ND Lands Second Straight Elite Recruit

Notre Dame received a second straight commitment from an elite player late Wednesday when offensive tackle prospect Matt Hegerty committed to Brian Kelly and the Irish. Hegarty is considered one of the best offensive line prospects in the nation with offers from USC, LSU, Texas and Michigan. His commitment follows the commitment of Tight End Ben Koyack, who had offers from almost every to school in the country.

Here's how Scout describes Hegarty:

"Hegarty has what coaches look for in a left tackle prospect. He is long, lean and athletic. Athleticism allows him to reach defenders and make blocks at the second and third levels. His long arms and great feet make him a very sound pass blocker. Still needs to add strength and bulk but his frame will easily allow him to carry 300+ pounds."

Hegarty was named the offensive line MVP at national underclassman combine held at the University of Oklahoma. Hegarty is now the third recruit Notre Dame has beat out USC for, the second over Bob Stoops and Oklahoma and the second over Florida and Urban Meyer so far this recruiting season.

Here's a short video of Hegarty:

Blue and Gold Game Highlights

Choose Independence

The under the radar campaign to prepare Notre Dame Nation for a move to the Big Ten that began with an 'oops' moment in New York continued yesterday. Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves was in Scottsdale last night for UND Night with the Notre Dame Club of Phoenix, and told one alumnus and NDNation member, "I can't say that we will never join a conference."

A move to the Big Ten would culminate 20 years of mismanagement of the football program, a series of steps that, on the surface, seem to be the result of environmental forces, but are really a path of Notre Dame's own choosing.

The "we're a victim of circumstances" rationale isn't just poor leadership, but the line doesn't stand up to even cursory scrutiny. Indeed, the last publicly available numbers show Notre Dame football running a $37-million surplus and that's before licensing dollars. Powers like Alabama and Miami have been lobbying to get on Notre Dame's schedule. There's zero chance that an independent Notre Dame could be locked out of the BCS, which currently can't keep Boise State out.

The immediate fallout of a move would be felt on the recruiting trail, where Brian Kelly has noted that Notre Dame's independent status has given it a distinct advantage. As former Notre Dame and Michigan recruiting coordinator Bob Chmiel told Mike Frank on Power Hour, Notre Dame would be freely giving up its recruiting advantage.

Chmiel led the recruiting efforts at both schools and knows what "sells" recruits on Notre Dame.

In short, what Chmiel said is that what allows Notre Dame to compete on a national stage right now is its national identity, national TV contract and the fact that Notre Dame is an independent not swimming as a relatively small fish in a mega conference. That's Notre Dame 's competitive advantage that allows it to overcome its more restrictive recruiting pool. When Notre Dame wins a recruiting battle, it's usually by a thin margin and what separates Notre Dame is it's unique value proposition. That's how Notre Dame sells itself.

Michigan can go after anybody and sells itself as a Big Ten leader that plays in the Rose bowl and has a showdown with Ohio State. If Notre Dame joins the Big Ten, it would lose all of its competitive advantages and be forced to make the same type of pitch as Michigan, which Chmiel said it wouldn't be able to do effectively. The effect is that Notre Dame would diminish its national pool and have no way to differentiate itself and the new value proposition will be trumped by Michigan's and Ohio State's. Notre Dame has a more restrictive recruiting environment already and a B10 television deal and schedule will lesson its national exposure, meaning Notre Dame will become more regional, which is a death sentence. Notre Dame needs a national recruiting pool to make up for the more restrictive standards.

Beyond the impact on recruiting, Notre Dame would cash in a competitive advantage that any company would kill for. In a world where it's increasing harder to differentiate yourself from the competition, Notre Dame would be freely choosing to give up that advantage to subjugate control over its future to Michigan and Ohio State.

Notre Dame isn't churning out ten thousand alumni every year. Notre Dame's power and base comes from a national following and the belief that Notre Dame stands for something different. It's that belief that captures people's imaginations and inspires them. Notre Dame became well-known and loved because it stood for something different and dared to strive for excellence after it was ostricized from the conferences.

Looking back, Notre Dame's march toward irrelevance started with a lack of vision for the football program. Moving out Holtz for a coach with zero head coaching experience and zero love for the program in Bob Davie started the dominoes falling.

The losing that ensued weakened Notre Dame's national standing. When the BCS started, Notre Dame's take if they made it to a BCS game, was well over $10-million a year... reaching $14 to $17-million a year. If Notre Dame had played at the same level that it did under Holtz, it would still be the most valuable college football franchise in the country. Using that barometer, Notre Dame's decision to de-emphasize football while making Stanford an "aspirational peer" cost it over $50-million and untold millions more in brand value and other revenue.

When Kevin White went back to the negotiating table with the BCS, he gave back over $10-million a year in upside, for a relatively small guarantee. At the same time Notre Dame was taking even greater amounts of money out of the football coffers to fund other sports and for the general fund. The last known numbers show Notre Dame siphoning off over $20-million from football for the general fund. If Notre Dame had banked that money (like a good steward would) it would have a war chest for any future contingency.

That loss of value combined with a University addiction to football money has created a seeming imperative to go after a more stable revenue stream, which the Big Ten offers.

