	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 23, 2018

Brian Kelly

South Bend, Indiana

BRIAN KELLY: Back to work for us. Navy this week. Ken Niumatalolo, one of the better if not the best at what he does in the country, that is consistency. Year in and year out, well-coached football team. They complement each other so well offensively and defensively, what they do.

Offensively I think they've really found themselves in terms of what they're doing. Malcolm Perry is certainly a dynamic player on offense. He's played quarterback, he's played slot. Garrett Lewis has now seemed to have found himself running the offense. We have to prepare for both. There's probably Zach Abey also healthy, he could play the quarterback position. We're running a lot of different looks at our defense at the quarterback position right now.

But having said that, I mean, they're extremely efficient. They've given us all that we can handle year in and year out. There has to be an incredible sense of urgency on the offensive side of the ball, by maximizing possessions, quite frankly every snap, because you just don't know how many possessions that you will, in fact, get. Scoring points is absolutely crucial.

From a defensive standpoint, that attention to detail and everything that you do is at a premium. We could use two more bye weeks to prepare for Navy in terms of what they present to you.

Defensively up the middle really solid. Pittman at the nose guard is doing a great job for them. Cromartie, Heflin, solid inside. The safety, Williams, a three-year starter. They've done a really nice job. Again, they complement what they do defensively. They don't give up big plays. They keep the ball in front of them. It's a really standard Navy defense in terms of what they're looking to do.

Again, these are battles. They play extremely well against us. We'll have to be at our best playing a complete football team that plays hard for four quarters. That's my piece as it relates to Navy. The respect we have for the Academy, for Ken, their football team.

Questions.

Q. I noticed on your depth chart Aaron Banks was listed as a starter this week. What did he show you in the Pitt game in the off week that made you want to make this move now?
BRIAN KELLY: I just think he's been emerging over a period of time. Certainly when Alex went down, it created more of a focus on the position itself. Trying to duplicate that kind of size and quickness that Alex has is very difficult.

We felt like Aaron has accelerated his game to the point where we feel comfortable starting him at the left guard position. Still have a lot of confidence in Ruhland and Kraemer. I think Josh continues to improve, as well.

But we think our best chance at playing at the level that we need to puts a 6'5", 325-pound lineman that pass protects very well, moves his feet very well, and plays with explosiveness now gives us two really big, physical, athletic players on the left side.

Q. On the right side, is that a competition with Ruhland and Kraemer? Are they rotating?
BRIAN KELLY: They'll both play on that side. I think each one brings a little bit different thing to the table there. Tom is a big, physical player with a lot of experience. Trevor is a guy that we really like his technique. Very smart player, savvy player. So I think they complement each other well. I think both of them together give us a really good tandem, if you will, at that right side.

Q. I know you mentioned on your last Sunday thing that you were thinking about maybe making a change at kickoffs, wanted to take a look at whether Justin belonged there. What did you come out with?
BRIAN KELLY: Justin Yoon?

Q. Yes.
BRIAN KELLY: I think Justin has been used when we felt like Jonathan wasn't technically correct. It's really Jonathan's job. He's had some technical errors that we're trying to work him through the season. But it's really his job. We just need him to get through some of these little technical errors. We've used the off week to really hone in on him. We feel a lot better watching him over the last week or so. So it's really his job. We'd rather have Justin focus on field goals and extra points.

Q. During the bye week I would imagine you have some young guys time. Any revelations, anybody that jumped out at you during those sessions?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think players continue to mature throughout the season. But they have to be able to unseat some of the players that are currently in those roles. So I think you see them through two lenses. I think one lens is here are some freshmen that continue to develop that maybe we can play now in some roles, in particular roles. Then other guys that are ready to continue to maybe step up into larger roles.

I think those larger roles, I think guys that continue to evolve for us, Tariq Bracy, Kevin Austin, to name a few freshmen you've seen, but we're seeing even more out of those guys. I think younger guys that haven't played a lot that continue to kind of get our eyes opened, Patterson on the offensive line, Moala at the safety position, those two guys continue to show us things that they haven't broken through yet, but those would be four guys that did some things.

Q. The travel with staying over at San Diego has been in the works for a while. What do you want to get out of that? More technically, what does the sort of traveling party entail, whether academics, trainers, all the extra stuff you wouldn't typically do on a road game?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, we're not taking our academic support staff with us. We're much more interested on the way out hydration, making sure of the kids stay up, we stay on the eastern standard clock on the way out. We're really just trying to take this as a quick business trip out, use the flight back as a rest, kind of recovery, on the way back.

