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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 19, 2010

Brian Kelly

COACH KELLY: Our players are excited, obviously, they're on a bit of a win streak, so the energy is high. The morale is good as you would expect after a couple of wins. We now face the challenge of going against a very good football team in Navy.
Coach Ken, I'll call him. I don't want to mess up coach's last name, has done a great job since taking over over there. And the challenge of going against an offense in a very short period of time is real.
Certainly, defensively they've proven to be very effective at limiting teams from a point production standpoint. Obviously, the give-take there is you never want to get too far behind in running an option offense, and their defense complements them very well in making sure they keep things in front of them. Do a very good job discipline-wise, as you would expect from the Naval Academy.
But, again, for us, we know the challenge ahead of us. Our players remember last year's game and how that derailed, really, the entire season for Notre Dame last year. So, Navy, again, great tradition. This game is important to Notre Dame, obviously from a win standpoint and keeping our momentum. But also recognizing this is a very good football team. So with that, I'll open it up to any questions.

Q. This will seem a little out of left field, but bear with me. Coach Martin, evaluate the job he's done this year as far as meeting your expectations in bringing him in?
COACH KELLY: Well, I don't know that there were really any questions. He had worked for me as a coordinator, and I think it was an adjustment for him to go to position coach.
But putting the recruiting responsibilities as the recruiting coordinator on his plate, I think both of those things have really energized him. He's really been able to focus on his group, and, again, being the head coach, you're responsible for 105.
I think the recruiting, both of those together, he's done an outstanding job and something that I expected from him.

Q. Typically assistants at a high major, when you have success, that you aspire to have the level that you aspire to chief here, get head coaching opportunities at the mid-major, Division 1 level. Is that something you could envision him having the opportunity down the road? If so, what kind of job do you think he'll do as a Division 1 head coach?
COACH KELLY: Well, Chuck's ready to be a head coach even if he stayed at Grand Valley State. It's just getting that opportunity, and people getting over the fact that he's at a Division 2 school. He can coach anywhere in the country.
He didn't come here to be a head coach. He came here to make sure Notre Dame got back to where it needs to be, and I know that that's his short and long-term goal.
Some day if it opens up an opportunity for him, I'm sure I'm going to be the first one on the phone recommending him. But he didn't come here with, hey, I'm going to go to Notre Dame to get a head job. He came here to Notre Dame to help us win football games.

Q. I wondered if you could update us on the laundry list of guys that were getting further evaluation. Armando, Michael, Theo, Jamoris, Taylor Dever?
COACH KELLY: Yeah. Couple things that I can tell you for sure, Theo Riddick will be out this week. He's got a severely sprained ankle.
They casted it yesterday to begin the healing process. We put him in a boot the first day, put a cast on it now. It's going to take some time. He had a severely sprained ankle. We were fearful that it would require surgery. It doesn't look like it will need surgery. But this is something that's going to take some time for it to heal. I can't give you a specific date and time.
We'll see after we get the cast off here and the healing process begins as to what that looks like. But he's definitely out for this weekend.
Michael Floyd, we'll rest him this week relative to practice, but we are going to dress him for Saturday and see where he is. We probably won't have a true understanding of what he's able to do until game time. I think it's going to be one of those things where we're going of to have to get him out there kind of like we did with Armando last week and go from there.
Obviously, we'll prepare at that position with Duval. Michael's too much in a good position relative to our offense, so Duval will get most of the reps at that position for us. We'll bounce T.J. Jones into the slot position. He'll be backed up by Robbie Toma and John Goodman and Bennett Jackson will then take the reps out at the X-receiver position.
That will kind of work itself out during the week.
Then we'll move Zack back to left tackle, and Romine will battle that out. Romine's had two very good consistent weeks. Taylor's been out, so you can imagine there may be a little bit of rust there. So both those guys will battle that position and Zack will move back over to the left, backed up by Andrew Nuss.
Armando feels much better after the procedure that he had done on Wednesday. My expectation is that he would practice today and we'll go from there.

Q. Jamoris?
COACH KELLY: You know, Jamoris is probably going to be one of those situations where he's just going to have to fight through it. What he needs is two to three weeks off. What we don't have is time to give him off. The reality of that position.
So I think we're probably dealing with trying to keep him healthy as best we can, but he's got to play for us as well.