Similarly, Notre Dame's decision to play a 7-4-1 schedule to get more gate receipts and television dollars is solely responsible for any scheduling difficulties.

None of the "environmental" arguments hold water. Yes, some teams wouldn't schedule Notre Dame going forward late in the season, but there are plenty that would have. If they aren't SEC or Big Ten teams, that doesn't matter. Most schools would walk on hot coals for a home and home half under the dome. There are 120 schools in the football bowl subdivision, the idea that with USC, ND couldn't find teams to play in the back half of the season is ludicrous. Move Navy there and schedule Army if necessary.

Notre Dame doesn't need the extra money to compete in football, it needs it for other reasons. An independent Notre Dame that wins on the field will eventually be worth far more than a Notre Dame as a small fish in the Big Ten pond.

It isn't the environment that's forcing Notre Dame into the Big Ten and to portray it as such is disingenuous. Notre Dame has put itself on the path to conference membership through bad decisions and can still make the right choices and preserve independence.

Coffey has come up with a three ways to support independence:

1) Write letters with signature-required delivery telling Fr. Jenkins and John Affleck-Graves they're making a mistake, cc'ing independent sources so pushback can't be glossed over by the ND spin machine. Tell them in the letter who you are and how you've contributed to or helped ND in the past so they can tie your objection to participation history. PLEASE SCAN AND EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO NDINDEPEDENCE@GMAIL.COM. I'll post them on a wall.

2) Attend UND nights or other ND club functions and pigeon-hole the administrators who attend for concrete answers, like Howard Roark did. Even better, ask the question to them publicly so the answers are open to everyone.

3) Contact their alumni senator and/or class representative, and ask them if they're bringing things like this up. Alumni Senate meets in the near future, it's a good agenda item. Pressure them to put it on there.

Interviews: Floyd, Rudolph, Crist & Teo

Spring Practice Video (II)

Kelly 2010 Spring Press Conference

COACH KELLY: Good afternoon. It's an exciting day around here today. There's an energy in the building that I think we all feed off of as coaches and players. I know our players are excited about today. I know our coaches are.

You know, again, it's what we do. It's getting out on the field, getting that next opportunity now to evaluate our football team.

As you know, we pushed back spring practice quite late, probably as late as anybody in the country. That bump was specifically to spend more time in evaluating our football players.
What we believed were some of their deficiencies, we think we've addressed. We certainly have now gotten a better feel for our personnel, making sure that as we go into the spring, as I said, we don't have five years to put this thing together. We've got to do it right away. Spring ball for us is not about a, Let's get to know each other. We have to do more than that. This is a very, very important month for us as we set into motion the 2010 season.

A little bit different than the other stops along the way in the sense that we need to get to work right away. Today will be that first step in learning a little bit more about our football team.
You'll notice a couple of things relative to the spring right out of the gates. I'm not a big believer in the depth chart. We won't be posting depth charts. Really from a who's first, who's second, who's third, you know my background. I played five quarterbacks one year. So, you know, those battle scars are still with me (laughter).

We'd like to get all of our players in a competitive situation. We'll certainly be evaluating our players. You'll also notice that we don't have many players that are not involved in our practice. We have a very clear way of defining how our players compete. They're either out of practice where they're not in any form of practice gear, they're not involved, they're fully cleared. And we have two status positions: one is protected, and one is restricted. We have two players that will be protected. That will be Dayne Crist and Theo Riddick.

'Protected' means that both sides of the ball understand that they need to be involved in what we're doing on a day-to-day basis. They've got to be in scrimmages, in all segments, but they need to be shadowed and protected. There's no way you can develop football players by keeping them out of practice opportunities.

'Restricted' would be players that have had specific injuries and we want to keep them out of compromising positions. Again, they'll be involved in all the practices that we have, but it's incumbent upon the position coach, our strength and conditioning coach and myself to monitor their activities. I think those two things will be stark right away.

There's no depth chart. We're going to compete with all of our players. We'll begin to get units involved as we move through the spring. You will see an immersion virtually of every player in our spring practice format because it's that important that they're involved in the skill development.

At the end of the day if you ask me, What do you want to get out of spring ball? I would say that if I can clearly understand our football team as it relates to their work volume, their ability to do their job for four quarters, their work volume in practice, how they can compete for the entire practice, and the competitiveness of our football team, if I know how we compete with each other and amongst ourselves, I'll have a pretty good feel for where we stand going into 2010.
So those are the two things that I'll be looking for, our work volume, how we can compete at a high level, because I think we all know how that translates, didn't translate, closing football games out, winning games in the fourth quarter, then how we handle ourselves together in a competitive fashion.

With that I'll open it up to any questions.

Q. Coach, you mentioned the other day some of the position switches you already made. As you go through spring practice, are you still open and looking to other ones?
COACH KELLY: Constantly evaluating our football players every single day. I think the way that I go about practice is that I set the practice schedule every day after practice. I don't can the practices ahead of time. In other words, I don't have five or six or seven scripts already. So we're constantly evaluating after practice, making sure we get the pieces in the right place.

