Following today's practice....
ON OL ZEKE CORRELL POTENTIALLY BEING THE STARTING CENTER
"At this time, I don't think Zeke has given us anything other than what we saw last year, where he started doing a nice job but we're not closing our minds towards any combinations on that offensive line and I say that because I want to keep it competitive. I don't want to give Zeke the starting job at center because I want to keep competition. Zeke's not given that offensive position. He's not the starting center yet. Jarrett Patterson can both play that center position and we're good football team, and I'm not just saying that to get it out in the media and you guys can say, 'Oh, coach Kelly's saying..' It's true. I've got to keep him growing and getting better. He's got a lot to work on and I'm not ready to tell coach Quinn that we're penciling him in in the fall. Patterson can go play that position in a heartbeat and we know what we're going to get. That's why we're seeing a lot of Rocco Spindler at guard. That's why we're seeing a lot of Andrew Kristofic and Dillan Gibbons and guys of that nature. We're keeping our options open. I know that's a long answer to the question, but I want to be clear. I want to keep competition in the spring. Nobody's granted that job."
ON CHAD BOWDEN BEING ADDED TO THE NOTRE DAME STAFF
"Chad is an defensive analyst. We added offensive and defensive analysts that are focused primarily in recruiting efforts. I guess the best way to put it is that they're the offensive and defensive coordinators in recruiting and that they get the whole staff together, they coordinate the efforts in terms of recruiting and making sure that they're touching base with recruits daily. That's not a 9-5 job. That's late at night. That's being on their schedule. He's in touch with all of those defensive recruits in their timezone, if you will. So, you're probably hearing a lot of them because he's built strong relationships with all those defensive players and done a very, very good job."
ON SAFETY HOUSTON GRIFFITH AND HIS PLAY THIS SPRING
"I've felt like two things needed to happen for Houston, right? Opportunity and then making the best of the opportunity. What is making the best? What is that equal? For me, I think a lot of that has been just the awareness of the situation that he's in and using what I think is outstanding athletic ability and applying it to the particular situations. I think he's doing that very well this year. I think at times he was using a hammer when he needed to use a screwdriver on particular plays. Here, where we're at now, I just feel like he's playing the game with a high football IQ, and to me, it just is coming easier to him. Making plays on the ball. We've always seen the physical tools that he's had. I just think he's a lot more confident. He has the opportunity, so he's getting a lot of work and a lot of reps. That has to be obviously taken into consideration, because he didn't get as many reps as he's getting now. But I think this football awareness piece is really starting to show itself as to why he can continue to excel and ascend at the position."
ON WHO HAS FLASHED IN THE SECONDARY THIS SPRING
"The guy that's really standing out for me is Cam Hart. He was very raw last year, as you know he was playing with a bad shoulder so there was some limitations. He had the shoulder repaired in the offseason. He's really coming into his own. He's elite in terms of his length, he's got a really strong skill set, and to play the corner with that kind of size and athletic ability, he can be a really, really good football player. He's still learning, there are still parts of his game that he's got to clean up, but as I sit here today and six practices in, he's making really good progress at that position."
ON THE PLAY OF HIS DEFENSIVE LINEMEN AND LINEBACKERS SO FAR THIS SPRING
"We're getting a lot of really good play on the defensive line. There's a lot of depth there, as you guys know, across the board, inside out. Howard Cross is very difficult to defend. Great leverage, great first step quickness, very difficult to block. Kurt Hinish is a guy that sometimes you think, 'Oh, it's another spring year for Kurt and he can take it off,' but he's had a nice spring. And the guys that you would expect are all — both Ademilolas — really pleased with both of them getting better. I don't think there's a guy on the defensive line that would say, 'Man, we're disappointed and they're not ascending, they're not getting stronger, they're not putting in the time.' Jordan Botelho is showing up all over the place. Really pleased with the depth there and there's so much stuff that that linebacker position as well. I think Marcus is very pleased with that front seven in terms of what they're able to provide for us on downs and it allows him to be really multiple in what we're seeing from four down to three down."
