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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 28, 2019Brian KellySouth Bend, Indiana . BRIAN KELLY: I'll start off with certainly the best thing for our team is to get back on the practice field, and begin getting ready for Virginia Tech. It's certainly for our team focusing on what's gotten us the success over the past three years is building back our identity as a football team, and that is focusing on, you know, our process and the standards that we have set and the program. We got away from that this past weekend, and we'll work diligently in putting those things back in the forefront and exhibiting that this Saturday against a very good Virginia Tech team that's playing very, very well. Certainly on pace to find themselves at the top of the league. So a great challenge in front of us which we're excited for. You know, obviously the quarterback situation seems to be clarifying itself the last three games, Hendon Hooker is really playing great football form. Got banged up in the North Carolina game, but appears to be back. We're preparing for him. Duel threat quarterback, really good runner. An exciting player that's really sparked their offense. You know, I think we obviously played against Willis, but I think even Patterson late in the game showed us similar kind of athleticism and it certainly seems that that is the direction that they're going offensively. Again, I think that's kind of what they're looking for, that kind of offensive structure. You know, we remember, it is a younger offensive line, but I think this really suits in terms of what they want to do offensively with a duel threat. You know, Hazelton is kind of coming into his own. He's got I think five touchdown catches, and I think he has, like, ten total. He's still a threat. We remember him from last year. Some young players that are exciting, athletic. They put up over 30 points over the last three games. So an offense that will certainly challenge us. Definitely, Bud Foster, again, legendary defensive coach that has really settled this unit down since the Duke game and they're playing much better defensively. They're still an attacking, aggressive defense. Defensively, four out of the six returners upfront and I think unquestionably the linebacker Ashby is one of the best we have seen. A little undersized, people may say, but he's all over the field. Athletic, can do a lot of things, just an outstanding player. So we're going to have to know where he is. He lines up in a number of different positions. He's blitzing. He can do a lot of different things. I really like their corners. Farley we saw last year. He's done a really nice job as he continues to get the assignments against the very best wide receivers play in and play out. Wallers, the other good corner. I think they have three picks a piece on each side. Very good secondary guys that can play man to man. I'm sure they'll try to match them up with our guys. Again, a pressure defense that has really done a nice job over the last few weeks. It will be a great challenge. We're at home. You know, again, we have played well. We're going to have to get back to really who we are and our standards. We do that, and we should be playing the kind of football that we played over the last three years. With that, I'll open it up to questions. Q. Brian, you mentioned Tony Jones' status yesterday. We didn't get a chance to ask about Tommy Kraemer, following up also on Michael Young. I'm not sure if Pride was in that game or BRIAN KELLY: Pride is not on the injury report. Mike Young is in the transfer portal, just got that from compliance a few hours ago. Tony Jones, upper body injury, but he's expected to practice on Tuesday. Q. What about Tommy Kraemer? BRIAN KELLY: He has an MCL sprain. Q. Which would... BRIAN KELLY: Those are anywhere from, you know could be anywhere from four to six weeks depending on each guy is different. No surgery necessary. Q. (Question asked). BRIAN KELLY: Yes. Rulen and Love, both those guys will play. Q. (Question asked). BRIAN KELLY: I would really call it one game. Three snaps in the USC game. Q. (Question asked). BRIAN KELLY: You know, we had nine 3 and outs. You could probably try to find those carries, you know, in those situations. You know, I think he's still finding himself. You know, a young man that's been out for a while, trying to get back in the flow of the game. I think he'll be better as we kind of go down the line here and get him involved in the game more. We expect a little bit more from him each week. We like what Avery Davis is bringing to our offense. He needs to play more. We expect to get him into the game more. I think your observations are right in both instances. Jafar as he gets more I think comfortable in the game and getting contact remember, he was without contact, really, for upwards of eight weeks. I think once he gets through that. And every time we see Avery Davis, he starts to you know, he gets our attention. I think that's prompted us to really force him into more competitive situations as be move forward. Q. Brian, there's a criticism of quotes out there when quarterbacks struggle here that they have not gotten better in year two. Do you think that's unfair, do you think it is a fair observation? Where do you feel like Ian Book is in