Q. I believe at Cincinnati you didn't have an indoor facility.
COACH KELLY: That's correct.

Q. Are you going to take advantage of this one or do you want to get outside?
COACH KELLY: I think one of the themes we've talked about with our football team is we want to return to our roots. Our roots are the Fighting Irish. I think building that model requires some toughness. Certainly if we don't believe that we can get a profitable practice in and one that we can get work done, we're going indoors.

We've gone outside already at 5 a.m. in the snow. We'd like to stay outside as much as we can.

Q. Could you talk about Dayne Crist, your first impressions of him when you met him, kind of how that's evolved.
COACH KELLY: Well, I think the first thing you see an engaging young man, bright-eyed, enthusiastic. He's got all those intangibles that immediately people would gravitate towards.
But it takes more than that to be a championship quarterback. You know, you've got to be able to produce on the field. You've got to be able to get your players around you to obviously make plays. So he's got a lot of work to do.

It's going to be a competitive situation for Dane. That's why it's so incumbent upon him to be involved in everything we do through the spring. It's a proving ground for him as well.

Q. I read an article that you did some stuff with video game technology at Cincinnati. Can you talk about that a little bit.
COACH KELLY: Again, I think you're trying to maximize your time with your players. Eight-hour rule forces you to be creative in the time that you spend with your quarterbacks, in particular. We have a video game that allows our players to see the playbook in action.
So, again, we're just trying to build a little bit more. It's not the end all. It's just a slight piece of the puzzle when we're trying to put this together in a very short period of time.
We have plenty of time to do this, we use it. It's helped us at giving our quarterbacks a little bit more of a view of our offense.

Q. When you're evaluating quarterbacks, what do you want to see in practices where you can say, That's my guy?
COACH KELLY: You know, I think there has to be a comfort level where he and the offense are comfortable with each other. That obviously is going to take some time. But there are some that immediately, you know, feel comfortable in the progressions, the reads, how to run things.
For me it's hard to really determine who that guy is until I see the pace and ease that they move into this offense. You know, I try to use an analogy, but it's just about a fit. Some guys fit better and easier in the system. Others it takes a little bit more work.

It doesn't mean if Dane struggles the first couple days, it's not meant for him. But I think I have to see them all out there first before I can really give you a good assessment of how they fit within the offense.

We give them some very basic parameters to start with. If they stick to those basic parameters, we can move them quickly through the process. But that's going to take us a couple of days before I get a real good sense of where we are with the entire lot of quarterbacks.

Q. Are you going to be able to figure out what Kyle Rudolph can do for you? How do you see using him?
COACH KELLY: Again, if we go back to the two criteria that I've used, I think it would simplify it for everybody. He's in a restrictive mode throughout the spring. That does not mean he cannot be live in certain situations. He has a shoulder surgery we have to protect. When we say 'restricted', he's involved in practice. It's incumbent upon our trainers and coaches, we don't want him using a backside technique, let's put him in a spread set and utilize him on the perimeter in a stop-block routine. That requires more time on my part, but that's what we have to do to get Kyle Rudolph into spring ball. We'll do those things.

Q. I know there's no depth chart, but how do you see guys fitting in at various linebacker spots?
COACH KELLY: I can give you just a general evaluation of the kind of body type and profile. The inside guys in the 3-4, the guards are uncovered. When Chris Stewart at 345 pounds comes out at you, you better be able to go to war with him. So if you're 215 pounds, you're gonna have a hard time in there.

So we moved Steve Paskorz over there. McDonald and (indiscernible), 240, 250, they can handle that a little better. On the perimeter I need guys that can work in space. They can get out and cover a vertical receiver as well as line up on the line of scrimmage and bringing pressure.
So you're more fast switch dynamic on the edge, you're stronger, more physical are inside to give you kind of a general picture of what they look like.

Q. The other day you said in the off-season you've had a chance to identify some of your leaders. Can you tell us who some of those guys are and what you've seen in them.
COACH KELLY: Leadership takes on so many different forms. I think the first group of leaders were those guys that bought in right away, said, Look, this is it for me. Generally those are your seniors. Those are the guys that this is their last shot. They're like, Coach, I'm all in, I don't have anything else going here. Chris Stewart stands out to me on the offensive side of the ball. I think she's showed himself. Defensively there's probably a number of guys. Probably Kap Lewis, Manti Te'o. There's probably been four or five guys defensively that have said immediately, Coach, whatever it is, let's go get it done. I think the rest of that leadership takes time to develop.

But those guys in particular were right there at the very first day.

Q. I suppose we'll start to get a sense of this as we watch. In practice are you more of a guy that likes drills versus scrimmage? Because this spring is unique, do you need to do more of one than the other?
COACH KELLY: It's a combination. There has to be individual skill development, there's no question. There's got to be some form of group work where your wide receivers and quarterbacks are certainly working on routes and timing. Then there's that teamwork. It will always have those three components of individual, group and team.

I will set the practice based upon where I think we need to emphasize. And the body of practice is two hours. It's 24 periods. It's five minutes per. We're clicking through.