Q. Zeke Motta gets more playing time. I wonder what your early impressions of him were? He's a guy that bounced a little bit between line backer and safety last year, and the kind of job he's done for you this year?
COACH KELLY: He's a very gifted athlete. He can play the safety position at a high level. I think it's always been about development as a football player, the football IQ. Making sure he's solid in his fundamentals and his assignments more than anything else. Jamoris brought maybe not the same athletic ability, but very smart football player especially on the back end of our defense.
That's why Jamoris is a little bit ahead of Zeke coming out of the first game and then obviously in the Purdue game. Those are the strengths and weaknesses. Zeke is getting better each and every week. Again, if he keeps his eyes trained on the right thing, he's a pretty good football player.

Q. 34, how does it match up with the triple option? Is it theoretically a better defense to play the triple option than a four-three?
COACH KELLY: I think you could probably make the case for it. We've defended in four down and three down. We'll continue to blend and mix up. It still comes down to assignment football, getting off blocks whether you're in the three down or four down. Provided you start with the premise that you're fundamentally sound. After that, three down, four down, you're still defending inside out across the board.

Q. Given Ricky Dobbs' penchant to be able to throw some deep passes, how important are the safeties both in the run and being awake for that pass?
COACH KELLY: Well, that's the whole thing. They try to lull you to sleep and then throw one over your head. It's the discipline that we'll need. Our eyes will have to be on our keys at the safety position. We'll have to stay alert at all times and that is the nature of their offense. They want you to let your guard down for one moment, and then put the ball over your head.

Q. Sounds like this is going to be a green jersey game. Just your thoughts?
COACH KELLY: No, it's not a green jersey.

Q. It's not?
COACH KELLY: No, it's not. You're going to have to get with your sources.

Q. Both your offensive and defensive linemen chase the play so well, Braxston Cave almost came up with a great fumble recovery Saturday, Ethan Johnson did. What is your philosophy in terms of linemen chasing the play and being prepared to come up with the fumble?
COACH KELLY: Well, every coach uses this phrase, but practice. We double whistle everything. So we practice for that second whistle, which is 15 yards down the field. There isn't a whistle that ends the play. We keep moving all the way through.
Our tempo on offense is such that we just coached that, so had they don't know to stop after two or three yards. This is something that is engrained in them since we started running this offense. So going to the echo of the whistle. Primarily when we get together with our defense, we work off a second whistle. And that second whistle is in the back 15, 20 yards down the field.

Q. You went back to Ruffer on the kickoffs; what went into that decision?
COACH KELLY: You know, I think Mike Elston evaluated them both during the week, and just felt like the ball placement was better. David had corrected some things relative to where we wanted the ball placed more than anything else.
As you know he's got a bit of a stronger leg, but placement was a concern after he kicked the ball out of bounds. But he's shown consistency the past couple of weeks in practice and we made the decision to go back with David.

Q. You use an expression with Calabrese Sunday about getting fished on the on the curl. Can you explain exactly what that means?
COACH KELLY: His responsibility is the curl. If you have a drive route underneath or you have a divot route that is at your level and then bouncing out on to the flat, you want to chase that because they want to throw the ball over on the curl route, and he got baited a couple of times.
The funny thing about it is after the game we ran the same route during the week and he didn't fall for it. But that is the nature of football. 18, 19, 21-year-olds not getting caught up in the emotion of the moment, but staying with what they've been coached. He didn't handle the emotion of the moment, and consequently there were some completions there that shouldn't have been made.

Q. I don't know how far you use the pistol formation with the running back behind Dayne. But what are the advantages of that, or is that just giving a team another look?
COACH KELLY: No, there are a couple. Primarily it's the setting of the defense based upon where the back is in shotgun. Lot of times the back is to your right, they're going to set the outside shade away from it making it more difficult to come across the quarterback. You have to run more same-side plays.
So going into the pistol, then negates that from a defensive standpoint. You can't set the technique one way or the other. The second thing is it gives the back a little bit more of a downhill approach to the running game.
So there are some advantages to it. It's not quite as good in pass protection because, obviously, it's harder for him to go from one side to the other. So there are pluses and minuses in using it.

Q. Mike Golic was in the number 49. But did you place him at a tight end position or what did you do with him?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, he was playing our over tackle and PAT field goal. So we wanted an eligible number on him.

