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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 2, 2018

Brian Kelly

South Bend, Indiana

COACH KELLY: Good afternoon. Just a quick recap on last week's game. Our players were certainly prepared and confident and they displayed that. I think what we were looking for was a consistency in their performance.

We think we've got that. Now we've got to be able to do that on the road against a quality opponent and in an incredible atmosphere at Lane Stadium, which is something that we knew we were going to face and have gotten to that point where now we get a chance to work on the things that have been embedded in our program over the last seven months in terms of handling these tough environments.

So, again, excited about how our team has kind of come together over the last few weeks -- offense, defense and special teams. And I think the word that I would probably, of all that you try to search and find for your football team, is it's beginning to complement each other.

The offense is complementing the defense. The defense is complementing the offense. And certainly the special teams is part of that. And that certainly wasn't the case early in the year. So when each unit is complementing each other very well, you're playing usually very good football.

So we move on now to Virginia Tech, a very good opponent, a top 25 team. Excellent win this past weekend against a really good Duke team. Well-coached. And very good defense.

And so for them to bounce back after what I'm sure was considered a disappointing loss from their perspective, to go on the road and play as well as they did, tells you a little bit about how their coaches, Coach Fuente and certainly what Bud Foster was able to do defensively to get that unit to play at such a high level after giving up more points than they normally do, to come back and shut down a really good Duke offense.

When playing Tech, obviously everybody wants to look toward their defense and rightly so, and we'll get to them in a moment. But I think Virginia Tech has really shown under Coach Fuente the ability to score points and they're doing that again this year.

Offensively, they've had an injury at the quarterback position. But you wouldn't know it. Willis has come in and done a really, really good job talking about Ryan Willis coming in. And he's a big athletic kid, transfer from Kansas, that has got escapability and real arm talent. And it's complemented again from their perspective by having really good wide receivers, a good host of wide receivers. And I think they're 17th in passing efficiency. He's a really solid quarterback. And he's a veteran presence.

He's a guy that's played in the Big 12. He's seen it before. You can see, in watching film, he's not rattled by the moment out there. So when you lose your starter, you wonder what you have. And they're very fortunate to have Ryan go in there and play at a high level.

The running back, obviously, McClease, is extremely explosive, big play kind of back. Peoples, they bring in Wheatley, they bring in a host of backs. Their fullbacks we know very well, are part of their offense. Their tight ends.

But I think you would look towards also the receiving corps with Hazelton, Grimsley, Kumah, those guys are -- it's a really good group with great size.

I think, again, everybody wants to jump to the defense, and Coach Foster has earned that respect over his career and what he's been able to do, but Virginia Tech puts points on the board and that allows you to do a lot more from a defensive structure.

And when you talk about doing a lot more, Coach Foster can do about everything from a defensive standpoint. If you watch their film this year, they've shown you everything, from double eagle, Bear defense to their structured invert defense, four down, to drop eight, to cover-zero pressure. So this past week we saw a lot of coverage. Drop eight, the week before, we saw a lot of pressure.

So you have to really prepare for a lot. And there's a lot of moving parts to their defense. One of the best parts is Ricky Walker, their defensive tackle, extremely disruptive and multi-year starter, really good football player. Gaines on the outside, leads the teams in sacks, athletic player. And they run to the football. They're athletic and they play really hard.

So special teams, they still have that "Beamer Ball" mentality. They get after kicks. They're aggressive in special teams. And of course the environment in Lane Stadium. Everybody knows about "Enter Sandman." It's a ritual there since 2000 where they really get that place rocking.

Our job is to handle the environment and go in and play really good football. If we do that and handle the environment, handle ourselves and our preparation, we'll be in pretty good shape. If we can't handle the environment, we can't prepare the right way this week because we're distracted because everybody's telling us how great we are, then we'll be in big trouble. But this team's shown an ability to prepare the right way, a maturity to stay away from the distractions.

We've been preparing for this kind of environment for quite some time. So I'm confident we'll be able to handle the moment when it comes.

Q. I know on Sunday you had a pretty good idea what was going to happen with Alex. Can you put a finer point on Bars', what he faces in terms of rehab, what exactly the injuries were? And can he stay connected with your team as he's going through the rehab?
COACH KELLY: Oh, absolutely. He'll have surgery next week. And obviously the prognosis is such that we're not expecting anything that is outside the normal ACL/MCL surgery procedure. We had a captain's meeting, which I always have at 6:00 on Mondays. He was part of it.

