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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 23, 2018

Brian Kelly

South Bend, Indiana

Q. What did you like about Ian's performance and the energy it provided your team yesterday and what do you think he might have brought to the offense that perhaps was lacking a little bit?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, obviously first and foremost the ability to move our offense we had only scored 24 points I think was our max output over the past six, seven games. So it was kind of breaking through that threshold. So first of all what did he do well was we were able to put points on the board and that obviously is huge. His ability to get the ball out to a number of different receivers and throw at a very high percentage, 75 percent completion percentage. And take care of the football. Obviously it's important to take care of the football as well. So I think it starts with putting points on the scoreboard, efficiency in the red zone, we were seven touchdowns in our trips into the red zone. I said we left a lot of points out on the board last week and in those preceding weeks. That's huge for a quarterback and leading the offense so I would say those are probably the biggest takeaways.

Q. Now the early kick off yesterday provided you an opportunity to get home last night to watch the Stanford/Oregon game and if you were able to watch it, did you find yourself at times being a college football fan instead of a coach the way that game moved along and how it ended?
BRIAN KELLY: I didn't watch the game. I generally, when I get home, I try to spend some time away from football. I do it all week. But I did hear about the game. I guess Stanford had a great comeback, so all it does is it puts two undefeated teams together and makes it for a great matchup this coming weekend.

Q. You started obviously Ian yesterday, was the plan all along this season to maybe get Ian comfortable enough to where you could start him, you started Brandon the first few games and then you felt comfortable enough with Ian to where you started him last week, was that maybe the plan this whole season?
BRIAN KELLY: I can't tell you that we are that smart that we had a master plan to all of a sudden unleash Ian Book in week four against Wake Forest. We were focused on beating Michigan in the pre-season, we were focused on the continued development of Ian Book, felt that both of them had the ability to help us win during the year, but it would be disingenuous of me to say that we were planning on this being the coming out party for Ian Book.

Q. Was there a moment during the week that you decided this was going to be the right time to start Ian? Was there like a practice or a comfortibility level, what was it that prompted you to go with Ian there?
BRIAN KELLY: Well on the other hand it wasn't just this week that we, you know, obviously this was something that was ongoing over, after the Michigan week and then certainly as we played Ball State and Vanderbilt, our team was maturing and things were falling into place. It's never one static moment, it's a fluid situation that you're observing the growth of your team and it just came to be that each day's a new day and as we got into last week felt like after spending time with the offensive staff I felt like this was the time to make the move last week to Ian Book.

Q. Talk about Armstrong. What did you like about him yesterday, because he caught a touchdown and he rushed one too. What do you like in his development in the Notre Dame offense?
BRIAN KELLY: I just, I love his competitive spirit. I love that he has a physical, just the physicality of his play, he plays hard, he can take a hundred snaps if that's what's needed he's in such great physical condition, and he's a youngster, he's just learning how to play the game, so you see that growth from play to play. It's fun to watch him. He's a fun kid to coach, he loves playing football, he's the guy that gets you excited to come to work every day.

Q. Talk about your rushing defense and I know next week you're taking on Love who is a very good running back and he's a Heisman Trophy candidate, so what do you guys got to do to stop him because you guys gave up 259 yards on the ground to a Wake Forest squad that was pretty decent in the ACC with the run and the pass.
BRIAN KELLY: Well, each week's different, as you know. We'll have to put together a plan to stop, obviously, a very good Stanford football team. So numbers don't really tell the whole story, but you're right, Stanford's a really good football team, you've got a number of really elite receivers that can go up and get the football. Costello is playing great, you have Love, a stout defense, and a team that believes that they can win regardless. I got a chance to look at their box score there, I think they were down 24-7 or 31-7 and they came back and won the game. So that's the biggest thing. And they have beaten Notre Dame. They believe that they can come in here and beat Notre Dame. So we have got a lot of things that we have got to overcome and we'll have to be ready for them.

Q. What was the recruiting process like with Ian? I mean he was a touted quarterback in high school, but California seems to have dozens of them. What, besides relationship, his relationship with Coach Sanford, what made Notre Dame want to recruit and offer Ian Book?
BRIAN KELLY: He was, one thing that really stood out as we got into the recruiting process, he was an early commit to Washington State and Mike Sanford was the lead recruiter on him. And what he kept bringing back was somebody that was so efficient in high school and everything that he did, are from running the football to leading his team to wins, captain, high percentage, and so as we kind of went through the process we just felt like he did everything so well that he would have been a great fit for our recruiting class because we had some home run hitters in that class and then we felt like Ian Book was maybe that guy that is doing what he's doing right now, a guy that could really facilitate and lead and it seems as though we were right in that regard.

Q. You mentioned at the end of your press conference that you wanted to kind of reserve the right how you wanted to use the two quarterbacks moving forward. I'm curious when it comes to Brandon, how do you keep him engaged and what are the things that you would like to see him working on, improving on as you move forward in practice?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think it's the age old question about engagement, right. You have one of two ways to go. I think Ian Book would be a great example, you know, was he engaged. And I think you would say a resounding yes he was engaged. He knew that he was going to contribute and Brandon knows he's going to contribute. So I think he's got the right makeup that he'll be engaged and prepared each and every week, so I'm not really concerned about that. And again we will see how each week goes. I think it's a very fluid situation from week-to-week and we'll make sure that he's prepared to play, just as we did the same thing with Ian and made sure we prepared him week-to-week. Was there another piece of the question that I did not answer?

