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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 13, 2018

Brian Kelly

South Bend, Indiana

BRIAN KELLY: Afternoon, quick recap on Saturday. Thought we got off to a great start. Our guys had a lot of energy. We're excited playing for our seniors' last home game. You know, obviously one of the things we had emphasized taking the football away. Got a big interception early on, strip, fumble, blocked PAT, resulted in 12 points, and then able to capitalize and get off to a great start. That was really good.

I think what we have to do better, obviously, and in most instances is continue to play with that kind of energy, but probably dial it in a little bit better in terms of fundamentals and technique. I really like the energy. I really like the effort. It's great. We're getting great effort from our team. Just got to dial in the fundamentals and technique a little bit. So that's a good problem to have in November. So we'll work on that.

Turning the page now to Syracuse. Dino Babers has done a great job. Two seasons into his third season, his first two seasons he's building it, and I think what he's done here is this is somebody that has had success as a head coach, and you could see that starting to show itself in its third year, and that is a consistency in his approach and player development. You know, they haven't changed who they are. They are who they are. They've stayed the course. You know, they've had to avoid the noise of is this going to work, and they've developed their players.

This is a team that we saw in '16 a lot of similar players from '16, they're just better. They're better on the offensive line, they're better on the defensive line. The quarterback, obviously, is a veteran player that has seen it all, and a lot of the credit goes to Dino Babers for building the program up to where it is and they deserve to be where they are. And he's got some good players that have stayed with it.

The offensive line, as I mentioned, is a veteran group. He's got four guys there that are, you know, four-year starters for him, so they're playing well together. They know the scheme, they know what's expected of them and because of that, are very familiar with what is going on.

Four-year starter with Dungey, he's a guy that does a lot of great things for them. Not only does he run the offense, he's fearless. The guy's fearless as a player. He's big, he's strong. Play breaks down, he's scoring a run. And certainly can throw the football extremely well. Again, a four-year starter who has seen it all. He's got great intangibles, great leadership.

I think one of the things they've done well is they've upgraded at the running back position to the level where they've got some home run threats. Moe Neal, Kyle Strickland, big downhill guy. Really have done a nice job there. They've got a tight end now that can help them in the running game. So he's got some talent now to surround Dungey. And the receivers have always been -- they lost, obviously, two very good players from last year. But Sean Riley, reminds me of Greg Dortch at Wake Forest, great speed, and is a home-run guy and special teams when he touches the football. You know, Custis is a great match-up guy. I think he's 17 yards per catch are the notes that I have here, and Taj Harris, is a 6'3" guy.

So plenty of players to surround Dungey and an offensive line that's veteran. They do what they do, and they do it really well. They're like the triple option, right? You try to come up with a scheme against it, they've seen it. So you better be fundamentally sound. You better do what you do really well, because they're going to do what they do. So they're doing a great job. They're averaging 44 points a game, so they've done a nice job there.

From a defensive standpoint, we've seen a difference in this defense in a very, very short period of time, and it starts with the defensive ends. Two guys that can legitimately come off the edge and rush the passer and then an inside guy in Slayton that does a really good job with his hands, gets off blocks.

But Robinson and Coleman are two edge players that force you to pay attention to them. So they've done a really nice job of up grading the athleticism off the edge of their defense. Then Slayton's development who is out of Crete Monee who we know about is a really nice player.

Linebackers are young, but they're playing really well. I think Guthrie at the Mike is playing downhill, extremely athletic. They lost a lot of linebackers last year, and the group that's emerging, and the secondary, you know, again, they played a lot of guys back there. Frederick is a really good boundary corner that can play man-to-man, and got a lot of depth back there.

So it will be a great challenge. The special teams is going to be huge. As I mentioned, they've got great kickers, both the punter and kicker are as good as we're going to see. Then, of course, Riley is a guy that can, as I mentioned, he's a lot like Dortch in terms of he can open up the game in special teams. So you better be, you know, be on it in terms of special teams, offense and defense, and, you know, they deserve to be where they are. One of the Top 10, 12 in the country, and they have certainly earned that. So with that, we'll open it up to questions.

