Live-Bloggin' Kelly's Opening Presser

Two deep is very fluid right now. Questions marks are defensive backfield and kicking game. Kelly’s high on the OL.

Awful question. Kelly’s been traveling. We all know this. Suck an egg, Prister.

Kelly – Team hasn’t gotten into specifics with the team other than winning. Win win win win winny win win. Aslo, winning. There will be specific goals later, but not set up yet.

Kelly – ND is different, players are the same: Everyone wants to win. Kelly’s gonna do the same stuff as he’s always done developmentally.

Kelly – He’s improved leadership and fundamentals. His footwork is still a work in progress, but Kelly’s heard great things about his leadership. Now it’s time to develop skills.

Kelly – They’ve got a lot of work to do, but Longo has helped them get their work volume up.

Chris Stewart can do 23 chin-ups. He weighs 362 (???) and bodyfat is down another 4%.
Ian Williams has added 115 pounds to his squat 600, 315lbs and dropped bodyfat.
Ethan Johnson went from 395 squat to 550.

Bennett Jackson and Austin Collinsworth impressed in workouts.
QB’s will be looked at hard too just because they need to be ready.

Who’s gonna move to DB? Kelly’s gonna have to evaluate some players, but he’s gotta talk with the players first. Safe to say that some players will have to be flexible.

Start very basic, just enough to beat Purdue. Adding as they go along based upon Kelly’s discretion.

Kelly was surprised that many players knew nothing about ND’s history. Stupid question. Ask football questions, football reporters!

Kelly – Good defense is essential. Kelly will deal with the defense everyday, but he’s not coaching tackling. He’s got assistants for that. Kelly’s responsible for making sure everyone is getting developed so they can be taught good defense.

Kelly was excited with the fit of a lot of the players with his scheme. He likes Fleming as an OLB with his hand up, for example.

Physical-ness, gap assignment. He knows we can bring pressure on the edge with athletes.

McDonald, Poz, Paskorz for other ILB

Offensive line is jam-packed

McCarthy, Motta, Slaughter, Smith at SS and FS

Kelly – No. Very slim chance. Cwynar, H. Williams and Newman need to step up.

Kelly – Pays attention to detail and communication. Communicating precisely what the team wants to accomplish with every single practice/drill.

Kelly – Always looking to help his players gain a competitive advantage: nutrition, hydration, medical, weight-training are all crucial to development. Kelly will keep pushing that envelope.

We’ve made great progress, and it’s been much more flexible than he expected. Not met with resistance, but with helpfulness.

Kelly – Spring is the time to tell it like it is (not that he’s gonna sugarcoat anything now), but this is a new start. Kelly’s heard good things about summer workouts.

Kelly – treating every year like it’s his first year. Kelly wants to coach here forever.

Kelly – RB is a RUNNING back first. Need to run the ball in order to win every game. Four different styles between the current backs.

His knee is ready to go. No more uncertainties or concerns. No knee brace during the summer. It’s specifics time now.

“We’re here for our lady. We’re here to play for Notre Dame.”

Playing with passion, for teammates, for the university. The rest takes care of itself.

It’s already been handled internally.

Kelly – ND’s gotta protect Dayne a little bit, but they still gotta play smart with him. Can’t run him 20 times a game.

Kelly – I’m excited, we’re gonna be dynamic there. Tausch, Ruffer mentioned, not Walker.