I think probably the thing that's absolutely non-negotiable is the intensity through repetition. There's not a lot of standing around and talking. Next play. I want our guys thinking on their feet. I think that's the theme more than anything else.

Q. Did you watch a lot of film in the off-season or are you kind of looking to the spring as now is your chance to show me what you got?
COACH KELLY: We use film to demonstrate what we were talking about in our own system. For example, running to the football, for example, we would use some clips from last year's game at Notre Dame where we thought they ran for the ball extremely well, then maybe some times when they didn't. Then we countered that with film from Cincinnati. Tried to use the visual with the message.

So we used film more to show our players, This is what we're talking about, this is what this looks like. If it's not done this way, it's unacceptable. That's how we used it, more so than sitting down and going, This is a neat play, how about this play. That stuff is not as important to me as actually getting the sense and feel for how we go and run our offense, defense and special teams.

Q. You addressed this with your opening statement. It appears it's more important that your players learn the pace and level of expectation from you as opposed to maybe understanding the system right away. How important in terms of picking up the system, the rapidity of it, how important is that compared to playing at the level, the play you're looking for?
COACH KELLY: They got to read the whole book. But we're not going to start with the end first. To begin the reading of this, to really understand what needs to be done, they have to understand pace. They have to understand how we practice first before we can get into schemes and how we're going to do things.

To answer your question, they got to read the whole book. But we have to start with the premise of, How do we practice with each other? Are we going to cut? We don't cut in the spring. We stay up. We don't want guys on the ground. We respect our teammates. I don't like talk. I'm not a guy that wants to listen to anybody talking BS. I don't like seeing fights in practice. Emotions get out there. If I have to stop the practice because I have two knuckleheads fighting, you're not getting through the book with me. It starts with understanding pace, then it works towards the end they have to get the whole thing.

Q. (Question with regard to the depth chart.)
COACH KELLY: There's no 1-2. We've got a group of guys. We're really working in pods and groups. That will slenderize. It will get down. As we work into the spring, we'll start getting into rotation. We don't get caught over he's a one, he's a two, he's a three. We really pod them and we're working in groups right now. As we move closer to the end of spring, we'll start to identify key backups, your key players on both sides of the ball.

But it's kind of right now way too early for us to get into ones and twos.

Q. Do players know where they stand?
COACH KELLY: I think it becomes pretty clear where the pecking order goes. I don't have to force it. You know what I mean? It will come naturally. They'll know just by who's going in with what groups and how we're seeing things on a day-to-day basis. We just don't spend a whole lot of time defining, You're a two, you better be ready to go when he doesn't answer the bell because I'm not waiting around for anybody. If so-and-so can't answer the bell, you won't hear me crying about it on Tuesday or Wednesday, the next guy is going to be ready.

Q. You touched on it some. What is the climate you want for spring practice, just the general climate?
COACH KELLY: There's so many things. I think we get the fight back of the Fighting Irish. I want to compete our butt off for four quarters. I want our guys to go to practice every day and compete, compete, compete. If I can build that work ethic and that mentality, you know, I'll probably feel pretty good.

Q. (Question regarding communication.)
COACH KELLY: It's huge. You know, it's so crucial that at any good organization that you have clear lines of communication. There's really four integral pieces to that. One is our doctors and their ability to be available as they have been. Our team trainer, our strength and condition coach and myself. Those four pieces have to be working together, not independently. It can't be a pushback.

We're working through that process. There's a lot of habits that have been here that we're breaking through. We're making great progress. You'll see that today. We got all hands on deck, all hands. I had 17, 18 guys out when I got here for December 11th, 12th. We got them all in spring ball. So we made great progress in that.

Q. You mentioned Manti for leadership. Can you talk about what you've learned about him through the last couple months?
COACH KELLY: He's a college football player. He's got that, you know, excitement, that passion. Those are the guys I want to be around, you know. I'm passionate about what I do. I want to be around guys that love the game, love being around it. So he brings that energy on a day-to-day basis.

He's got to get much better as a football player. He wasn't very good. And he understands that. He's been committed to, you know, learning. Remember, he hasn't been here a year. He's a freshman. So I just love the energy that he brings and the passion that he wants to be a great player. If you write the prescription for a coach, Who do you want to coach? Get a guy like that. That's fun.

Q. Talk about the receivers for this year. Michael is established. Aside from that, it seems pretty wide open. It's also a spot where in the past that may have been a two starting spot. You're probably looking for four starters or more than that. Talk about that competition.
COACH KELLY: Michael Floyd has work to do, as well. The volume that we're going to throw at him is something that's going to be new. He's lost a lot of weight. He's down into the 216, 217 range, from 233 when we got here because he just would not have been able to stay on the field with the pace of play. He's made a great commitment. He's got to show that he's got that volume.

You're right. If you're looking for a battle, you if want to say, What's going on out here? That wide receiver battle is going to be interesting. Now with Riddick in the slot, you've got a lot of dynamics out there, a lot of players that get a chance. Shaq Evans, Deion, Goodman, Kamara, Robby. I could go on and on. There's a number of players that are going to get an opportunity. That's going to be one heck of a battle, as well as the tight end doesn't come off the field.
So Rudolph is going to be involved. Tyler Eifert is going to be around. I'm impressed with the way he's come back from back surgery. Ragone and Burger, we know they're role players in certain senses, so it's going to be an interesting battle on the perimeter. That should be fun to keep an eye on.