He'll continue -- he won't be able to travel with us this weekend, but he'll travel with us. He'll be with our football team. He's an important part of what we do. So he will stay connected, absolutely.

Q. With Liam Eichenberg, I imagine it was a tremendous asset having him next, not just from the physical standpoint -- Alex is one of your best players -- but from a knowledge standpoint. How do you feel like Liam has progressed with that? Do you feel like he's kind of ready to kind of take the training wheels off anyways? Where do you feel like he is?
COACH KELLY: I'd rather have Alex Bars next to him. But he certainly has progressed each and every week that he has gotten more snaps. And we knew that would be the case. We're going on our sixth game, halfway point. And I would grade him as somebody now that is playing with somebody that has six snaps under his belt.

He's still a first-time starter, but has made the progress that we see as commensurate with a guy that has six snaps under his belt.

Q. I believe he played against Virginia Tech maybe your middle year at Cincinnati in a bowl game. And if I'm not mistaken you visited with Frank Beamer maybe a time or two.
COACH KELLY: Yeah.

Q. His fingerprints still seem to be there on that program. Can you enlighten us a little bit about what he's about, what he's built there at Virginia Tech?
COACH KELLY: Well, first of all, continuity. Somebody that's been there for such -- was there for such a long period of time and built a program. So consistency, continuity of approach in the way he did things on a day-to-day basis, I think.

He's a gentleman, first of all. I always admired the way that he handled himself both on and off the field. He was always approachable. I was a Division II head coach and just moving up through the ranks. He was always somebody that I was on different committees. He wasn't somebody that was bigger than life, always had that down-to-earth kind of quality to him.

So I've always respected Frank. We played in the Orange Bowl. And got a chance to know each other a little bit better from that experience. And we always seem to run into each other at different events. So, the honor that he's going to be bestowed upon with the statue is certainly well-deserved.

Q. I know on Sunday you felt like you'd have to take it easy with Tony Jones, Jr. with the ankle. Any update?
COACH KELLY: The treatment's gone well. I think he's probably better than we at first indicated or thought. We'll see how he goes today. But I think that after talking to our trainers and Tony, I think he's in a really good position to get after it today in an aggressive manner on a Tuesday. So better than had been forecasted.

So with Tony and Dexter, Avery, and then we'll call up some reserves with C'Bo and Jamir. So we'll have a good stable of backs there.

Q. Referring to the Virginia Tech environment, how much do you address the Miami situation with your team last year?
COACH KELLY: Haven't talked about the Miami situation since we left Miami. It's been much more about environmentally handling the situations that will come before us. We certainly use that situation to create the situations that will come before us over the next few games that we have in front of us.

No, we haven't gone back to the Miami situation, other than creating opportunities for our players to handle the moment better.

Q. How do you prepare for that other than putting noise into your practice scenario this week? How do you literally prepare better for going into that situation?
COACH KELLY: We have a big screen here. There's plenty of video to show what that environment's like. So our guys are well-accustomed to what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like. They know there will be a lot of Orange. The decibels will be loud. They'll be reminded of it during the week. So they'll be much more accustomed to the situation.

Q. Do you feel like -- and maybe not your entire team -- but do you feel like the players were a little bit caught off guard by that environment last year?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think I was public in saying that I don't think I even handled it the right way and giving them enough information about the situation. I can't be caught off guard. And maybe I was the one that was caught off guard because I didn't prepare them the right way. We won't be caught off guard going into Lane Stadium.

Q. You mentioned you had a captain's meeting. What's your message to Sam Mustipher now that he lost the captain to his left on the field? Did you have a conversation with him about that?
COACH KELLY: You know, some of those things are how we pick up things that Sam can't actually do for us on a day-to-day basis. So he can handle things as they relate to offensive line play and communication. It's really more about managing some of our swat teams and more specific things. It's not really, you're losing somebody on the field that we need to replace as much as there's some things practically that he can't do because he's going to be going through rehab.

Q. Ruhland hasn't played a lot. He only has the one start. But how much can you rely on him to assist Mustipher in the communication process?
COACH KELLY: Well, you know, his bones have been made by playing center. So by nature he's had to be that kind of player -- one that has to communicate, one that has to call out front.

So it makes it for a pretty good situation where you can plug him in, and that's kind of how he's been coached and taught. So he does a really good job of that. When we put him in against Wake Forest it was extremely seamless. In that situation, we expect the same.