Q. Last thing, I should have asked you this last week because I spoke to one of your play signallers, but just your relationship with the walk-on quarterbacks. Obviously, the line of communication has to be really strong between you and them because they are your voice, so to speak, on the field, signaling in plays.
COACH KELLY: Yeah, it's a great relationship. They're in all of our meetings. They sit in all of our preparational meetings. So Brian Castello in particular and Mulvey, both of those guys are valved in everything that we do. One signaller is live, the other one isn't. They change it up by quarter. So they have to be linked into what I'm doing, because they're responsible for getting the signals out. So they've got a great understanding of the offense.

Q. Castello said he's never set foot on the football field, but he's been yelled at more than any other player on the team?
COACH KELLY: That's probably true. I would probably give him that. He's way too smart for me anyway.
Funny story, we have pass pictures that we give out. It's probably that thick, it's probably 35 pages of pass pictures, all of the diagrams of every play. He will digest those and find any error in them within 30 seconds.
So if you need your taxes done, that guy -- or maybe you don't want him to do your taxes, but he's pretty good.

Q. About T.J., with his production, the first three games he had eight receptions, the last four he's had four. What is attributed to that production?
COACH KELLY: Probably Theo Riddick, you know, obviously coming along. The closer to the ball, the better opportunity you have to get the football unless you're the match-up one-on-one guy, which Mike Floyd is.
So I think probably play calling puts him in had a different situation. Now that he moves closer to the ball, he's going to get more opportunities.
So I think the nature of Theo coming together and clearly defining that we needed to get him the ball more, as well as, obviously, at that time Rudolph and Floyd.

Q. How much is involved with that position switch from X to Z, and what a freshman or how a freshman can adjust to that?
COACH KELLY: Well, we couldn't have done it, Al, unless he played Z. He played obviously all spring while Theo was nursing a shoulder. T.J. was playing quite a bit at the position. So he's got a real solid base at that position. We feel very comfortable making that move with him and Robbie Toma now at that position.
We could not have done this at this late stage unless we had a very good base at that position.

Q. Daniel Smith got into the ballgame a little bit on Saturday. Probably a situation where you might not want to play him this year, but with the injuries you've got a few players on special teams and had to lineup as well?
COACH KELLY: I think our first thought was we believed he could strengthen our special teams unit for the rest of the year. So this is less about the wide receiver position and more about adding another dynamic player to what we felt would be a dynamic player on our special teams unit.
Graded out well, did a very nice job. Really, if you look at the three young kids on that team, Bennett Jackson, Austin Collinsworth and Daniel, they're pretty good players. So we felt like that would strengthen our ST.

Q. Your back-up quarterback's got some snaps, too. There was a point of the game where people were looking for one more score, but important to get those guys on the field and get them some reps?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, we had scored enough. We were really just trying to get some of the offensive packages that we have put together for those guys some more work. I think that that was my mindset more than anything else. If the ball went in the end zone, it went in. But this was strictly more about getting those guys some work.

Q. Back to T.J. for a second. How much relearning on the fly is he doing this week, considering, I'm sure, the offense has evolved since spring, so some things are different or do you scale things back for that slot position now that he's jumping in?
COACH KELLY: I think the advantage that he has is the understanding now of the concepts. So how the X and the Z work together. They're constantly together, so there is a connection there that, well, I ran this route. I know the complement to the route.
Where T.J. is now by playing so much and getting all that work at the X, he understands the concept, so it's easy for him to fill in the blanks and just move inside and be the complementary piece to what he was running out at the X position. That is the big difference is understanding of the concept.

Q. Shift to wide receiver or receiving corps in general, when you consider Kyle, too. The evolution of Dayne that we keep talking about, is this making things more difficult on him when he's got to adjust to new guys that he hasn't had chemistry with in different spots?
COACH KELLY: Oh, sure, yeah. Yeah, you don't want to, obviously, lose two guys like this. But it's the nature of college football. We're prepared for it. They've gotten enough reps throughout the course of the summer, preseason camp, for us to be confident that we can be successful with our offense as it is.

Q. There was a time when a win over Navy by Notre Dame seemed to be a given. I think there were 43 in a row. But now that it's been two out of the last three Navy victories, is that something you drive home to the team or have they been driving that home to you guys?
COACH KELLY: I haven't driven anything home about the history of it. All I know is we're looking for another win, whether it's Navy or Western Michigan, that's really immaterial. There is a great deal of tradition. There is a ton of respect. A lot of games in the last couple of years.
For us to think about any game other than a great opportunity for a win is not being realistic. So our focus is trying to get another win against a team that really derailed their season last year.
I know they remember that. I don't. I was doing something else. But my focus is strictly on the next week.