Sundays for our guys sometimes are met with, if it's a home game, going out with their family, doing a lot of things, up on their feet. They'll be on a flight for four and a half hours maybe picking up a little bit more rest. This was really about trying to make sure that when we get back here sometime around 4:00 that we don't put ourselves behind relative to the rest and recovery.

I think that's really the most important thing, getting out there hydrated, staying on the eastern standard clock, playing the game, staying over, getting a good night's sleep, getting on the plane, using that as an opportunity to rest so when we get back here we're not feeling the effects of the West Coast trip.

Q. Drue Tranquill, have you coached a guy that's that meticulous about taking care of himself the way he does seven days a week?
BRIAN KELLY: No, I would think he rates up there with the top guys that I've coached relative to nutrition, hydration, seven days a week. It's a lifestyle for him more so. Generally you see that from much more mature professional athletes. I see that more from some of our players that come back that are now professional athletes, that now get how important their body is to them in their vocation.

Q. No longer engineering students.
BRIAN KELLY: Exactly (laughter).

But I think they get it later. Drue has certainly gotten it a lot sooner.

Q. I asked if you were an undergraduate student, could you put all the time into recovery that he's doing. He said that it would be impossible. Is that a battle you fight here?
BRIAN KELLY: There's no question. I mean, if you just look they things we've tried to do, recovery room, float tanks, massage therapy, cold tubs, nutrition, all of those things, it's the battle of how you can stay just ahead of the needle relative to recovery. I think that's not necessarily just here, but some of the schools that are really on a tightrope as it relates to the load that they have in the classroom.

Q. With Ian Book's success, where does Tom Rees fit in that mix, what he did to help him prepare for the moment to take off from the last four games?
BRIAN KELLY: I think any time that you are given an opportunity as a starter, you have to have a great base and knowledge of the system that you're running. You can't just go out there and run the offense and be starting from square one. I think we have to start with the premise that Tom did an incredible job of laying down a foundation and an understanding of our offense without really being the starter.

Secondly, showing a lot of respect and confidence in a young man that was a backup for a year and a half. So when he got the opportunity to play, he had the confidence of his quarterback coach that he could go in and do the job. That requires behind-the-scenes work, one-on-one meetings, spending time with him, building a relationship.

Q. The injury situation. Are you getting any people back this week?
BRIAN KELLY: Jafar Armstrong practiced yesterday. He'll play on Saturday. I think the biggest issue with him will be volume, how much will he play. We had him on GPS yesterday. He ran out at 19 miles an hour. He usually tops out somewhere in the 20s, which is a really good day for his first day out there. We're pretty excited about where he was with his first day.

Troy Pride was full go yesterday. Took all the first-team reps. Showing no ill effects from an ankle that he had that limited him. I don't know if he even played against Pittsburgh.

I think those were the only two.

Q. The Navy offense, the uniqueness of it. During the course of pre-season, during the season, have you focused any portion of your practices to deal with it because you know it's so unique? You mentioned before with all the different people that can play quarterback for Navy, who are the people that you have trying to imitate the quarterback for Navy?
BRIAN KELLY: We have three. We have three different quarterbacks that are running that offense right now. Lawrence Keys is Malcolm Perry. We have a walk-on that is Garrett Lewis that is doing a really good job for us. Then I think Zach Abey, who is big, physical, we've moved a couple of guys in there to give us more of a quarterback sweep load kind of look. Phil Jurkevoc has been in there. We've had three quarterbacks in there.

We've done a really good job. We spent a lot of time with that scout team outside of this week just working on the mechanics of it in the spring, pre-season, so when we get into this it's run effectively, to the level it can be. It's never going to be as effective. You're never going to play with the kind of speed that you need to.

So, again, the bye week helps. As I said in my opener, we could use a couple more weeks.

Q. Following the Pitt game, you were talking about Clark Lea. He said his demeanor sometimes keeps you calm on the sidelines. Elaborate on that a little bit. Do you see a similar effect among his players in that regard?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I just think when you're talking about in-game adjustments and communication, I think sometimes I speak in riddles. I think what I'm talking about in terms of calm, getting answers to questions keeps me calm. Proffering solutions to things that are happening in game instead of I don't know what's going on, that keeps me calm.

It's much more about having dialogue that's short, to the point, valid solutions, that keeps any head coach when you're dealing with an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, whoever it might be, you're getting that.

His demeanor allows that to kind of translate with the players, as well.