Q. Syracuse is the fourth team in the top 8 in terms of offensive plays and run per play this year. What have you learned from the others and what makes Syracuse a different challenge than playing Northwestern, Ball State, Wake?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, from a scheme, they're different than those other teams. Tempo, I think Wake was faster. So we're used to -- we have a system in place to handle the tempo, but tempo is still something that you have to practice and be on top of. They do a good job with their cadence, trying to get you off side, which gives them a lot of free shots, so you have to be disciplined. You have to have great communication at all three levels. So it's certainly something that you have to be disciplined and on top of.

But we've played tempo teams. So that's not going to be a reason why they win the football game. It can be a reason why we give up big plays if we're not on top of things. Their scheme is different. That would be the biggest difference.

Q. In terms of the new red-shirt rule, has that worked out kind of the way you hoped, the way you thought? You know, there are guys that haven't played a single game for you, and it would seem like the urgency of these games now makes it difficult to get them into games. Am I overlooking somebody that might be able to get in?
BRIAN KELLY: No, no, I think you're right on. I think we had it tiered into three categories, those guys that were ready to play and we're going to play anyway, those guys that we're going to try to keep them no more than four, and those that wouldn't play. And I think we've probably, you know, we've hit those.

You know, we're at the max on a few offensive linemen that are at four that you won't see again. And we're, you know, we've got a game or two on some guys, from Jurkovec, for example, he's got a couple games left.

I think you're right, we've hit them in those three categories that we kind of talked about earlier in the season.

Q. I'm curious about your evaluation of Banks and Eichenberg kind of as the chemistry there, and what you're seeing from them in each successive game as they move forward together?
BRIAN KELLY: As a unit, five guys working together is our best game, and that has to do, certainly, with those guys feeling so much more comfortable with their calls. Sam's running the show there. He's been outstanding, holding them to a high standard. Shoot, I mean, you know, he has been really, really good for those young guys. So having Banks right next to him there has been really good to get him on the same page. We saw a really marked improvement in just the combination blocking from Northwestern to Florida State.

So we're making progress there. We like the way we're moving. As a group, as five guys working together. So, yes, the answer would be as they play together and get more comfortable, we're seeing the returns.

Q. With Myron, does it still look like you might be able to get him on the field? Get a look at him in practice next week?
BRIAN KELLY: No. We'll condition him next week. He won't be ready to play for USC. He'll be ready to condition, get back in football related activities, but he'll be postseason.

Q. This goes back to tempo, but they have a pretty balanced offense you're facing. Does that put you into position where you have to choose nickel or base going out to start a series? Because obviously you've been pretty successful in your changes and line changes. But is their ability to run in tempo the biggest issue they cause for defenses?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, whether you say balance, the ability to run it equally as well as throw it. And they're going to -- they're going to work off how you align defensively, yeah. So you have to have a fundamentally designed way of how you are going to play and then go to work off it from there. So if you lineup in base, you know what they're going to attack. If you lineup in nickel, you know how they're going to attack you. So you have to go from that and be able to support the potential weaknesses if from one or the other.

Q. On the other side of the ball, when they play well defensively, it's interesting they're really good on third down defensively, and sacking the quarterback, and struggling a little bit against the run. Those don't seem to go together. Usually when you're stopping the run is why you're good on third down. What do you see when they're playing the best defense in Syracuse?
BRIAN KELLY: Taking the ball away. Extremely opportunistic this year. So I think they've come up with some big turnovers. Their third down scheme is pretty good. They force you to be precise in terms of throwing the football. They employ a pretty good third down package. It's -- it covers the field really well, so you've got to be precise. I think fundamentally sound would be, for me, the best way to describe their third down package, and they force you to execute.

Q. Two questions for you, one, what makes you a better football team this November than last November?
BRIAN KELLY: You know, I think one way to look at it is the same 11 guys that started against Michigan on defense, are the same 11 guys we're rolling out against Syracuse. There's a good start right there. Offensively, you know, we've been able to add pieces to the offense, and we've lost a really good player in Alex Bars, but we seem to be growing on the offensive line.

So you're adding pieces as the season goes, and I think everybody would want to say how do you play better in November? Stay healthy. You know, stay healthy. Who wouldn't want to be back in September when you're feeling great and you're a hundred percent and you're fresh? So I think health has a lot to do with it.

Our guys are in a good spot when it comes to their health, and we've taken great pains to make sure that the recovery process has been a point of emphasis this year.

