannot, you will recall that at one point, Coach Kelly had a “mutiny” on his hands. After allegedly blaming the team’s lack of success on Charlie’s recruiting classes, Kelly had to deal with, and ultimately apologize to, a lockerroom divided as players took to the Twitter machine to vent their feelings. This season, though, there have been no losses to expose, or deepen, rifts between coach and player.

When I wrote about Coach Kelly coming into the season, I mentioned that this season had a different “feel” to it. In 2010, we were lucky to be 8-5. In 2011, we were 8-5 in a different way — I saw pieces falling into place and schemes coming together. Kelly’s response to the reporter’s question about Irish Chocolate captured another part of that feeling: I got this. In this his third season, with nine wins under his belt already, Brian Kelly can worry about keeping players off a reporter’s hot seat instead of keeping his own butt off one.

It’s not hard to have an out-sized amount of love for Notre Dame’s nose guard. @IrishChocolate9 is one of the more, if not the most, entertaining voices on the team. But on the field, he’s been a monster. Through nine games, Nix has tallied 34 tackles (10 solo) (4.5 for loss), half a sack, 3 passes broken up, 1 forced fumble and 3 QB hurries. In short, Nix is a young man with a bright senior season ahead of him, a bright NFL career ahead of him and, should he so choose, a bright career under the bright lights of Hollywood or ESPN or Fox.

It would be wrong, I believe, to suggest that Kelly has gone out of his way this season to stick up for or praise his players. Instead, I would suggest that this season has allowed this final piece to fall into place, a place where Kelly becomes a Holtz or a Stoops or a Snyder instead of a Weis or a Willingham. It would be easy for Kelly, or anyone else, to heap praise on Manti Te’o by simply sticking to the stats, but Kelly has sought to extol the man in Manti more than anything for which he, a simple coach, could claim credit. “There isn’t a better representative of Notre Dame” is not praise that fades with the white chalk delineating a field or the sharp sting of sweat and sock that marks a locker room. “There isn’t a better representative of Notre Dame” implicates the University — the name — the family — the whole.

Sure, there were awful, awful moments inside Saturday’s win: Tommy’s INT. Golson’s INT. The Fumble. The missed PAT. The missed FG. TWO DUDES WITH THE SAME NUMBER ON THE FIELD AT THE SAME TIME? Honestly? But, in the end, it was a win that came under circumstances that Notre Dame would, in recent seasons, quit. But this team never quit. This coach never quit.

So, as we stand on the brink of 10-0, then 11-0 (hopefully) and then, dare I say (dare! dare!) 12-0, are we not seeing the ultimate effect of a team and staff united in effort across all aspects (other than special teams, which are obviously in need of serious help)? Coach Kelly didn’t let the reporter explain himself and didn’t cut him any slack. Coach Kelly took a challenge, real or imagined, and rose to it. Let there be no question this season: this is his team, these are his players, and they have his trust. They are ND.

The post Chicken Soup for the Soul: Brian Kelly Stands By His Man appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.