that context? BRIAN KELLY: I think any time the quarterback doesn't play, you know, up to a standard, that he has, that others have for him, that he's going to be in the spotlight. It comes with the position. You know, I don't know that anybody really played well or coached well on Saturday, including me. Is it fair? Sure. I think it is fair criticism of everybody, including me. Yeah. I think we all have to coach better, I think we all have to play better.. Q. Brian, after the game you said that you thought Michigan was more physical BRIAN KELLY: Are we going to get to Virginia Tech? That game is past us. This will be the last question on Michigan. Q. Was there anything from during the bye week in which, you know, you may have been compromised in terms of your physicality on Saturday night? BRIAN KELLY: You know, Tim, I have been doing this a long time, and, you know, you try to gage your preparation based upon things that you have done in the past, and try to you know, look at all the difference things that go into preparing for an opponent. At the end of the day, you've got to match your preparation with game time I guess emotional readiness. You know, we didn't match that. Michigan was all over the field. They we got what we deserved, and Michigan outplayed us. They outhustled us. They were more physical. They outcoached us. And, you know, those things unfortunately are the realities of it. I don't know that because we were off that that caused us not to be physical. I think that we got away from our identity. Our identity is to be gritty. Our identity is to play smart. Our identity is to be locked in. We were not. We got to get back to our identity. Q. Last year when you made the change at quarterback, Ian Book was flashing in practice enough apparently, obviously, to warrant that move. Have you seen is Phil Jurkovec doing anything in practice right in and out that would be comparable with what you saw with the Book/Wimbush situation last year? BRIAN KELLY: They're totally different, Tim, in a sense that you know Ian is a different quarterback than Brandon was. It is hard to compare and contrast those two. They are really quite different. You know, Phil obviously sees the field very well. He's tall. He's ranging, 6'5". He has a strong arm. We like him as a quarterback. You know, I don't know that there is any appetite there isn't from mine, but there is no quarterback controversy. There isn't any kind of conversation about making a change. Ian Book is our starter, will be our starter, and Phil will continue to be ready if he's called upon. Q. After 8 25 game, obviously a tough night for a lot of guys. But your quarterback, what's the next step with him in terms of just you communicating with him to get him back moving in the right direction? BRIAN KELLY: Yeah. I mean, I think it is all the things you saw. I mean, we have to, you know, continue to work ongoing through your progressions, you know, hanging in there. You know, he had some key drops. You know, we need all 11 guys to play better quite frankly. This isn't we didn't loose that game because of Ian Book. He has to play better, no doubt. Things that we have been talking about for the last few weeks, he's got to continue to work on. Q. You mentioned Trevor Ruhland, how did you evaluate his game? BRIAN KELLY: We thought he did very well for a guy that had not played all year. We liked his activity, working up to the second level on backers which we did not do a great job of. We're pleased with his work and, you know, obviously in a situation where he had to come in, you know, right off the bench. Q. You mentioned physicality couple of times in terms of what was lacking. In terms of the offensive line play, is it as simple as that or missed blocks, technique, just they have to be better? BRIAN KELLY: We got to be better. It was all around. I mean, there was new lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Look, the basic tenants of this game haven't changed. You know, you control a line of scrimmage, you really have a great chance of winning football games. Michigan controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides. Our job now is to get back and get to Virginia Tech and control the line of scrimmage. If we do that, we have a chance of winning. That's really our focus moving forward. Q. Ian, when you evaluate some issues he's had from week to week, are there any concerns that some of those issues are what he is and you can't correct those because they're repeating or is there a hope of correcting those things and changing it through the season. BRIAN KELLY: We're coaches. We're teachers. We're so much more optimistic than you folks are. We believe that Ian Book is a young man that is going to work on the things necessary to be the kind of quarterback we want him to be. He's won a lot of games, you know. You know, we didn't win last week, I get it. We're all disappointed. We're going to move on. We're going to learn from it. We're going to be humbled because of it. We're going to get back to being who we are. It happens. Ohio State lost 49 20 last year to Purdue. They did okay after that. Sure, it was a bad week in Columbus that week, just like it is going to be a bad week here in South Bend, I get that. We're going to keep coaching. This game teaches you great lessons, that's why I get