Q. When you look at the schedule and the way the season ended this year with all the travel and across the country and all the frequent flier miles and everything, how do you think you've managed that? What things did you do to try to manage that looking at it? And specifically this week, when you go to New York, do you plan to practice here or do you plan to fly out early and maybe get a look at Yankee Stadium since it's a different kind of surface that you'll be playing on?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, all year we have avoided any unwanted travel, extra travel. We have not visited stadiums. We've gone right to the hotel. We've changed up that routine, which saves us a good hour. It gives us another hour or so at the hotel to rest, stretch, nutrition, recovery. We won't do that in New York. It's just, again, it's been part of a long-range plan on how we wanted to handle travel throughout the course of the entire year, starting with going to San Diego and staying on eastern standard clock, and coming back and staying an extra day. It's really residual of all of that leading up through going to L.A. next week.

So little bit of a change of schedule throughout the whole thing. We'll practice here on Friday, and then head to New York.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, there's no crown there, a grass field. We've played enough on grass, so we're not too concerned about that.

Q. When the safeties struggled as they did last year, and really in maybe years prior to that, we tend to hear more about the difficulty of playing the safety position, all the decisions that you have to make. When you're playing well like you are at safety this year, we don't hear much about that. Is that just Jalen Elliott experience and developing and Alohi Gilman being a good football player? Or have you made some adjustments back there in terms of how it's taught? I know Terry Joseph is new to the equation as well?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think, you know, teaching is really important. And I think Terry does a great job. And this isn't to say that Mike Elko who was coaching the safeties last year did a poor job with the safeties, because I think we all respect Mike Elko and the work he does. That's not about that. The teaching is excellent. The coaching is right on. But this is really about experience and maturity for a guy like Jalen Elliott, and we saw that coming along. It takes time, and we've seen him develop.

Alohi Gilman was a talented player that played as a freshman. We knew he had the ability to come in and be a plug and play player right away. So I think that that's probably more to it than anything else. Player development over a period of time, and living with that over a period of time, and some of the bruises that come with it. Then Alohi Gilman who can step in and play.

You know, we've seen, I thought Nick Coleman had his best game of the year. Obviously made a lot of really good plays. That's a guy that had a lot of plays last year for us, and he stepped up and played. So there were a lot of guys that played a lot of football that are starting to step in, and we're seeing that investment, if you will, from last year where we weren't talking about making a lot of plays.

Q. Is there anything in the way Coach Joseph teaches the position or communicates the knowledge to them that would have made a significant difference?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, when you have your own coach there is certainly a little bit more to that, right? Where that individual time is coaching one-on-one. Mike was coaching the whole defense. So, you know, again, that tends to help break guys through as well, and build depth with the group.

Q. We're going to have an opportunity to talk to Kurt Hinish for the first time this season tomorrow. That's a guy that -- I'm not really asking a question here. I guess I'm making a statement. He had difficulty getting off blocks last year, and he's come so far and penetrates like -- he's a nose tackle, but penetrates like a three technique. What's allowed him to do that?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, probably the one guy that's kind of -- I don't know what the right phrase is, flown under the radar. Not gotten the kind of recognition, whatever, that's great. He's played really well this year. He's been a consistent performer. He's stronger physically. His endurance and his ability to go longer has impacted what we do and how he does it.

You know, his ability to take coaching. He had a weakness there, and his ability to shed blocking. And he worked on it, and Coach Elston is great at teaching is, and we're seeing that come to fruition this year.

Q. He's got a pretty good motor too?
BRIAN KELLY: He's got a great motor. He never stops both on and off the field.

Q. When you watch Dungey when you're studying the film, what sort of concerns you the most when trying to game plan for him?
BRIAN KELLY: The intangibles. When you have a guy that is fearless and has that kind of toughness, he's going to do whatever he needs to do to find a way to make something happen. You know, he's not a guy that's going to make poor decisions. He'll try to make a play here or there, but he's 225 pounds. I mean, he's a big kid too.

So I'll give you an example. It's 3rd and 3 or 3rd and 4 in the zone read, and he keeps it, and there's a guy standing right there. You catch and tackle him, and he's going to fall forward for four yards. He's just a tough guy. And that toughness kind of envelopes that entire offense. It's not a finesse spread offense. There is a toughness to it, and I think it comes from him.