Q. Getting back to what Tim asked you about the noise level and stuff like that, preparing for the trip, will the southeast portion of campus be a little loud these next couple of evenings?
COACH KELLY: It will be as loud as allowable. On campus we have some restrictions, but we'll -- you'll definitely know that there's a practice going on. There's no doubt.

Q. The other question is about Ian Book. What have you liked, what he has done in the first couple of games and what kind of areas do you think he needs to improve in?
COACH KELLY: Those are easy questions. Certainly we could be here for a long time or a short time. The short time would be I like that he wins. The more in-depth would be he has certainly created a confidence level amongst the entire unit. And whether it's escapability, where he can sense the rush and that builds a confidence level with your offensive line that they know that even if they maybe don't sustain a block, that they're going to be okay. So I don't have to grab or hold.

Wide receivers knowing that they're going to get the football in a position where they can run after the catch. I could go on and on and on. But he's won football games.

What can he do better? I think every single day it's continue to prepare for the next opponent, because it's a clean slate. So that preparation part for a quarterback is really big. And he hasn't been at it very long. So the ability to come in each week and really lock in on that next opponent and then take what he's learned and bring that with him. That's work in progress.

So I don't know that there's one specific thing that we'll be working on with him as much as making sure that he stays on track to continue to grow each day.

Q. More on Book. How did Stanford defend him differently than Wake Forest? You just look at where the balls were out -- seems much more like intermediate on Saturday versus short against Wake Forest. And is that significant for him to beat a defense by executing a different style of pass game?
COACH KELLY: More of a defensive structure where they're a 3-4 defense. We got into some trouble last year where there's a drop into the boundary and there's some more potential traps to your short throws against a Stanford than there is against a quarter team that plays four down in Wake Forest.

A lot of that is structural. A lot more of those open spaces were intermediate throws. And we were very diligent during the week to make sure that we weren't going to get throws trapped. And if he couldn't see it, take off; we weren't going to put the ball in harm's way.

Q. There were a couple throws -- I think they were both to Boykin -- where he's sort of like, I think the term is drop it in a bucket, like right over a linebacker. How difficult of that is a throw, how difficult of a throw is that to actually make?
COACH KELLY: Well, he's gotten a lot of work on those throws. And I think this is kind of something that we've talked about earlier is that he's gotten a lot of reps with him. So it's not like a first-time connection with him.

So, he's had a lot of those throws. And he's been really effective with it. So we went back to the passing game that he had been effective with in spring and in preseason camp, and he's been good on that back shoulder throw.

Q. The (indiscernible) period we saw in spring and fall, I think every time we were out there Brandon was the quarterback. How many times was Ian on the field for that kind of stuff?
COACH KELLY: He's been part of it twice because we have a second part of that. So he's been part of it. It's more of a recognition of the environment and you understanding that you've got to mentally lock in and understand that you're going to have these moments and you've got to control your emotions and focus in on what's most important now. So it's really just been a trigger point for our guys more so than trying to execute a particular play.

Q. With your defense, the nickel back position, Houston is young, learning, talented. What do you think he's gotten out of the last five weeks? What's the thing you need to get done with him right now heading to Virginia Tech?
COACH KELLY: Technique. Technique. Technique. He's got to be technically -- he's got to hone those skills. He's very talented athletically. But that commitment to a technique that is necessary to really continue to advance at that position.

Q. Cole Kmet, can you explain the challenges of juggling two sports in the spring, what he was up against?
COACH KELLY: Well, my biggest concern always has been the ability to handle it academically. He had a 3.6 GPA. So the challenges are immense if you're not capable.

He handled them because he's a very unique individual. So once that's handled, it's just good communication. He's a great communicator. He talked to Mik Aoki more than I talked to him, because he wanted to make sure that the communication flow, when he was pitching, when he wasn't pitching.

I think I probably mentioned this a couple times: He came to me a couple times where I don't think Mik was crazy about him scrimmaging one day. He said, I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I can scrimmage and sit in the dugout for six innings before I come out.

He's just a mature, very unique and mature young man who has been able to handle his academics and play in two very, very competitive sports. You don't find many like him.

Q. Jerry Tillery, you talked about in the preseason about how really his whole career here has been kind of a journey. How and how much is that storyline still unfolding?
COACH KELLY: Well, it's unfolding at a different rate now. This year certainly there's the one story of the development of him as a football player much more now that he's completed his degree.

