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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 2, 2019

Brian Kelly

South Bend, Indiana

BRIAN KELLY: Good afternoon. I too want to pass on my thanks. Great working with Michael, Michael Bertsch. I heard he announced that he will be the new press secretary for Donald Trump.

(Laughter).

That's akin to a Cleveland Browns guy going to work for the Steelers, isn't it? You're really selling out there, Mike.

It's been terrific to work with Mike. He's a consummate professional, and the work that he's done in assisting Notre Dame and myself personally, I really want to thank Mike and wish you the best.

We had a national search for somebody named Michael because, obviously, the head football coach is severely limited. So Michael Scholl will be taking over that role. We had two Brians. We crossed them off the list. They were much more qualified.

(Laughter).

So Michael Scholl will take over that role. Michael will be with us and lead us through the 2019 season, which we're extremely excited about.

As we look into the 2019 season, for us it's an ongoing process. It started in January for our football team after coming off the Bowl -- excuse me. The playoffs and going back to work and developing our football team and doing the things necessary after you graduate a number of talented players. You go back to putting a team back together again.

So that's been an ongoing process through our winter workouts and then certainly spring football, another segment of our preparation in putting this team together. We just finished up, obviously, as you know, our summer workouts and conditioning program.

All of those phases have put our football team in a position now where Matt Balis and his staff have passed the baton off to myself and our coaching staff, and we're excited to get going. We'll leave for culvert tomorrow and begin our first practice on Sunday.

I've just finished going through our roster and couldn't be more pleased with where we are with the development of our football team. Like any team going into the '19 season, we're going to have some things we have to work on in preseason camp. We've got some question marks, but we believe that we have players that can step in and play at a very, very high level. We also have some players that return that are seasoned, that have been through some vigorous, competitive situations.

So I guess what I'm saying is that the development of this football team has been ongoing. They have passed a number of the tests that we put forth, and we feel really good about opening up camp on Sunday and beginning the last stage of sharpening the tools necessary for us to begin the season against Louisville.

Again, I think continuity and staff and obviously another thing that you look at. We're excited that the staff continuity is part of opening up the season as well. We're not talking about a lot of new faces, support staff and coaching staff. So we go into the opening practice with a great understanding of what's expected in camp and knowing, again, from our players' perspective, they know what to expect on a day-to-day basis.

So, again, I know you have a number of different questions. I think I just wanted to lay down the fact that this ongoing process that began in January, this team has developed along the way. We've seen great leadership come to the forefront. I think that's one of the things that I look for each and every year. We think we've got a number of really great opportunities to show leadership, and they have done that along the way, especially this summer when coaches aren't around, they're forced to really lead, and the reports are that we're going to be in really good shape from that perspective.

So with that, open it up to questions and get to as many of the questions that we can.

Q. I'm going to ask you about the June arriving freshmen. You don't have as large a group in there, but I'm wondering if the reports you got both that you saw them in OTAs and also with what you heard from players and staff during the summer, are there any surprises there or anybody that really jumps out at you from that group that came in in June?
BRIAN KELLY: You know, I think, if you talk from a strength and conditioning standpoint, we really try to be careful about the expectations of where they are, and we gradually bring them up to the group that's already here.

I would say that Coach Balis felt really good by the end of the summer they all were able to take on the workload necessary for them to give themselves a chance to compete come camp. Now, we all know there's a lot of facets to that. Some of them have the physical tools.

You know, I know everybody wants to talk about certain guys, but I think that there are some guys that are physically able to compete, but it's more than that. It's the mental ability to go in there and do it as well. We'll get a better sense of that in the five days at Culver. I think answering those questions today would be really too premature to say -- we could tell you that there's some guys that are physically looking good, but they really haven't played any football yet.

Let's put the pads on them, and I think when we get back here, I think I'll have a better sense and feel for those guys that may have a chance to compete as freshmen.

Q. In the spring, you seemed like you narrowed the field a little bit with that big linebacker group where you want to look at everybody, and you're kind of adding to that with Drew White coming back and four true freshmen or four later arriving freshmen -- I guess there's several. Are you open to kind of expanding the race again for those spots, or are you pretty settled that those top guys in training camp would hone in?
BRIAN KELLY: I guess Drew White would definitely be in that mix. J.D. Bertrand is physically able to be thrown into that mix as well. He's shown himself physically to be one of those guys, but we've got to go see him with the pads on. So if you want to pencil him in as another add to that mix, and then everybody that was competing in the spring.