Q. On paper there's a large upset last week, No. 3 team in the country went down. Will you use that as an example to your players to realize they have to show up every Saturday, can't afford a slipup?
BRIAN KELLY: Not per se. I mean, I didn't go in front of them and say, Did you guys watch the Ohio State-Purdue game? They all have phones, TVs. I'm sure they know. They probably heard a million times when they went home how they didn't play great against Pittsburgh.

Look, it's a one-week deal for us. We're one day at a time, one practice at a time. They know where they are. They have to stay focused, stick with their process. I know you all hear that all the time. If you don't have a process you can stick with, then you're going to listen to all that stuff. But if you just stick with, you know, your preparation, what your process is, then you can focus on the moment and not worry about all that other stuff.

Q. Why do you think that's so difficult for college players to do? I'm sure there's a lot of coaches in similar positions that would say the same thing, yet it's not easy to get them to stick to it.
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think it's human nature to be distracted easily today. There's so many devices to do that. 24-hour news, cell phones, computers. I think all of that is information that's easily available that can distract you.

How do you avoid distractions I think is where we try to do a really good job on the mental performance piece, sticking with what matters the most, and that is in your preparation and how that will affect ultimately your success. All that other stuff really won't help you.

Q. You have been in similar positions the last few years, strong starts, but kind of faltered a little bit down the stretch. What experiences do you hope to take from those years to use for this year?
BRIAN KELLY: Each year is a different year. It's a different group. I've talked to the guys that are in this row, different than last year's front row, the year before. It's a different group.

What the common dominators are have everything to do with how they prepare and then how they execute. Quite frankly, it's a group that has really done a really good job of preparation. They understand that execution at the end of the day on Saturdays is really about what this is about.

I just think from my perspective this is a different group than the ones that I've had in past years. Doesn't mean it's better. Doesn't mean it's worse. We just focus on what's in front of us, and that's today's practice.

We took a few days off, so we have a challenge in front of us today in terms of the kind of practice we want. They like it that way. So we just try to work on day-to-day and don't worry about all that other stuff.

Q. On Saturday did you watch a lot of college football? What is an off week for you like?
BRIAN KELLY: We recruited, then I went to see the matchup of the century, Kankakee Valley versus Saint Joe's. 'Koncession stand', I didn't know it was spelled with a K, but they kept reminding me to come to the koncession stand with the K. That's what I learned on my bye week. High school games are really exciting unless it's below 38 degrees.

Saturday just relaxed with the family. Didn't have a ticket to the Garth Brooks concert. Very expensive. I can't get into that kind of price range for a concert ticket, yeah.

Q. You've had bye weeks at different times. Is it nice having it right in the middle of the year? Better than having it in the middle, later, earlier? Does it matter really?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think in looking at our schedule, how it falls, if I had to choose, it would be on our mid winter break. When school closes, it would be awesome to get the kids out of here and really truly let them get home, let them be with their families. I think that's probably the best situation as it relates to physically and mentally getting your team back, giving them an opportunity to really recharge their battery.

Q. You're 9-1 after bye weeks here. Is there a common denominator there?
BRIAN KELLY: We followed the same plan. There hasn't been much of a change relative to time off. We try to balance the time off with intentional preparation. I think if we played top-five teams after the bye week, maybe the record would be a little bit different.

It's hard to say. I think bye weeks certainly allow you the opportunity to self-scout, to do some things that maybe shore up some areas for you, loose you to get some key players back. But I don't know that there's a magic formula per se, other than a system that's in place that I've used for a long time.

Q. If you were evaluating Julian Okwara for the first time, looking at his film like he's a recruit, how would you break that down? What are the nuances of his strengths?
BRIAN KELLY: It's a good question because I think one of the weaknesses that we thought he had was he was kind of new to the game of football, but he doesn't play that way. He plays with great instincts, great leverage, great intuition. I would say that football awareness is off the charts. Then he's extremely tenacious as a player. His tenacity, his want to keep playing and get after a play is as good as we've had in a while.

Q. Does he call to mind anybody you've coached in the past?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, at that particular position, Prince Shembo had that kind of motor, played with a tenacity, was obviously physically a little bit different, but was always moving, always after it. He has that kind of motor.

Q. You always talk about Jafar Armstrong on the GPS. How does Okwara measure?
BRIAN KELLY: Another good question. We don't have a lot of time to get the defensive line to run out. The ends run out on run support day, which is Tuesday. He's clipped 19.5, which is crazy.