And, in particular, somebody that's moved positions to three technique and within that his pass rush. So this is much more of a football piece to the story than it has been at any other time.

But his impact as a leader in our football program has probably elevated itself because his work ethic is so much better than it's ever been.

Now, part of that is he doesn't have the same kind of load. But he's here to elevate himself in that regard after finishing his degree. And he's done a great job of that.

Q. Drue Tranquill has taken the to the buck position, but you must have had confidence (indiscernible) would allow what you needed at the difficult rover spot. Where has he grown (inaudible)?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, it's just instinctual awareness. He was always a very talented athletic player but maybe lacked some of the instinctual kind of traits at that position.

I think our staff's done a really good job. I think Nick Lezynski has done a really good job of really spending time with him on recognition of plays. So this has really been -- I remember as a first-time starter, as Eric talked about in terms of Liam, I mean, he's got five games, maybe less, under his belt because he didn't play much against Wake Forest. And we're seeing a player starting to now see things differently than he did before because he just didn't have a lot of playing time.

Q. (Indiscernible) seems like he's kind of fighting, constantly fighting through an ankle injury. Does he need more than that bye week can get him? Are you considering giving him like a lighter load or time off because he seems to come up every game with an ankle injury?
COACH KELLY: We were considering it but we talked to him. He likes the applause he gets when he goes down. (Laughter). So we were confused why he went down so much. Now that we know that we're fine. He's just interrupting the flow of the game. (Laughter). Certainly he could use the bye week. I think the bye week would be good for him. But he's a tough kid. He'll come back out and he is going to practice hard even if he's a little dinged up. But he's going to get three or four days in the bye week and that will have to be good enough.

Q. How would you describe the way Jalen Elliott's played so far this season, and what areas have you identified where he still needs to improve?
COACH KELLY: We had a meeting Friday night. We meet Fridays in the hotel. And Clark asked the defensive players some pointed questions. And he was telling the three technique what his assignments were, literally. It's amazing his depth of knowledge of our entire defense. And that has shown itself in terms of his ability to communicate and he helps out a lot of people on that defense.

We had two mistakes that led to scores and he was trying to get them fixed while they were occurring. So just that knowledge base and that voracity for wanting to be so into the defensive structure has been amazing. He's got to continue to work on man-to-man coverage skills, all those things. But, you know, I gotta work on a lot of things too.

He is who he is and we love him as part of our defense, and he's really grown as taking what his strengths are and really running with them.

Q. Would you say he's a very excitable player or is he more low-key? I ask that because he's going pretty close to home this weekend and I'm curious how that's potentially impacting him either positively or negatively.
COACH KELLY: He's got a strong mental game, because he's a high-strung person, very energetic person by nature. When I say a "strong mental game," he's able to harness that and really focus when it comes time to play.

So I think he does a really, really good job of putting that together when it's time to play.

Q. Last week you had said you didn't envision Dexter necessarily carrying the ball 20 times. Obviously I'm sure Jafar's injuries played a role in that. Curious how he came out of that, how fresh he still feels, and how hard do you think you guys could ride him if you needed to this week?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, he's doing pretty good. I mean, again I wasn't certain what we could do with him relative -- I was counting on if we could get eight, ten max we'd be in great shape. But to his credit, he really worked hard to be in the best possible condition to go in there and impact.

So I think -- I don't think there's any restrictions in terms of what he could do for us moving forward now.

Q. To follow up on Dexter, what's his energy, that juice that your players talk about, what does that mean to the offensive unit? And what's it been like for his mom to be around and what is their relationship like and how did that keep his spirits up in this period?
COACH KELLY: Well, she's the matriarch of that family. I remember recruiting Dexter. And Dexter's home was kind of the safe sanctuary for all the kids in the neighborhood. So she would have -- I know when I visited that home -- 10, 15 kids in that home, just because it was a safe sanctuary. And she was the matriarch of that neighborhood.

So there's a very strong relationship there. If I have ever had a problem, I just call her and it gets fixed like that. There's no debating when it comes to his response to his mother.

Certainly she's going through a difficult time right now, but she's very strong and inspirational to Dexter. His fight to get back to where he is is certainly personal. But family had something to do with it as well.

Dexter's always had that personality. But he's now I think just in a better place, a much more mature person that is now able to bring that on a consistent basis day in, day out.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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