So that will be a focus of our spring. I have worked our schedule to make sure we get more reads for key linebackers to see them flow to the football. That's an important part of our evaluation, giving them the opportunity and giving Clark enough evaluation to both chart to see how their production is as well as see it and make some evaluations as to how that's all going to pan out.

Q. Could you give us status of injuries, guys coming back from injuries, also the people that might have had surgery this summer.
BRIAN KELLY: I don't know that we had any -- well, if you count Aaron Banks came out wonderfully. He was able to do everything in the last three weeks fully cleared. We're really pleased with him. Chase is, again, cleared to do everything. I think you're going to see somebody that will round into the kind of physical player that he is, as he gets into more one-on-one and more change of direction football related. The surgery went exceedingly well there.

I think both of those, we're really excited in terms of how they turned out, especially Banks. Any time you talk about a foot with a big fella, you're nervous at times, but it's gone very, very well there, and he finished the summer extremely pleased with where he is.

Q. And then like the group of Franklin, Spears, and Ruhland?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, all of those guys. I would say Franklin at full go. Spears had a really good summer for us. And I think probably the surprise for us is Ruhland. We were not certain how that knee would respond. He's on treads there, and he did a terrific job. Really proud of the way he was able to take care of himself, really worked hard this summer. He's in the best shape of his life, and he's really going to be able to provide us the kind of veteran presence that he did last year for us.

Q. And Crawford?
BRIAN KELLY: Again, had a great summer and cleared to do everything for us and will be poised to make an impact for us.

Q. You talked about the leadership during the summer, and I know you wanted to put back the captaincy. Is there anything that you can tell us about where you stand in that?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, we'll name captains early in camp. My guess is probably within the first week of camp we'll have those captains. I want our players to weigh in. So typically, I think we probably go through our Culver experience and come back and probably make an announcement relative to our captains.

Q. Second question. What have you heard of the development of Phil Jurkovec during the summer after last spring?
BRIAN KELLY: Really good things -- from his peers, from our staff. Everybody has been around Phil, I think we're really going to see somebody -- we knew what Phil was capable of. Sometimes -- and, again, we talked about this. I've talked about it publicly. We knew the talent level that was there. First year, there's high expectations. There's a lot going on. He lost a little bit of his confidence at times.

He's going to be fine. We can see that. He's the kind of guy that we feel like is going to really blossom this year. We're looking forward to watching him in camp, and he's going to get plenty of opportunities to continue to grow.

Q. Brian, following up on the leadership and the captains, I know in the spring you said you didn't anticipate there being five or six per se like there were two years ago, but there does appear to be a lot of leadership, especially in the senior class.
BRIAN KELLY: I stand corrected.

Q. It will be more than you anticipated in the spring?
BRIAN KELLY: Yes, yes. It's turned out that way because sometimes you don't know how the summer goes, and what has happened really is our -- you know, our accountability teams or our SWAT teams kind of really begin to take on an accountability role, and we put them in that position to really evaluate what kind of leader you are. If we notice that you have strong skills, we're not going to push you to the side.

So what's happened is it's really strengthened our hand when it comes to true leaders. As I said, the development of this team has now changed course, and there is much more depth in that leadership category, and you'll see more than just a few.

Q. In speaking with Clark Lea and Todd Lyght, they indicated this summer that Troy Pride would cross train or would play both boundary and field. Could you talk about what went into the decision moving him to the boundary.
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think that there are certain things that Troy brings to the table that puts him in a position -- look, first of all, I think we all know about Troy's experience, his ability to run. We feel like his assets for us clearly are experience. He is the most experienced player. That short corner position requires somebody with a lot of experience because you're going to get the most action.

So it just goes to -- it just makes sense to get a guy like Troy Pride, who's had the most experience in there, but we want to keep our options open. We need to develop more than just Troy Pride at that position because we're going to be doing some different things at that corner position. So we'll start him there, but he's obviously had a lot of experience playing the wide field too.

Q. Is part of that decision also giving an opportunity for a promising cover guy like TaRiq Bracy and Shaun Crawford coming back, perhaps wanting to compete for that field cornerback spot?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, and we don't want -- we want to give everybody an opportunity, and we want to match up the other corners. Donte Vaughn is almost 6'3". We want to be able to match him up with a partner. So there's a lot going into the way we're thinking about it.