Q. Your thoughts on Northwestern being played at night?
BRIAN KELLY: I don't really care. We have a system in place to adapt to whenever we play afternoons, evenings. It won't affect us in terms of our preparation.

Q. A couple years ago after the 2016 season you made a lot of changes, staffing, other ways. Your sideline demeanor, I don't know if it coincided with those changes, but it has probably diminished in recent years. Calming yourself, taking a more measured approach to what's happening...
BRIAN KELLY: I just think our team responds better if I'm able to interact with them, be there, lead them. They react. If I'm confident, I'm in a good position for them, they feed off of that. Just maturing and being a better football coach.

Q. Were there times where that was difficult to do? If you have that personality, it's not always easy to dial that back.
BRIAN KELLY: Notre Dame is unique. I think my realizization is more where you're always on TV more so than my emotions. You could still be an emotional coach, you can still have a fiery side to you, it's just at Notre Dame it's a lot more difficult to do it because there's a camera on you the whole time.

I had to make a conscious decision that if I was at a different place, I could still have that and still lead, but you can't do it here because it's not good.

Q. You talked about what you did during your downtime. Outline the schedule you put together for your players, what they were asked to do, allowed to do.
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, we sent them home. I like to get three days with them, which would be a conditioning, weight training day, then two practice days. We were on mid winter break, so we were able to take a full day. We were able to extend that through a full day on one of those days. Extra meeting time, extra contact time with them. A little bit more than maybe what we've done in the past.

That combination of recovery, preparation, then strength training and conditioning.

Q. Are they given specific orders on certain things they should be doing while they're away?
BRIAN KELLY: No, no, no, other than representing Notre Dame in a positive way. They're representing Notre Dame 24/7. Other than that, go be with your family. They have to tell us where they are. If they get on an airplane, a train or bus, they have to give us an itinerary. If they're here, we don't request an itinerary as to what they're doing. If they get on any form of transportation, we have a spreadsheet of where everybody is.

Q. Robert Hainsey is one of those rare guys that played a lot, not a full-time starter, as a freshman. Pretty rare as an offensive lineman.
BRIAN KELLY: It is.

Q. What gave him the ability to do that?
BRIAN KELLY: I think first who he is. He's just a strong-willed, never-back-down kind of young man. Nothing was going to get in his way of being successful. Just a strong, strong-willed individual. Coupled with great retention of football knowledge. I don't know how he retains other knowledge, but football knowledge, outstanding. Like you give him information, he retains it. Then he translates that into really, really good technique. He's a really good technician.

He had to make up for that a little bit with size. He's not 315 pounds. We had to push him out there a little bit with his size. Last year he was only about 288 pounds, at times dropping down to 280. Now he's up obviously closer to 300 pounds.

I'd say personally who he was, just a strong-willed individual, strong desire to succeed, great retention of knowledge, then he could take that and apply that technique play after play. That gave him a head start.

Q. Alohi Gilman, how has he continued to progress this season?
BRIAN KELLY: I would say the first thing that he does is he brings kind of a toughness, if you will, a swagger to our defensive back field. I think it's rubbed off a little bit on our safeties. Certainly he's a really good player. He's athletic. He's tough. He can play the ball.

But I think his presence has equally brought that kind of influence, if you will, to others, and has elevated their game, as well.

Q. We talked about the players and off week. What was it with the staff? You mentioned self-scouting. What were some of the areas you felt could be addressed and were addressed, what kind schedule did you have?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, we wanted to spend a lot of time with the team on Monday, which we did. We didn't do a ton there. Monday night we did some self-scouting. Tuesday we spent time with the team, then got on the road.

We did enough to look at some of the things that we felt like we wanted to address. Some of them were personnel related, which we've already seen. Some were special teams related, which you'll see on Saturday.

We didn't cast a net over everything that we're doing. Our priorities were, number one, get our team in here and begin the preparation for Navy, then get them out of here. Get on the road recruiting. Those were clearly far superior in terms of what we needed to accomplish. Then we wanted to look at some things we were doing offensively, defensively and special teams that we wanted to adjust and tweak in this off week.

Q. With Justin Yoon, seemed to be hurting on the final kickoff. How is he recovering? Is that a reason you would prefer not to have him on kickoffs?
BRIAN KELLY: We'd like to make sure that he's 100% healthy. He had a bit of a soreness in his groin, more like a soccer player would. But we feel like he's going to be fine. We just wanted to be careful with him in this off week, make sure he's 100%.

Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297