Q. And Dexter Williams, if you had one factor or a couple factors that have led to his improvement, what would it be?
BRIAN KELLY: Oh, well, I mean, we could list a number of them. But I would say just growing up and his maturity and ownership, being accountable and responsible.

Q. How was Ian Book in practice yesterday?
BRIAN KELLY: How was he in terms of what?

Q. Physically, and with his performance as well?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, we weren't out on the field practicing. He had his own workouts yesterday, but he felt good. He went through all of the workouts, threw the ball, he was in the weight room. He'll practice today for the first time.

Q. AlizÃ© Mack, you talk about player development, and here's a young man that's made tremendous catches on Saturday night. Where have you seen the growth with him both on and off the field?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, consistency and approach in everything that he does. From waking up in the morning to going to class, to meetings, to practice. You know, just the consistency and proud of his development as a young man in all facets, and it's showing itself on the field. I knew it would. It just takes time for some guys. They develop later than others. Everybody wants them to be there right away. We do. Fans do. But some guys take longer than others when they're between the ages of 18 and 22 years old. And you sometimes don't know when that happens.

But the great thing about it for him is he stuck with it. When there were low points, when he could have walked away, he knew he shouldn't have, and he hung in there, and all the credit goes to him.

Q. How have you learned to deal with the frustration as a coach of watching a young man go through that and knowing he could be much better than what he was?
BRIAN KELLY: I don't know that I got frustrated. I think maybe early in my career I would be frustrated. I don't think frustrated is a word I use anymore. Maybe what I do is try to help others not get frustrated. Enlighten them into the sense that this is part of the process, hang in there.

I try to use the word yet a lot. Y-E-T is a good word. They're not there yet. But they'll get there.

Q. As a Red Sox fan, when you walk into Yankee Stadium on Saturday, what thoughts will you have?
BRIAN KELLY: We beat them at Yankee Stadium, you know? It has nothing to do with the football game though. We've already got that trophy. That's put away. Great respect for the Yankees and the tradition. That's why both these programs mirror each other so well. Great tradition, championships, that's why we're excited about being at Yankee Stadium.

Q. Coach, we've seen Khalid Kareem on the field and what a great season he's having. But how about him off the field and his character and personality?
BRIAN KELLY: Again, another guy that has been fun watching him grow and mature since his time here. You know, they're all young and make mistakes, and they learn from them and grow from them. And he would be not unlike a lot of other guys here that has benefited from his time in the program and being here at Notre Dame.

He's done well in the classroom. Has benefited from his time here at Notre Dame, and he's done great things in the weight room. Redefined who he is as a football player because of the hard work he's done in the weight room.

Q. Just to go back to Ian Book, do you need to evaluate him this week in practice to see whether or not he's available for Syracuse?
BRIAN KELLY: Not really. We're pretty clear that he's ready to play.

Q. I wanted to ask about the New York, New Jersey area as a recruiting base over the years, the importance of it, and the whole subway alumni concept? How much does that still help when you go into homes there?
BRIAN KELLY: Oh, it's real. When we talk about subway alums, your first thought is New York City, New Jersey. But it's everywhere, obviously. Those that love Notre Dame and have never been here. I do one event out there a year, and one is in Staten Island, a huge alumni club in Staten Island. And I remember doing it a few years back approximate, and we were doing a poll, raise your hand, how many Notre Dame graduates are in the room? There were 250, maybe 300. And when I think there were a half dozen Notre Dame grads in the room, it just goes to show the support for the University and for the values of Notre Dame. Especially in places like Staten Island, New York City, Jersey City and all the areas that have been staunch supporters, but also pretty good football in that area as well. So it helps us in recruiting too.

Q. One of those guys is Brandon Wimbush, when you look back at his legacy when it's all done, how much will the way he handled the disappointment in that time factor in, and how rare is it for a senior to take it as well as he did?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think there will be time to write about it. I think he would like this to be much more about there's more to the story, and let's not write the obituary yet.

I just think that everything that he's done leading up to last week was indicative of who he is. So I don't know that anybody really should be surprised, because he's been really consistent in who he is, in everything that he does, both on and off the field.

I think that just becomes another chapter. But I just think there's more to write here. I don't think it ends with last week. I think there's more exciting things coming from Brandon.