I think you guys are going to be embedded at our practices practically, so I think you'll get -- okay, maybe I overstated that a little bit. You'll get a good sense when you see the rotations out there. For me to explain it right now would probably be a little bit too much, but you'll see what we're trying to do with the rotations there.

Q. Kevin Austin's status at the end of spring was a little open-ended. What is his situation? Do you anticipate his being available to you in the first month of games?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, he's still on our team, but it's a day-to-day process with him.

Q. Brian, I think a lot of people will look at the center position, obviously replacing Mustipher. The competition there, what have you seen so far? Obviously experimented with some people with that in the spring. How do you feel about that right now as we head into fall?
BRIAN KELLY: I feel good. Jarrett Patterson really emerged as someone we feel great about at that position. He did a terrific job. He moves well. He's smart, protections. Really, really pleased with him at that position. We talked about Ruhland, and we weren't sure about him. He had a great summer, and now we feel like, boy, it's a bonus to have him. Grunhard is healthy. We have a lot of confidence in him. And now add Josh Lugg, who had some really good success in the spring there. We feel like that's a position of strength now for us.

Q. What's maybe, other than quarterback, which player do you think on the offense this year could have the biggest impact for your team in terms of on the field success?
BRIAN KELLY: I hope there's ten guys that can impact our football team. Look, there's certainly a number of players, but I think you always look toward your veterans. Chase Claypool is going to be a guy that I think is going to make a huge impact on our football team. Cole Kmet, Brock Wright. I think there's a number of guys who are poised to really have an impactful season.

Like you guys, I'm excited to watch those guys get after it.

Q. And last one from me, which position battle are you looking at the most in camp right now? Is there one that sticks out to you that you really need to focus on more than the others, per se?
BRIAN KELLY: We've already talked about it. The linebacker position is going to be exciting. We've got a lot of good players there that have to be able to show themselves and have some production. Again, we're going to put them in a number of positions to do so, so that will be one that requires a lot of attention, but one that we're looking forward to.

Q. I was wondering if you'd take a minute to reflect on your schedule as a whole this year, some of the challenges it presents but also maybe the opportunities if you guys are able to rise to those challenges again.
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, it seems every year there are challenges on our schedule that make it unique as an independent. We're always going to have that kind of schedule. One of our themes this year for our football team is that we have to be road warriors. We have to have that mindset of going on the road to Michigan. We've got to go to, certainly, Athens and play at Georgia. We've got to go to Stanford, which we haven't won at Stanford. So there are a number of challenges. We've never played at Duke. We've got to go down there and play them.

So a number of challenges on our schedule, ones that our guys recognize. They know who they're playing and the challenges that are in front of us, but that's -- again, I've said this a million times. That's what they sign up for. That's why they come to Notre Dame because they really relish those challenges.

Q. I'm curious to what degree have you noticed that your guys are motivated by getting close at the top last year but not quite getting to the top and how that fuels them this year?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, standards, right? They know what our mission is, and that is graduate from Notre Dame and win a National Championship. They know that they're capable of doing so. So every single day, that is in front of them. They are here for that. So that's the standard. It's on the back of their shirt when they workout, maintaining that standard. So they're driven by it in January. They get up at 6:00 in the morning in freezing cold temperatures and walk over here, and that drives them.

So that's the standard at Notre Dame, and that's what keeps them moving in that direction.

Q. I guess I'm asking, because they got so close last year, because they have some of that proof, do you notice any difference in their behavior than perhaps in past years?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think there's a little bit more, but I don't know that it's -- I don't feel it. It's not palatable in terms of the difference. I think most of the teams I've coached here believe that they can win a National Championship. They've tasted a little bit. So I think that maybe a little bit more, but I think they've all, each team that I've had, has been driven for that goal because there's no conference championship. They're all driven the same way, and that's to win a National Championship.

Q. What are some of the steps you'd like to see Ian Book take this year to continue to take his game to another level?
BRIAN KELLY: I think just continue to work on his craft. I think he knows the little things he can be better at. We've addressed them internally about those things, but I think he's already begun, and that is to make others around him better players. I think what we've seen is a leader, and we've put him in a leadership position. He's just doing such a great job leading. His presence is one where, when he asks some people to do things, they're doing it. The respect that he has is different than last year.

You know, he didn't start the year as our starting quarterback, so there's just a different -- he walks around the building a little different, great confidence in him. But he knows the technical things he needs to work on. I think Tommy Rees has done a great job laying those things out. He's worked on them. I think we'll continue to work on them.