Q. Yeah, I think you got it. Because I said what do you want him specifically to work on, where do you want to see his improvement at?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, on a day-to-day basis just to continue to facilitate the offense and continue to, obviously there were times where we felt like we didn't put the points on the board and so what is that, right? It's just high efficiency, continue to work on those little things within his game that he'll get a chance to do that when he's moving our offense in practice. So, yeah, he'll get a chance to continue to work on that and I think he'll take hold of that.

Q. From what I could see yesterday Trevor Ruhland looked like he had a pretty good game for you at right guard. I'm curious as you graded the film if you agreed and would that be a permanent change even if Tommy is healthy or how are you looking at your right guard situation?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, he was pretty active, liked the way he played. Wake Forest is not typically one of your bigger defensive fronts, so he fit very well against Wake Forest, especially they played a lot of seven technique, so we were pulling the guard into an open alley that was, you know, for us a good opportunity to get a guy out in space and he moves a little bit better obviously than Tommy does. Tommy is really good if you've got a big defensive line where it requires you to move some guys. So again I think that's a game to game situation as well. We're pleased that Trevor was in there and gave us the kind of play, Tommy will continue to play for us as well, but you'll see him quite a bit and we're liking the progress of Aaron Banks as well. Came in, played really well and I think we got a pretty good situation going on on that right side.

Q. Curious if you could sort of go through I guess some of the backups who maybe played extensive for the first time, if anybody sort of flashed for you at your first look at the game.
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, the Ademilola twins, really pleased with their suddenness, how hard they played, Justin and Jayson I'm referring to. They really kind of jump out at you on film. Pleased with their play. You know I think doing the little things, we always realize or are always what catches our eye with receivers is catching the football, but Kevin Austin blocking and getting after people on the perimeter was really quite nice to see for a freshman. That, you know, obviously that goes unnoticed by many, but I thought that was pretty good. TaRiq Bracy in special teams, outstanding. Those young players really showed up to me, those guys jump off the film for me.

Q. We talked a little bit about this yesterday, curious if you could add some depth to just sort of like what you guys were doing tactically on defense and sort of what Clark's plan was there to limit Dortch, give up something to take away something else and how you felt like that worked overall.
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I would say for me it was aggressive play that was executed very well and we frustrated number 3. So if you were to kind of put that in a story, that's what, that's really what happened defensively. That aggressive play that we had really limited what they were able to do. I thought it was executed well by our defense and then frustrating 3 was really important for us in this game plan. I thought the real keys here is that we were really good in the red zone defensively as well, forcing field goals and then to me, which as a head coach was a point of emphasis this week, was that three and out to start the second half and then getting the ball back offensively and scoring. That transition for our defense to get on the field -- we had not done that this year very well, that first drive had been problematic for us. So all those were really good signs for us.

Q. First a quick clarification. Was Ruhland in for Kraemer, Kraemer banged up a little bit or a performance thing, see what Trevor can do, maybe a little bit of both?
BRIAN KELLY: No, it was more of an ankle that he had suffered during the week. He stepped on a player's -- we were in a two-minute drill on Wednesday and he stepped on a defensive player's foot, turned his ankle and so he was really, he wasn't at a hundred percent. And Trevor was getting some reps at that position anyway and didn't feel like Tommy was at a hundred percent going into the game.

Q. Secondly, you mentioned that after halftime three and out yesterday and now Pete brought it up a little bit again, was that something, we discussed the offense not being effective enough throughout the defense, was there also a little bit when the defense performs the offense needs to reward it with a touchdown in some of the changes this week?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I mean I think that -- we hadn't been feeding off of each other. I think our defense had been doing some great things but our offense wouldn't compliment it and vice versa. So this was really the first time where I really wanted to make a statement at halftime where we needed to, special teams to kick the ball down there and get Dortch on the ground, which we did inside the 25 yard line then get him three and out and then score. It needed to be all three units coming together and we hadn't really done that all year, so, yeah, each unit feeding off each other for the first time was a big moment.

Q. Could you just kind of update the injured status on a number of people. I think Ja'mion Franklin got injured there and Cole Kmet and just the status that you received from the trainers.
BRIAN KELLY: Sure. Ja'mion will have a MRI done this afternoon. He's got a quad tendon injury. We don't know the severity of it until we get the MRI. He's showing some different signs right now, so we're, we need to get this MRI complete before we get any kind of further information on is it something that can heal on its own or is it something that requires surgery. We're not really certain right now. Cole Kmet, Cole is going to practice this week. He is an incredible young man and he's, that he's been able to heal as quickly as he has. We weren't certain where he would be this week but he's been cleared by our training staff to begin practice on tomorrow. There are no other players that will be restricted in any way going into weight training or practice on Tuesday.

Q. Yesterday it seemed you got Avery Davis a lot more involved, you seemed to be building that stable in the back field very well and to kind of segue off of it, what was it that Avery has demonstrated where you feel he can be contributing more and part two of it is is Dexter Williams available this week for the Stanford game to play?
BRIAN KELLY: You know Avery hadn't been given much of an opportunity -- had been practicing real well -- again he's part of that young group of players that just needs game reps and as we saw, the more he gets touches, the more you start to like what he's doing. He still has to build up an understanding of how to finish runs and things of that nature, but so does Jafar and Tony. So we think he's a guy that can really compliment the things that we're doing offensively, there's going to be a role for him, I think it gives us more diversification offensively, but it was intentional certainly to get him in there and get him some snaps and get him some experience. Dexter's been doing well, if he continues to have the kind of week that he's had the last few weeks, I would expect that he would be able to do something for us this week.

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