Q. You had referred earlier in the year when talking about Daelin Hayes that coming in as a five-star recruiting maybe he had some preconceived notion of I need to get this many sacks or make this many plays to live up to reputation. But the last couple of weeks it's been more about his consistency?
BRIAN KELLY: Yep.

Q. Have you seen that development in him where it's not about always making the big plays, but enhancing everyone else?
BRIAN KELLY: Did you have a conversation with him? Is that what happened?

Q. No, I did not.
BRIAN KELLY: Really?

Q. I would not do that without Mike Birch's permission.
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I will tell you what because that's what's happening. Exactly what you're talking about. He is -- he has become more focused on the details of the position and playing the Game 1 play at a time. And we're seeing that pay off. He's playing really good football. Now competition helps. And there's competition at that position.

But I really think that Daelin has settled into a really good spot where his focus is let me just be a really good football player and work my craft, and all that other stuff will take care of itself.

So you're right on. You've nailed it. That's where he is and he's in a good position and we're getting good play because of it.

Q. Is that difficult as a coach when you bring in somebody with that type of five-star reputation, whether it's Quenton or Daelin to recognize that there is still a process to go through rather than just maybe coming in and dominating right away?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think that's your job to set that; you know, that standard in your program if there is a process. And if you don't follow that process it can derail what your goals and dreams are. So Daelin wants to play. Daelin wants to be on the field. Daelin knows if he sticks with our process, he's going to play a lot of football, and he's seen that the last couple weeks.

Q. You've had a number of standout All Americans, James, Matt, Robert Hainsey started last year but in August you mentioned how this is probably your strongest team, not just from one through 50, but 60 through 85. We don't see the freshman class, necessarily, in major rolls, but how much has their overall collectively helped enhance the rest of the team to get to where you are now?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, well, I mean, it's hard sometimes to put a number on who is saving reps for guys. But when you look at like last Saturday Tariq Bracy, the snaps he played as a true freshman, Kevin Austin, his ability to take some reps away from Miles Boykin and save his legs, and catch a pass or two or make an impact here and there, all of those eventually add up. When you take them in total. Paul Moala on special teams and being able to impact in that fashion. So it was important this year that we got contributions all the way down the line, deeper than just 40, 50 guys. It seems that that's worked out pretty good.

Q. How about just practice in itself? The scout team and everything? Just from their talent level and what they are able to do to help the top units?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, well, just having -- if you look at the running back situation, you know, Jahmir Smith, C'Bo Flemister, you know, Lawrence Keys, Micah Jones, Tommy Tremble, these are all really, really skilled players that could be playing in a lot of power five schools right now that are helping our defense. And you can see when we've been tested in pass coverage situations, these guys have really helped our defensive backs by going against them.

So we're fortunate that we have that -- that we have those kinds of players and the depth that allows those guys to compete every day.

Q. You've mentioned Paul Moala's name this year in reference, what do you think his future is, and what kind of impact he can give you guys in years to come?
BRIAN KELLY: I think he'll be an impactful player. What position does he play eventually? You know how we roll here. I mean, he starts at the back end and maybe gets closer to the line of scrimmage, who knows. But right now he's a safety that can play safety for us.

But he's a physical kid. He's done a great job in the weight room, and he's got a really good sense for football. The game comes pretty easy to him. So I think he's got a bright future here at Notre Dame.

Q. What has Alex Bars given you since his injury off the field as a leader?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, his presence with some of the young guys has been really good. You know, Sam's in there every day taking reps. And fighting, fighting through that battle. Alex is with those younger guys, that second group. He's with them as really a mentor. And he's going through the script with them. He's another coach on the field for us, doing a nice job with them.

Q. Looking back, obviously, when this game was moved to New York, you weren't necessarily the biggest fan of that move. Now at 10-0, how much would you prefer this game being at Notre Dame stadium instead of Yankee Stadium Saturday?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think we've already kind of dealt with that one. You know, back in January we thought about moving the game. I know jack was certainly supportive if we could have logistically done that. But at that point, once that decision was made that we were going to play it, we've moved past that. We've made all the appropriations for this to be prepared for this game. So we're really past it at this point.

If you asked me in January, if we had a conversation, yeah, I would have liked it at home. But after that, it was vetted and it was decided to go to Yankee Stadium. I've got other things on my list I've got to deal with.

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