What I see is just a young man who's really confident in himself and holding others accountable.

Q. With Ruhland's status being much more healthy and with Aaron coming back also, do you anticipate that you might be able to have kind of a three-for-two rotation with somebody as veteran as Trevor and also with Josh progressing?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think there's up to 11 guys that will work in through -- that are in the group that we'll be working were on a day-to-day basis. So there's some nice depth there that we can count on on the offensive line.

Certainly, Lugg, Ruhland help a great deal in that. Now you're getting into seven guys on the offensive line that can really -- you know what they can do. You know they've been in games and they can help you. So that's a huge advantage.

Q. You refer to Lugg as your Swiss Army knife on the line.
BRIAN KELLY: Yes.

Q. Is he also your first option at tackle?
BRIAN KELLY: He could be. I think that there's -- like you said, I think there's other options there. I think we're open to looking at different scenarios. You could move a Banks out there as well and plug a Lugg in. We've got options there, and that's the nice part about it, that we do have some flexibility. Jarrett Patterson, I mean, he could play out there.

So it's nice that we've got some flexibility. Hopefully, we don't have to get into that, but we do have some flexibility with the group.

Q. At the end of spring, Phil Jurkovec kind of commented about he's changed his throwing motion so many times since high school. How do you as a staff approach it? Do you leave him alone and let him be comfortable with what he is, or do you still try --
BRIAN KELLY: We don't touch it. We stay away from it. I've always philosophically stayed away from motions. It's just you're entering into an area where they've had so many reps at it, to get into changing motions, I've never had much success with it. Let them be who they are. I think, by and large, most of it is the mental aspect of the game. Get their confidence back, work on their footwork. If you do those things, I think you're better off. We stay away from trying to make major -- any arm angle throws. I just haven't had a lot of success with it.

So as it relates to Phil, we haven't been tinkering or tweaking with his motion. We just want him to get back to being confident about who he is, and I've seen that. I've seen the way he walks around this building now. I think you're going to see a guy that's had really good success this year.

Q. Did you see in the past year that maybe he was experimenting with it himself?
BRIAN KELLY: I think everybody does, you know. I pull one right into the woods on the 1st tee, the 2nd tee I'm making a bit of an adjustment. I think it's just natural. He was making some adjustments, and sometimes you tinker with it a little bit. He just needs to go back, and he has, and I'm quite -- I feel very confident that he's going to have some early success that's going to show itself in camp.

Q. You have zero starting experience at the two interior defensive tackle positions, but you have some pretty good experience coming back as far as just seeing rotational. Do you see that as a rotation there, maybe four, five guys there liberally, as opposed to just a main starter like you had with Jerry last year?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, even with Jerry, as you know, you can't play the whole game at that position. I mean, we have to have a rotation in there. Third down could be -- you know, we could look a little different on third down. So first and second down is really what you're talking about in terms of making sure that we have a rotation in there.

So, yeah, Myron and Kurt can't play the whole game, and we're aware of that. So some younger guys are going to have to step up and give us some quality playing time at that position, and we're pretty confident that somebody's going to be able to do that.

Q. Just finally, at safety last year, with both Jalen and Alohi, those are guys you couldn't take off the field. They were there 900 snaps. If you include special teams, they were probably over 1,000.
BRIAN KELLY: They were, yeah.

Q. Are you maybe trying to inject more of a rotation there, or is it sort of like with drew and Tavon last year, is that it's extremely difficult to take them off?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, yes and no. I think what has to happen is there has to be some form of second group there that you feel confident that you can put in there if they need a blow or they're required to get them off the field because they do, in fact, need a blow.

So part of the challenge for our development will be establishing a second rotation at the safety position. So we've been talking about some of the things to observe. That will be another observation is establishing a second rotation there because certainly in the key elements of games, those guys are going to be on the field, but there's going to be times when we need to get them a blow, and we've got to establish a second group.

Q. I just want to clarify. Claypool's surgery was at the shoulder?
BRIAN KELLY: It was at the ankle.

Q. So he's going to be --
BRIAN KELLY: Excellent. Again, full go. We haven't asked him to get in and out of explosive cuts, and I think what I was alluding to is, when you observe him in practice, we're not going to throw a heavy load on him in the first three, four, five days. We're going to slowly get him back up to 100 percent and then peak him for Louisville.