it, winning is important. Our nation wants to win. I want to win too! But you can learn great lessons from this game too. Our guys learned some lessons. Our coaches learned from it. I have learned from it. We're going to carry those things moving forward. Q. With Young out, this seems like a week where McKinley, Keys and Lindsay specifically could really make progress or step up in to different roles. Do you kind of have a plan going in or do you want to take a fresh look of four guys with those guys to see how to work them in? BRIAN KELLY: No. They all have to be involved. You know, I thought it would be nice to catch a couple of balls here and there, you know, we got Lawrence in the game, might have been a little bit of a low throw but we would like to see hem make that catch. We have to keep getting him in competitive situations. You know, we know what Ajavon can do, obviously he's really good on the outside. I just think that they all have to be in the rotation in some fashion so we'll continue to get them involved as we move forward. They're younger players, but for Ajavon, he's young in experience, but older in terms of being in the program. They all have to be involved and we have to keep working them in there. Q. You mentioned a possibility of a rough week in practice. This is the first one in two years where your team is in line for a play off birth, I know you don't sit around talking about playoffs is that something you're aware of when you see how the early portion of practice week is going? BRIAN KELLY: No. There's so much more at stake here. This is so much more about who you are as a person, and who we are as individuals. You know, playoffs, bowl games, all kind of get put aside, you know, after weeks like that. We really start to focus on who you are as a person, and what's your why. Why are you doing this? That's so much more important after a week like we had. Q. (Question asked) BRIAN KELLY: Is that what he said? Q. (Question asked) BRIAN KELLY: We'll use that analogy. Q. (Question asked). BRIAN KELLY: I think what we're interested in is both of those guys to continue to develop. We put them in competitive situations each week. It's ongoing. They don't stop growing, you know, just because one is one and one is two. They're still in competitive situations during the practice week. I think that Phil has gotten better and will continue to get better. He's challenging Ian every single day even if you guys don't see it. Just because he's two doesn't mean that he's not challenging Ian and making him better every day in practice. You know, how that fits the analogy. We think that he is better as a football player and a quarterback than he was when camp started. We just hope that continues to move in the right direction and we're pretty confident it will. Q. (Question asked). BRIAN KELLY: He's not played a lot of real football. It has been a lot of practice football. You know, it's an incredible game, right, you know, you practice, practice, practice, practice, you know, and then you play only 12 games. He's practiced a lot, and hasn't played a lot in college. So he's really missing that college it is faster, you know. So that's really all he's missing right now. I mean, in practice, he looks pretty good, but you know, it is getting to that point where he actually plays in some of the games and making those quick decisions, changing protections, you know, making some quick decisions, those are the things, you know, that he's going to have to continue to work on. Q. (Question asked). BRIAN KELLY: If I felt like playing Phil for five plays, four plays would make us a better football team, I would do it in a second. I'm only interested in how I can help our football team win. This is not about an ego or we have to play one guy, two guys. I just want to win football games by playing the best players that will help us win. If I thought for a second that Phil Jurkovec would be on the field to help us winning in some fashion, he would be on the field. This is as honest as I can be with you. Q. Jahmir Smith, what do you like about where his game is? How does he give you something different than Tony Jones and Jafar Armstrong? BRIAN KELLY: He's progressed in pass protection. He showed that on Saturday on a couple of nice pick ups for. Us, so some reliability and trust, first of all is an important piece of this whole picture at the running back. The second thing he's got good vision. He can see a jump cut. He knows when to spill it outside. He's got a burst, a quick first step bursts. Runs hard. We thought he's been hit and miss a little bit in terms of catching the football, but he came up with a nice catch on Saturday with contact. We think he's making good progress from that perspective. Pass protection, which equals trust, pretty good vision through the whole and then a burst, and I don't know if that makes him different from Tony, but he's starting to exhibit some of the traits necessary to gain more trust. Q. With questions have you gotten with the quarterback position today, how do you look at this from a coaching perspective where do you sit there and say, all right, maybe we got to find some different ways to accentuate Ian Book's strengths than what we have been doing for the last four weeks? BRIAN KELLY: Yeah. So we lost the game and, you know, you have to look