Q. Last week Dayne and a couple of the guys were talking about how this team isn't good enough to overlook any opponent. Is that a mindset that maybe at some time they'll get over and they'll maybe still have that hunger, but they'll have that confidence to know, hey, we're better than this team?
COACH KELLY: We're climbing up the mountain. We're in this climb. It's one that we haven't done in a long time. We have not climbed to the very top. It's not easy for us on this climb. We're not experienced enough in winning so many games that we can go, hey, I got this. I know how to get up here.
The further you go up, it gets more treacherous. This group is really learning their way up the hill and that's what happened last week in terms of how we played in the first half compared to the second half.
So, yeah, I'm not too concerned that they think they've figured it out. They know they have to pay attention to detail if they're going to win.

Q. You were asked about T.J. and his production. How much is it just Goodman giving you more in practice and giving you more on Saturdays?
COACH KELLY: Well, certainly he's started splitting the reps. He was taking all of those reps, so Goodman had something to do with that relative to his time on the field. So we weren't splitting reps in there, that may have something to do with it. It also had something to do with focusing on Theo a little bit more as well. So I think you could probably claim both of those.

Q. Where was the jump that good manmade from somebody that you weren't really sure about to somebody that, yeah, we should split reps with T.J.? What did that happen and what did he show you?
COACH KELLY: Well, he showed me enough to split reps. He hasn't shown me enough to take that position away. Now he's going to have it this week by virtue of an injury. Now he's got an opportunity to solidify himself on the field with the consistent play.
I'd say the thing that gave me an opportunity in my own mind to look at him was the Michigan State game where he fielded the punt, was not nervous or hesitant. I think there was some confidence gained there now it's just a matter of he's got to be a consistent performer out there.

Q. With injuries, you've had some guys play through hamstrings, hip flexors, ankles all sorts of things?
COACH KELLY: We're covering all the anatomy parts here.

Q. How important is it in the big picture that guys can go out and battle through some things? In the past they'd take a week off here, take a week off there. It seems like guys really want to be out there.
COACH KELLY: I don't know that there's any player that wants to let his teammates down. You get that component within your program where they care about each other, that's a strong component in wanting to get back out on the field. They don't want to be regarded as the guy that couldn't answer the bell, so to speak.
Don't have a team that cares about each other, have a team that's more interested in had what they do and how they do it, then maybe you have a little bit more of that. All the teams that I've coached, we've developed that core within that those guys want to get out there and play. So guys that can't play for us, they're hurt.

Q. Is that something that's been enhanced since you were here?
COACH KELLY: I don't know. You'd have to ask the players. I wasn't here last year. All I know is how I expect our football team to respond.

Q. You've mentioned twice now today that the players remember what happened last year, and I'm sure the older guys can remember the Game 2 years ago too. I know you weren't here. But will you use that for motivation at all? Those were two demoralizing losses for those guys.
COACH KELLY: No, I've never used much of that as a form of motivation. I've relied more on the preparation, knowing your opponent, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses. If they carry that with them, that's fine. That can't hurt us.
But I won't be walking around with a hat, remember 2009, you know. We're going to be trying to stop the triple option and finding a way to put points on the board.

Q. On that note, I know we mentioned that for the last several weeks you've been working on that because it's such a hard offense to prepare for. Could you elaborate on that a little bit?
COACH KELLY: Well, maybe I overstated it a little bit. Maybe I said five weeks, it's actually been 15 weeks we've been working on it. Having fun with you.
You can't just do two days. So we've had to find time, five minutes here, ten minutes here, just to become acquainted with it more so than two days. It's impossible for two days. So we look at opportunities in the spring to run some option. We look at opportunities in those dog days of double sessions where you can change things up a little bit, and maybe add a little bit of that to your practice schedule. So we've tried to keep an eye on it.
We've been focused on the next opponent, let's face it. But this isn't the first time our guys are going to see it or hear about it.