Q. And Ian Book went to the Manning passing camp. Specifically, can you glean anything that he got from it that you talked about it with him or your staff?
BRIAN KELLY: I think just exposure amongst elite players. I think you come back, and there's kind of a self realization that I'm pretty good, pretty good player. I can hang with anybody in the country, and I've got to do these things as well.

The great thing about it is being aware, self awareness. He came back, and he knows the things that he needs to work on, but he also knows the things that he's really good at. So I think, when you're exposed to elite players, that's always a positive thing. So he came back, and I think it was a positive experience for him.

Q. And last thing. With Louisville coming up, there's a Bobby Petrino sighting, I believe, nearby. Did you have a chance to visit with him or your staff?
BRIAN KELLY: I did not.

Q. Do you know if your guys did or Chip or anybody?
BRIAN KELLY: I'm not sure if they did or not.

Q. Would it be helpful to talk to a guy so recently coaching that team?
BRIAN KELLY: I would think it would be, yeah.

Q. Brian, with the safety depth, Derrik Allen is a guy that we're certainly interested. Where does he come in his development to get a better opportunity to get into that rotation?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, yeah, here's a young player that got a lot of reps in the spring. Look, he's a guy that's going to have to be part of that evaluation process. He's part of it, so he's going to get a chance, and he'll have an opportunity to make a statement. That's the great part about camp. Got a lot of cameras on you. Got a lot of eyes on you, and there's no place to hide.

Q. Replacing Tyler Newsome and Justin Yoon in the same off-season certainly is a tall task. How big of a preseason camp is it for you to get confidence in those options that you have at both of those positions?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, it's been an ongoing process, so it's not something that obviously we're just kind of dealing with in preseason camp. Jonathan has had a really good buildup. Jonathan Doerer has had a really good buildup, and we have seen the kind of confidence buildup that's necessary to feel confident moving into camp.

Now, he's going to get a lot of work. We're going to put him in a lot of situations. This is not a guy that has the veteran presence of the all time leading kicker here at Notre Dame that Justin Yoon had. So we have to do some things in our practice schedule to put him in those situations. Again, we feel like we've seen the kind of progress necessary to feel really confident he's going to be able to do the job for us.

Our punting situation with Bramblett, we really like his makeup. Did he punt it great? No, he didn't punt it great in the spring game, but we like his makeup. We think he's going to stand up to the environment, if you will, in the big games. So that's just a matter of repetition and technique. We just like his demeanor and his makeup, and we think he's just going to be fine.

So, again, a veteran snapper is going to help with Daley. I think that's all going to come together, but we are losing two really good kickers in the two that you mentioned.

Q. I think John Shannon was dealing with some back issues in the spring --
BRIAN KELLY: John Shannon -- I said Daley. I'm sorry. There you go. There's the over/under on that.

Q. Is he fine? John Shannon is fine then?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, John Shannon is fine.

Q. At some point in the season, it looked like Terry Joseph's title online was listed as defensive pass game coordinator. Is that a change in anything operationally for you guys, or is that just a better reflection of what he's doing?
BRIAN KELLY: No, it's a bit of a change. He's got a hand in what we're doing on the back end in terms of the entire coverage. So he works closely with Clark in coordinating the coverages with the fronts. So, yeah, it is a leadership position for him that equates the kind of work that he's doing for us.

Q. Coach, you're entering your tenth season here at Notre Dame. I was just wondering, what's the biggest thing you've learned about yourself over the last ten seasons?
BRIAN KELLY: Oh, my goodness. Reality TV. I mean, ten years anywhere is a journey that you just have to be able to learn, keep working on yourself, and keep pushing the envelope too at the same time. Never get satisfied. We got a taste of what it's like to be in the playoffs. I want to win the darn thing.

So I think probably never be satisfied with where you are and never get to the point where you think you know it all. Always be working on yourself and trying to get better at your job.

Q. And then Sunday starting fall camp. Anything specific you want to see from your team as you kick things off?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, just recognizing what camp is all about. It's just understanding how important your technique is because that's going to carry you when it comes to this game, and not just running around without a focus, a laser focus. If you're just out there because you're excited and it's the first day of school and you're running in the locker and you forgot where you're going to class, that doesn't do you any good. Just really be locked into why we're here and what our purpose is.

Our guys are pretty good at that. So I just want to really want a focused, locked in group that really understands why we're here. If we do that, it will be a good first day.

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