Q. I noticed you have Brian Smith listed as outside linebacker. You have quite a contingent at outside linebacker. Seems to be an extremely competitive area. What prompted the move of Brian to the outside instead of playing in the middle?
COACH KELLY: Well, we felt like his ability to play in space and also provide, you know, some athleticism off the edge. You know, we want those two outside linebacker positions to be, You don't know who's coming, who's dropping. You if you have Fleming on one side, Smith on the other, you don't know who's coming, you're going to get a matchup with a runningback.
It just worked out that the balance for those outside positions was probably our greatest depth in the program. You have five guys who we believe can create a great competitive situations and obviously get some skill players on the field.

It's really up to anybody right now to show who those top guys are going to be, because they're five. They're all interchangeable is what I'm saying. In other words, all five of those guys, even though one is a drop, one is a cat, those positions are interchangeable. So you have five guys fighting for two spots. It's going to be pretty competitive.

Q. Can any move inside?
COACH KELLY: I think we want to give the guys that we've slotted to the inside position an opportunity to do it there. We prefer not to. I think if there's an emergency situation, you know, Neal and Smith are more towards what we would do. But that would be a stopgap opportunity for us. We're hoping that we'll be able to do it with the guys we have.

Q. With Lane Clelland moving over from defensive end to offensive tackle, you have three on scholarship now for the spring. None have started a game. Is that another position you're looking at where maybe a guard could move to the outside?
COACH KELLY: Like I said, we haven't slotted them. Our guards and tackles, we are in the shotgun. It's a little different when you're five yards deep with the quarterback that that left tackle does not have to be 6'7", kick slide, get back with a direct snap quarterback. So we can take a 6'5" kid in there and he can handle himself.

So there will be some bouncing around from that guard to tackle position, which actually increases our depth a little bit.

Q. Harrison Smith, last year he started free safety, struggled some, moved to outside linebacker, now he's back at safety. Didn't quite fit the prototype and you had the need at safety?
COACH KELLY: I never thought he would have been an outside linebacker. He never would be an outside linebacker in our system. He never fit that prototype for us. He's always been a safety. If he can't play safety, he can't play. It was pretty easy for that one.

Q. I also understand you kind of cited him as one of the leaders.
COACH KELLY: Again, he's a veteran. We would expect that from him. He's done a really good job in terms of just being engaging every day around the offices, making sure he's picking up all the little things because he wants to be a great player.

Q. I believe you talked before about fitting your offense to the personnel that you have. Do you have any idea going into spring how that will work out, how close that is to what you would like?
COACH KELLY: I think it goes back to the earlier question. I'll get a feel once you know what our quarterbacks can handle. The quarterbacks dictate how this offense runs. Everything runs through them. They set the protection. They handle all the offensive line signals in terms of where they're sliding, where the gap is. They're flipping the plays. This is a quarterback-driven offense. So it's impossible for me to say where we're going to be until I get a good feel for the quarterback.

Once I know what their strengths and weaknesses are, I got a library. I stole stuff from everybody. So I've got plenty of stuff to fit into the quarterback. I just got to know what they can handle first.

Q. Can you talk about Dane's progression mentally so far.
COACH KELLY: He's a very bright kid. Coach Weis did a very good job, his staff, of getting him the football intelligence needed to be a BCS quarterback. So these guys were well-taught. So we're not coming in here with a blank slate. So they've got some intelligence.

But it's still different, you know. When you get out there and that ball comes in your hands, how you react. Does it come out on time? Are you seeing it clearly? It's hard to tell.

Their knowledge base is pretty good, but I'm not fooled by knowledge. It's action and the ability to make plays is what I'm all about.

Q. You said one of the reasons for moving Theo was create some room from Cierre. What are some of the things you like about Cierre?
COACH KELLY: Well, I think it's part of that. I want to give all of our players an opportunity to see light at the end of the tunnel. I don't know this is, Hey, I know Cierre is an All-American as much as he's a very talented young man who it was hard to look through five other backs. So we had to open up some space there to give him an opportunity.

He's still got to win the job. He's still got to beat out some really good players. This was about, more than anything else, getting another play-maker on the field. And we think that Theo Riddick fits that role and opened up space for Cierre Wood now, too.

Q. You said in the last few minutes that Michael Floyd and Manti have a lot of work to do. I think that has to send a message to the rest of team. Have you made that something that the team knows?
COACH KELLY: We're 15-21 the last few years. There's no bruised egos. Everybody knows where this thing is at. Again, we're not coaching anything and being nice. We're saying, Here is where we are, here is where we have to go. We're not beating you with a stick. We have a long way to go and they get that. That's the great thing about that.

I don't bring that up all the time where you talk about what they did last year. I really don't care. This is about where they go from here because we got a lot of work to do.

Q. You talked about not having an indoor facility. How do you use that but also create toughness within these players, the amenities?
COACH KELLY: It starts at the top. Starts with me and our coaches and how we go to work every day and what our expectations and our demands are as it relates to our players, how we play, how we practice. Talk about it every day.