at everything, the quarterback, the safety, the middle linebacker, the offensive line, everybody. But then you also have to sit down and look at, all right, where are we at the quarterback position as well, and what can we do as teachers and what can we do to put him in a position to keep advancing our offense? Those are the discussions we have Sundays and Mondays as we lead into our preparation. Yeah. Those discussions take place because they need to take place because that's our job. If we're not having those discussions and you guys are having them, you should take our jobs. Quite frankly, those are in depth conversations that should take place, that do take place we take it serious that we have to look at all of those things and they have to be vetted out each and every day as we move forward to improving our football team. Q. Is it fair to look at Ian's play from the standpoint of, all right, the first five games against power 5 teams he was great, teams have sort of figured out how you like to play him, that you have to find a counter punch to that now? BRIAN KELLY: We don't necessarily see that as being the case. We think that there are things for him to improve upon. We think there are plays that he will need to grow with for our offensive to continue to get better. He knows that. He's been challenged, just like Jalen Elliot has been challenged, just like Alohi Gilman, they have all been challenged. Chip Long has been challenged. All of our coaches have been challenged that we need to be better. Q. Brian, you guys haven't lost consecutive games since the end of the 2016 season. Was there something after that 2016 season that you worked on to maybe prevent you from losing consecutive games, a different mindset coming off of a loss going into a practice week like that? BRIAN KELLY: There is a lot of changes we have made within the program. You know, just with our identity, our standards within the program to make certain. Obviously we were dealing with an interim defensive coordinator, there were a lot of different things. We lost I think to this Virginia Tech team 34 31, it may have been the last time we lost to a confererence team. A lot of different things. As I mentioned earlier at the outset, this is about our football team getting back to their identity and the standards that have gotten them to this point. We got away from it, it is time to get back to it. Q. Are there going to be any adjustments with the rush defense? Do you look at the table and there are adjustments you may make this week about Virginia Tech? BRIAN KELLY: Well, yeah. We're not coming out with a new defense. We'll come out with a defense that is much more focused on their job and attention to their detail. As we have talked about, at nauseam, much more physicality. Our guys know what they need to do, and that is they have got to reclaim their identity and we lost it, we're going to get it back, and we have already addressed that. BRIAN KELLY: Brian, you talked a lot about getting back to your identity. Have you pinpointed why you did not play to your identity? BRIAN KELLY: You know, that's the great question in competitive sports as to why teams sometimes lose that edge or they don't stick with the script, especially one that's worked so well. You know, you come back, you hope that lessons are learned, that consistency in your approach and sticking with things is a great life lesson, and that hopefully that you can carry on and understand how important it is to have these traits that will show success for you. Q. Is that something as a coaching staff you can pinpoint after a few days? Is that a bigger picture thing that you have to go look back to after several weeks or maybe at the end of the season of, okay, why did this happen against Michigan, why did this happen against Miami? BRIAN KELLY: Miami was a different story. We turned the ball over seven times in that game and just got away from us. This was kind of a different scenario. No, I think our players clearly understand we have a lot of veterans on the team that have already been in my office and addressed the fact that they know exactly what needs to be done, and a great part about it is the word that kind of brings everybody together at the end of the day is are you accountable or not accountable? Are we accountable as coaches, and are we accountable as players? If everybody is accountable, then you get up, you get going again, you know. It is how you're going to deal with the adversity that you just were hit with. I'm very confident our guys are accountable guys and I know our staff is and we'll get back to work. Q. Finally, human nature is certainly a big part of the sports, and outside distractions can be a major factor especially for students. They're going to class, everything, how do you isolate your guys to make sure that everything that's swirling around doesn't affect them in practice and in the game this week? BRIAN KELLY: They're used to it. I mean, they know they have to avoid the noise. They won't be defined by one game. They've got a great opportunity in the month of November. You know, they can be remembered by winning the month of November. They win the month of November, the noise will change. All will be happy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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