Q. Moving the practice times up, I know they're not in school this week, but do you think there is some advantage to that just kind of keeping them on a we play at noon this week sort of mentality?
COACH KELLY: You know, I like to change up the routine after it becomes a routine, to the level where they all know the time. I like to change it up a little bit. Just also helps because of the early start, so we're getting them up. We're getting them on the field at noon time, and we're able to talk about, hey, this is what it feels like. You've got to be ready, got to be alert, got to be ready to go.
Changing up the routine a little bit, I like to do that this time of the year. Obviously, it works well because we're on break. We couldn't do this if we were in class, obviously.

Q. Talk about time of possession after the game last week. Does it become more important this week considering the way Navy plays on offense?
COACH KELLY: Well, you're going to have limited plays. We're averaging 70 plays a game. They're averaging giving up about 60 plays a game. So you have to take ten plays off the list. And in those ten plays, there could be a couple scores that you're missing out on.
So it is really more about maximizing those 60 plays, if you will, and they have to be extremely efficient. So that's the first thing.
The second thing is the third quarter, Navy has outscored in the third quarter. So we have to be ready coming out of the locker room after adjustments are made in that third quarter. More so than time of possession. Efficiency in the plays that you get against a team like Navy.

Q. And Duval might have gotten lost in the shuffle a little bit on Saturdays, at least. What does he need to do as he gets an opportunity this weekend?
COACH KELLY: I don't think he got lost in the shuffle. I think Michael Floyd is a better player, but Duval is a good player and he can help us win. And we're expecting him, if he has to play, to step in and help us win. It's just the nature of competition at that position.
He's had good weeks of practice. It's hard to take Michael Floyd off the field, Duval knows that. He doesn't like it, but he understands the role that he has. Now if Mike can't go, he's got to step up and play big for us.

Q. You promised a listener on your radio show Thursday night that you'd run a pistol?
COACH KELLY: Did I fulfill that promise?

Q. Did you put it in Thursday night or Friday morning?
COACH KELLY: Saturday in pregame. They were a little surprised.

Q. Probably your most consistent area the last four weeks has been the run defense, and certainly Manti and Carlo have been receiving most of the attention as far as their run. How much credit to you give to the defensive line for really emerging?
COACH KELLY: It's seven guys that are committed to that, and you can't have one without the other. Carlo and Manti can't do their job in letting the nose guard go because he wants to race into the back field, or Ethan doesn't want to protect the C-gap because he wants to try to make a tackle, Kap Lewis. You know.
So the outside backers, the inside backers they are all on a string, and if we're having any success, it's because the defensive line is allowing those guys to flow to the football. It really is.
And I know this sounds like coach speak, but those guys inside that are getting a lot of the tackles are getting it because we're playing pretty good up front.

Q. How many times, sometimes you look at the statistics. Just a few years ago there was a defensive end to your Trevor Laws who made 110 tackles. So when you look at the tackle totals of Ethan or Kapron, it's like these guys aren't really productive, but how do you as a staff evaluate, measure and grade out your defensive line?
COACH KELLY: First of all, each individual has a grade sheet that I get, and it's based upon what their job is on those 55 plays. It's clearly brought up to them in their film study on each and every play what they're doing and how they're doing it. How they grade out on each one of those plays.
So we start with individually looking at them, and then how that fits into the team of defense. So, again, it's the individual grades that we start with, and then that allows us to move from there.

Q. And to predicate it on like what the play is? Like on this play begins responsibility is not so much the tackle, but to funnel something inside?
COACH KELLY: Absolutely, no question. If he's doing his job, if he's effective at what he's asked to do. And that might be just stay inside out on the tackle, you know. You're not trying to get across the space. You're not releasing outside and letting the ball come back up underneath, so, absolutely. They get graded out for each individual play, and then they get graded out for plays above and beyond.
The other thing that we do a very good job on is loafs. Are you racing to the play? If not, you're going to get hit with a loaf. If you're loafing, you're running on Mondays. So all of those things go into the grading.

Q. Overall, how have they seemed to grade out, as a unit?
COACH KELLY: As a unit, I can tell you this. Early in the year, we had way too many loafs because they didn't understand what fast meant, getting to the ball. Now we have very few of those, and they are far and few between. I think from an assignment standpoint, very high, and if we have a bad game, it's generally one game where they didn't do their job consistently, but it's been graded out very high during the year.