I think it starts at the top and it works its way to the players. They see it. It manifests itself onto the practice field and then into games.

Q. Can you elaborate a little bit about running at 5 a.m. in the snow? Did the players know this was coming or was it a surprise to them when it happened?
COACH KELLY: The snow (laughter)?

Q. Running outdoors at 5 a.m.
COACH KELLY: They knew something was up. We had given them a couple of tips it was going to be an early morning and they should use their sweats. We gave them a tip. It was for us more of a signaling of, Okay, we've been in the weight room, it's time to get out, let's go. So it was pretty clearly defined that there was going to be, after four or five weeks of being indoors, Hey, we're going to start branching out a little bit.

It was pretty common knowledge that we were going to head outside in some tough conditions because the workout, Camp Kelly, is about mental, not physical.

Q. You mentioned the other day about you're pleased that you haven't lost a lot of players. Is that something you've done differently or is it people buying in? Is loosing a few players inevitable when there's a coaching change?
COACH KELLY: Well, I think the university makes it unique. You don't walk away from Notre Dame. I think the university, its academics, its community makes it hard to walk away from the University of Notre Dame. I think that has much more to do with it than my style changing, because it hasn't changed as much. All these guys had to jump in and follow a very, very strict routine. And they all did.

So I probably applaud Coach Weis and the guys that he recruited that love Notre Dame and are here for the right reasons more so than I'm getting (indiscernible). I hope so.

Q. Is the line one of the biggest changes and how big a change is it maybe than before as far as the training table, being leaner?
COACH KELLY: Well, they don't huddle. They're on the line, they got to move. Again, I go back to this work volume element. They could not maintain a consistent work volume the way they played for four quarters. That requires a change in their cargo load. They have too much cargo on them. We had to lower the cargo. That means body fat, dropping some weight.
In the instance of Chris Stewart, he didn't lose body weight as much as he lost body fat, gained a higher level of conditioning. It's absolutely crucial to what we do. It's the difference between running a halfcourt offense than a pushing the ball. You've got to have guys that can run.

Q. Coach, with your emphasis with competition throughout the roster, how does that translate to your work on special teams? A lot of frontline players will be competing for those roles.
COACH KELLY: There's no reason we shouldn't be competing in special teams. We'll begin with special teams rights out of the gate. We're going to evaluate our punt team today. I think we should have outstanding presence on our special teams. There's no reason we shouldn't be a dynamic team when it comes to those areas.

Our emphasis will be right out of the gates. I think a lot of teams tend to wait on spring practice relative to special teams. We're going to get to work on it right away. I'm a big believer that you can help win with your football team right away by playing great special teams.

Q. In a situation where you want to give some of the players that maybe don't get in the first few lines a light at the end of the tunnel, is that where they can become a niche player on special teams?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, and some of our other guys who have aspirations to continue to play. They need to excel on special teams, as well. I think all of that. Yeah, you want to give some young guys an opportunity to get their feet wet, get involved. You want your frontline guys to be dynamic in it. I think you want to give some of those guys that are playing roles, it gives them an opportunity to heighten their credibility.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.
COACH KELLY: Thank you.

The Book on Brian Kelly

(The Rock Report) - Since he was hired, there's been so much disinformation swirling around him, that I decided to research what Kelly does and get some perspective on how he approaches leadership, running his offense, recruiting and motivation.

As many fans are returning to see what's going on with ND football, I thought it would be helpful to recap the the articles to provide some perspective.

Offense
Will Kelly's Offense Work at ND? - I asked Chris Brown of Smart Football to help explain Kelly's offense and how it compares to other successful spread offenses such as Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon and Georgia Tech,

Kelly and the Running Game - Suave_Andrew breaks down Kelly's approach to running the football and his use of the Tight end.

Kelly and Leadership
Kelly and Leadership Part I: Developing Players from the Inside Out - One of the key building blocks behind Brian Kelly's success (despite not having a recruiting class finish in the top 50 in the country at Cincinnati ) is his emphasis and structured approach to developing players physically and mentally.

Kelly and Leadership, Part II: Coaching the Coaches - What's intriguing from a leadership perspective about Kelly's background is that he has been able to create a structure that enables those behaviors. He follows a "coach the coaches" philosophy that creates a coaching roster that can clearly communicate a consistent vision, set a high bar and drive accountability.

Motivation and Accountability
Brian Kelly and the Secret Sauce - To be successful, you have be able to make everyone around you believe and that’s not a trait normally found in nature. A top level college coach needs that leadership intangible. I’m not guaranteeing Kelly will take a seat in the pantheon of great Irish coaches, I do feel we’ve taken a big step beyond Charlie and Davieham. I doubt, for instance, that you will see teams dogging it on the field or in the weight room.

Recruiting
Recruiting, Stars and RKGs - One big question many fans have about Kelly and recruiting is exactly what he means when he uses the acronym RKG (right kind of guys.) I, like many, feared RKG was code for taking low hanging fruit and shying away from star athletes who might have attitudes or need more social development (the kind of players who often win championships and turn out well in the end.)