ON THE YOUNG DEFENSIVE FRESHMEN IN THE SECONDARY
"I told our staff as a group, I'm not interested in bringing in midyears to see them on the sidelines, or let's not bring them in. So, we're going to sacrifice even reps for veteran players to make sure that we give these kids even more reps than they've earned. Because, look, if you're going to bring them in at midyear and you're going to put them in a grinder, if you will, in terms of they should be in high school but they're now in a college academic setting as elite as Notre Dame and you've already put them in the weight room and we've pushed them hard, let's let him get out on the football field and get reps. This is what they love to do. If they can enjoy playing football, why bring them in at midyear? We're just piling on reps and they're loving playing football. They haven't earned all the reps, but that doesn't really matter. I want them to have so many reps that when they come into camp, it's like they've had a full year. I know you're seeing a lot of them. I don't want to mislead anybody by watching the film and say, 'Boy, they must be ready to start for Notre Dame.' We're just trying to give him as much work as possible. They're all making progress, but I wouldn't read too much into it and saying, 'Well, this guy's ready to start, or this guy's ready to do this or that.' We just really want to make sure they get a ton of work, so we can put them in a good position."
ON HIS PITCH TO GET HOUSTON GRIFFITH OUT OF THE TRANSFER PORTAL
"Houston and I had a conversation. There were no promises. We didn't promise him a starting position. All we said was that we believe that this is the right place for you and we want you to be here. I think this was much more about Houston's decision to want to be here and then then our articulating to him are want to be here. That was not only me, but Marcus had the same conversation. Myself and Marcus talked to him on the phone and said, 'We want you to be part of what we're doing here in 2021.' Both of us being really clear that he's part of our plans and then him making the decision that, 'Okay, if they want me and I'm part of the plans, then I'm gonna be staying at Notre Dame.' That's kind of how that went down."
ON BEING MORE MULTIPLE UP FRONT AND THE IMPACT IT COULD HAVE
"In years past, it wouldn't matter. It doesn't matter because we're moving the front so much. We haven't moved the front as much in my time here as much as we move it now. So, what does that mean? If you didn't move the front in three down, those inside backers got to take the guards on straight on. It's bully ball, it's big boy ball up front so aggressively. Those backers then become single gap players again, much like out of a four down front. So, it doesn't matter whether it's three down or four down, because we're moving the front, manipulating it up front so much, and with that kind of movement, those backers can be single gap players and it doesn't matter whether they're in three or four down."
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEFENSIVE END ISAIAH FOSKEY
"We're still a work in progress with Isaiah. I will say that in the sense of we know what he can do off the edge, right? He's got the ability to win off the edge. There are some things that we have to continue to work on with him in terms of play after play on the field. That's kind of modifying and getting to know players now that they're playing a lot more reps. How we train up some of our players, we have to kind of tweak things a little bit now that they're in a much more of a full time role. He was much less in terms of reps last year. This year he's getting a lot more reps, so we have to look at how he responds to more of a workload. We have to do some things a little bit differently with him and we're kind of right in the middle of that process of molding him into the kind of player that we want him to be physically, and I don't mean putting on more weight or taking off weight. A lot of this has to do with some of the science that we use. Some of our sports science and omega wave and GPS to help him play out at his optimal level, play in and play out. We're right in the middle of that, in terms of getting him to his optimal level, and I think we'll have a really good base level by the time we get through spring, in terms of how he trains in the offseason to get him to be the elite player that we want him to be going into the fall."
ON HIS ASSESSMENT OF THE PLAY OF THE QUARTERBACKS THIS SPRING
"I think the guy, if you want to say who's made the most progress, it's probably Tyler Buchner, just because he hasn't played or hadn't played a lot when he got here. His motion is really fluid. He's throwing the ball very well. But he's learning a lot, right? He's got a lot to learn about our offensive structure and just the nuances now. He knows football. He's very smart. I mean, tremendously smart by the way. You tell him something in a meeting and his recall is quite amazing. But just because you know it, it doesn't happen naturally. He needs reps, but he's made a lot of progress. I think Drew's done very, very well. Jack has been what we thought, Tommy and I, what we thought when we got him. Here's a guy that's played a lot of Big 10 football, played in the Rose Bowl, sees the field very well, stronger arm probably than I thought, and sees the field exceedingly well, especially from the pocket. He's a guy that stays in the pocket, hangs in there, throws a ball, delivers it and manages himself extremely well. We're really pleased with where we are and where we're moving with the quarterback position. Ronnie Powlus got a lot of work today, made some nice throws. So all in all, we're really happy."
ON THE EVOLVEMENT OF HIS PHILOSOPHY REGARDING GETTING REPS FOR TRUE FRESHMEN
"The mid year is kind of, where I alluded to a few minutes ago, that they need to come in here obviously and get their feet wet. But I want to make sure that they leave the spring going, 'Man, I got I got a lot of football and I know where I need to go to if I want to be part of a championship football program.' So, it's important that they get a lot of work and we're making sure that that happens."
JV: Maybe some of the football geeks on this board could comment on the science they are employing with Isaiah Foskey.