Q. Talk about getting off the field on third downs, Navy's offense had one three-and-out against Notre Dame last year, largely because they put themselves in short yardage situation. Does their offense oversimplify first down success is the most important thing facing them defensively?
COACH KELLY: First down success generally means four down. So you're obviously putting yourself in a four-down situation more so than you are in a three-down situation. So, you know, the measurement of success on first down is huge, because they're going to try to control the football by using all four downs. So, yeah, I'd say that's pretty important piece.

Q. You mentioned how the defense complements their offense. Notre Dame has always moved the ball against Navy either in both losses whether they win, blow them out in close games. Conversely, red zone offense, does it change at all for you knowing that you're probably going to move the ball, but it's incredibly important to score a touchdown instead of field goals?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, looking at last year's game, I think it was turnovers in the red zone that caught Notre Dame. This is still about putting points on the board.
They're going to force you to earn it. Quick strikes are not what their defense is going to give up. They're going to keep the ball in front of them. They're very solid in their fundamentals, so you've got to earn it.
I guess what they're saying is go ahead, take five or six minutes to score, shorten the game, we'll be fine with that and we're not going to allow you to score quickly. So we have to be extremely efficient on offense.

Q. Without giving away a trade secret, do you approach that any differently when you hit their 30 or 40-yard line instead of the red zone? Obviously a defense could pack it in more in the red zone?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I mean, look, you're always looking to try to score points. If you think you can get opportunities to get the ball over their head, you're going to try that. But it's very difficult the way they have their defensive structure.
So the quarterback has to put the ball on guys. He's got to be on his game. If he's on his game, you know, we'll be fine. But if he's not efficient in throwing the football, obviously, we'll have to struggle at times.

Q. As you probably know, Notre Dame had a great offensive game against Navy last year, over 500 yards. It gets back to turnovers. Navy and Army are both in the Top 10 in turnovers. How do you stress that this week and do you stress it more than a normal week?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, we talk about efficiency in our offense, and not having as many plays as we're accustomed to. So we have to be on top of our game. We have to be efficient, we have to catch the ball. We have to throw it accurately, and we've got to run the ball.
If they're going to drop eight, there's not a lot of areas to throw the football. You know, you're running out of areas. You've got to be able to run the football as well, which, again, they'll bend a little bit, but they've shown themselves pretty good at not breaking.

Q. At this point in the season, I don't know if it's generally or especially because of the injury situation, are you guys doing live contact in practice, are you live scrimmaging at all anymore?
COACH KELLY: We don't bring anybody down to the ground, and we haven't done that since probably the second week of camp? But we'll go full go inside. Our players will stay up, but I haven't brought the back down or been in a full contact tackling position.

Q. Getting back to the quarterback thing. Do the quarterbacks have to take a test every week to show their proficiency on what they should know, and before the game do they have to do that?
COACH KELLY: Well, there are a lot of levels to that. Yeah, he's got to get through each practice with me. That's the first test. The second test then becomes the retention end of things. Then the third test is the recognition on Friday as we do a simulator.
We use an X-O simulator, kind of like a play station, which has all of our offense, game plan versus Navy. They have to be able to come up with the right answers there.

Q. That's not on the same TV as the Guitar Hero?
COACH KELLY: It's on a different TV. It's on my laptop.

Q. Have you or your medical staff set a standard of Floyd's hamstring being healed before he plays again? And how does your experience with Rudolph affect how you handle his recovery?
COACH KELLY: We do have a standard protocol. Grade 1, grade 2, grade 3. Grade 1 is met with a certain protocol relative to the injury. We're talking about the hamstring. Grade 1 injury requires this, grade 2, requires this, and grade 3 has a different protocol and procedure. So those are pretty standard.
They've been modified a little bit since I've been here, but they're all very comfortable with what the procedure is. Michael was a grade 1, and we've enacted it in what we believe that protocol should be, and we're sticking with that right now. He's still a grade 1.
Kyle Rudolph's situation was a totally different situation. He was not even a grade 1 hamstring, and then had, obviously, a tear of the hamstring. So they're separate cases, but in answering your question, no, it hasn't changed the way we deal with hamstring injuries across the board.

Q. I don't imagine you're a doctor, but isn't it true --
COACH KELLY: I'm not. But I've stayed at a Holiday Inn.

Q. Isn't it true in general with hamstring injuries, the best way to treat them is to let them heal and they will not heal with athletic competition or athletic activity? They will only get worse, not better, when you're active no matter what grade it is?
COACH KELLY: No, we do not prescribe to that theory.

End of FastScripts

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