Kelly and the Running Game

*These are several posts from suave_andrew that I combined together.

Probably no other aspect of Brian Kelly's offense will receive more attention than how the run game performs. This is due mainly for two reasons: 1) Charlie Weis's inability to establish the run at Notre Dame played a large role in his downfall and 2) Brian Kelly had a similar run-pass play calling ratio at Cincinnati and he too favors the pass.

However, the run-pass ratio is for the most part the only real similarity. Watching the video of Kelly's teams, you will notice that his offensive lines are much quicker than what Notre Dame fielded under Weis. They don't hold up on the inside well on obvious running downs, but they get up field and block at the next level on quite a few plays. You'll also notice a good dose of the read-option. Kelly's offense, in my opinion, functions best when he has a QB who can run and I think that a healthy Dayne Crist will flourish in this offense. Last, you'll notice that Cincinnati was able to do something that we rarely saw from Weis's running game: big plays.







One thing that we can expect from Brian Kelly is an extensive use of the tight end. Their running plays almost always seem to go toward the tight end-side of the formation which often forces the defense to make a hard decision on whether to overplay the pass on the other side of the formation or leave their defense in single man-coverage to defend the run. It’s easy to dismiss this as a finesse style of offense, but unlike the running plays that Weis called (often simply draw plays), Cincinnati will overload a side of a formation and power through that side of the defense.

Despite a pass-centric play calling tendency similar to Weis, Kelly’s offensive lines and tight ends have been able to create large holes when called upon and his running backs were all noticeably more decisive hitting the holes than Notre Dame backs have been under Weis. Kelly's offense actually seems to function best with a running QB and he will run a lot of spread-option if he has the personnel.

Cincinnati’s base formation: Shotgun; 3WR; 1 TE; 1RB



They’ll often bring the TE in motion and/or switch the side the running back is aligned on depending on the way the defense is setup:




It is also fairly common for the TE and/or RB to flex out and line up as a receiver. Often what looks like a 5WR look is actually 3WRs and the TE and RB lined up as receivers:




Cincinnati’s ‘power look’ when they need to run the ball generally comes from a two tight end formation and doesn’t tip which side of the ball the offense will run to – this formation is especially dangerous with a running QB on choice-option plays.




They almost always run the ball towards the Tight End side of the formation, so the defense often has to choose whether they want to play the run and leave one-on-one coverage on the other side of the formation, or gamble on the pass and hope their defenders can beat the blocks of the tight ends.




It’s also not uncommon for the QB to snap directly from under center on this play; more often than not it’s a running play such as a quick toss to one side, helping to keep the defense from overplaying one side of the formation.




Cincinnati often lined up with 2 TEs and no back. This was an especially lethal formation with a running QB because it could easily provide a balanced power running formation against a spread-out defense or catch the defense in single coverage if they overplayed the run.




Kelly's offense features the tight end in both the running and passing game. He would sometimes bring in linebackers to serve as fullbacks or a 3rd tight end in his offense in power situations, so if he has the personnel, it's not unlikely that Kelly will use a fullback or 3 TEs in his offense and power the ball if he has to.




I should expect that Rudolph will be able to put up large numbers in this offense if healthy.

Bennett Jackson's Senior Highlights

The wide receiver from NJ just had new highlights posted. Bennett is also running track and so far his best times are 7.53 in the 55 meter hurdles, 6.62 in the 55 meter dash and 8.01 in the 60 meter hurdles. He also high jumped 6'2".

A Coffin of Thine Own Making: Swarbrick and False Choices

Despite the use of intimidating phrases like "seismic shifts" and "changing landscapes" the fact remains that conference re-alignment doesn't have to change Notre Dame football and nothing besides Notre Dame's own choices can compel it to give up independence.

Notre Dame football will only change by choice; it can't be forced into a conference arrangement.

There are only three make or break issues with regard to ND Football and independence:

1 - Can ND schedule without a conference?

The answer is absolutely yes. The only scheduling constraint on Notre Dame football is the SELF-IMPOSED 7-4-1 scheduling model, which is all about generating extra gate receipts. To hear Jack Swarbrick talk about playing Maryland at FED EX field being an "institutional fit" is head scratching. How, in any way shape or form, is that an "institutional fit"? That's Whitesque obfuscation language. There's no institutional fit; it's a decent off-site game that will allow Notre Dame to keep the gate receipts while playing on television. It's a "revenue fit."

2 - Will ND be able to compete for a national championship without a conference affiliation?

The answer is yes. If Swarbrick can be cornered by the super-conferences on this issue then he's not worth a dollar of his salary. This is the "easy out" argument. There is no legitimate argument for keeping ND out of the BCS and if Swarbrick can't handle this part of the puzzle he needs to be replaced. If pressured on this ND should come out swinging, hire a PR firm, engage Congress in their efforts, use its extensive Obama connections and stand up for itself. It's a PR battle ND should prepare to fight to win. I don't see this happening. If the BCS can't keep Utah, TCU and Boise State out, how are they going to exclude ND?


3 - Can ND make enough money to compete at the highest level without a conference affiliation?

The answer is unquestionably yes. Notre Dame will have more than enough money to compete at the very highest level. The false choice Swarbrick is implying comes down to this, "conferences are making more money on television deals so ND has to align or it won't be able to compete in the arms race." ND's contracts with Adidas, NBC, the BCS (don't get me started), licensing and gate receipts create more than enough money. What Swarbrick is arguing (read between these lines) is that ND will not be able to create as much revenue from media if it doesn't align with a conference.

"You have two conferences [the Big Ten and SEC] that have separated themselves economically and you've got all the other conferences lined up for their [upcoming television] renegotiations," said Swarbrick. "The bar has been set so high, and the [current] media market is so tepid, that it creates a lot of tension."

So this is about "relative" money. And the fact is that Notre Dame doesn't need more money than it's making right now to compete in football. Notre Dame doesn't need that extra revenue, it could choose to realign to make more money, but it's not required to and to imply Notre Dame will be forced into realigning for more money or not be able to compete if it doesn't is a false choice. Notre Dame already siphons off millions from the football program.

The false choices and scare words, in the end, are just another way to try to milk "The Golden Goose" that is Notre Dame football.

Speaking of money, if Notre Dame does make a deal now, it will be doing so from a position of historical weakness and not strength. I believe that Brian Kelly will have some very good years. Imagine Notre Dame as a lone independent, standing for something great and unique and playing in a national championship in three years... then picture the revenue opportunities.

Bargaining from a position of weakness is feckless.

As Domer wrote back in the fall, the coffin is entirely of Notre Dame's own making:

[Edited down] Seeing ND hamstrung by its own faulty decisions is what makes so much of what's happened around here for the past 12-15 years so maddening to me... You have an institution built upon immigrant dreams, religious identity, and football excellence and respond by subjugating the very things that made the place special to the fleeting notions of aspirational peers, U.S. News rankings, and the like. Sorry for the semi-rant, but I want Notre Dame back in the business of being Notre Dame. It's long overdue. ~ domer

To be sure conference realignment will create problems. So what? It was exactly these types of problems that created the greatness of Notre Dame football and forced the Irish to be unique. Visionaries saw those problems as an opportunity to create something greater and gave birth to what many believe is the greatest franchise in sports. Swarbrick's words indicate he sees them as excuses to take the easy way out and become smaller, not greater.

Notre Dame shouldn't be swayed by "seismic shifts," it has to define it's own way and find a way to get there. We often use the story of the Duomo to illustrate to executives how brain locked their decision making becomes by circumstances (i.e. "changing landscapes" and "seismic shifts"). They see boundaries when great men see opportunity.

This cathedral was designed as a physical manifestation of the glory of 15th century Florence. The most notable aspect of the design was the dome. At 143 feet, 6 inches, it would be the largest dome in the Western world. Only one— not tiny—problem: no-one had the first clue how to build a dome this big. As Ross King notes in his fabulous book Brunelleschi’s Dome, “the original designers merely expressed a touching faith that at some point in the future, God might provide a solution, and architects with more advanced knowledge would be found.”

So in 1418 a gentleman by the name of Filippo Brunelleschi was selected to build the dome.

Brunelleschi had several big challenges in front of him—but there was one in particular that stood out. He had to build a curving structure, out of brick, with no
interior scaffolding to support it while the mortar dried.

But the dome was so wide and so high that there literally was not enough wood in all of Italy to build sufficient scaffolding. So Brunelleschi had to come up with an entirely new approach.

And what he delivered is truly genius. First, the ox-hoist. It used a cheap energy source to lift stone blocks weighing thousands of pounds as high as 300 feet in the air. The castello allowed workers to move these heavy loads laterally into place—the antecedent to the modern construction crane.

He incorporated horizontal arches into the design that solved another of the big challenges: how to keep the dome from collapsing under its own weight. This was also how he got around using scaffolding..

He also played around with the traditional toolkit, and used some “revolutionary” techniques that he actually adapted from ancient Roman architecture. Laying brick in a herring-bone pattern stabilized it enough so that it could be laid in concentric
circles.

In building this dome, Brunelleschi came right up against the limitations of his own
discipline. Western architecture had produced wonders—and some thought
that it couldn’t advance much further. But Brunelleschi took the best of the old methods, added even better new ones, and in doing so, moved his discipline to the next level.

Notre Dame can continue to pioneer its own way, use this opportunity build something even more extraordinary and remain a beacon or... it can take the easy way out.

No bowl tie-in outside of the BCS? Strike an ND-only bowl deal like Hawaii did.

NBC's TV contract won't add up? Structure of dual deal with another conference to share in their pie in exchange for home and homes and adding the value of ND to the bundle.

Are these the right answers? Who knows? But independence takes creative thinking and requires courageous decisions that may not be what the Joneses are doing.

To paraphrase what I wrote last year, no organization can bend to external pressure and sacrifice its core values without losing what made it special. What a terrible lesson that would be for our youth. If that happens Notre Dame will become just another fable... and a 100 years of winning that inspired millions to strive for excellence will become a cautionary tale of what happens when poor leadership inherits a legacy.