Photo by Rick Kimball/ISD
Notre Dame Football
Brian Kelly Talks USC and Fourth Down
November 22, 2016
1,419
It was an eventful day inside The Gug on Tuesday afternoon when Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly had his weekly press conference. The seventh-year coach did in fact talk about the upcoming rivalry game with USC and the chance to gain momentum heading into the offseason with a win in The Coliseum.
Item number one for the Notre Dame defense will be stopping USC redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold. The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder has thrown for 2,428 yards, 24 touchdowns, eight interceptions and completing passes at a 68 percent clip.
“Sam Donald, when he's been inserted into the lineup, that's been a transformation for that football team offensively,” Kelly stated on Tuesday. “He's as good as I've seen in a long, long time. His escapability, his ability to throw on the run, his accuracy, I don't see anything there that is anything short of brilliant in terms of the way he's playing right now, and of course he's got a great supporting cast.”
A plus for Notre Dame would be the chance to get starting defensive tackle Daniel Cage and receiver Torii Hunter Jr. back from injury. Cage has missed the last three games due to a concussion, while Hunter has missed back-to-back games with a leg injury.
Hunter will practice or try to practice on Tuesday afternoon, but for Cage, it’s a little bit different.
“Cage is getting better, but again, I don't expect him to play, but his symptoms have now gone away in the sense that he's passed his cognitive testing,” explained Kelly. “Now it's just simply more of the subjective, how do you feel, and getting back to the point of confidence to go out there and begin to play.”
The junior defensive lineman won’t be rushed back on the field, as the decision is up to Cage himself at this point.
“Only if he feels like he wants to play,” stated Kelly “We would get him some work this week in a limited role, but no, I think he would have to show his want and desire to want to get out there, and then we'd have to get him enough work to feel like he could contribute.”
Quarterback DeShone Kizer was knocked out of Saturday’s game, but Kelly believes the junior will be good to go on Saturday.
“He was great in meetings on Sunday,” said Kelly. “You know, we were in meetings on Monday, as well. I haven't seen any issues with him at all. Normal DeShone Kizer.”
Kizer has had his ups and downs this season, but he has still managed to throw for 2,705 yards and 24 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.
Kelly believe his relationship with Kizer is strong and his player has taken coaching well through the 4-7 season.
“I think he's taken coaching well,” Kelly stated. “I think he's -- obviously the day-to-day with Mike (Sanford), they spend a lot of time together. I'm more of the bigger picture stuff with him in terms of what I want from a leader and what I need from him from just his presence on our football team, and I think he's taken well to it. I think there's been a transformation in his leadership skills, and just the way he's played. I think he's identifying how to win and what it takes to win and some of the more big picture items that I've wanted him to really focus in on.
After the USC game, Kelly plans to do a little recruiting, but also will be back in his office to get feedback from the players leaving the program.
“A little bit, not a lot,” Kelly said of his recruiting plan. “I'll be back in the office -- I want to do exit interviews with all of our players, offensively and defensively, and I think that's as important as recruiting. What I think is most important is that I get in with all of our mid-year enrollees, so job one will be touching base with all of the mid-year enrollees, and with the current football team and doing exit interviews. Those are the two most important items on my list.”
Finally, Kelly has noticed a trend of his team not coming up big in the fourth quarter and that’s extremely apparent in the Irish getting outscored at the end of the game. Kelly also admitted everything will be looked at, including the strength and conditioning program.
“We've been outscored 51-16,” explained Kelly. “It's not a strength-and-conditioning issue, you've got to look at everything. You've got to look at structure on defense, you've got to look at structure on offense. You've got to look at your special teams. You've got to look at conditioning. You've got to look at everything. You know, fourth quarter -- we've scored 46 points in the fourth quarter this year. At this time last year, we've scored 106. So we're down 60 points in the fourth quarter.
“You know, I don't think there's any stone that you leave unturned when those numbers -- when you go to the fourth quarter and not have the success in the fourth quarter. Also, there's experience and not being experienced and not handling the mental end of things, and so there are a number of different factors that are involved in there.
“All of those have to be evaluated.”
Item number one for the Notre Dame defense will be stopping USC redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold. The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder has thrown for 2,428 yards, 24 touchdowns, eight interceptions and completing passes at a 68 percent clip.
“Sam Donald, when he's been inserted into the lineup, that's been a transformation for that football team offensively,” Kelly stated on Tuesday. “He's as good as I've seen in a long, long time. His escapability, his ability to throw on the run, his accuracy, I don't see anything there that is anything short of brilliant in terms of the way he's playing right now, and of course he's got a great supporting cast.”
A plus for Notre Dame would be the chance to get starting defensive tackle Daniel Cage and receiver Torii Hunter Jr. back from injury. Cage has missed the last three games due to a concussion, while Hunter has missed back-to-back games with a leg injury.
Hunter will practice or try to practice on Tuesday afternoon, but for Cage, it’s a little bit different.
“Cage is getting better, but again, I don't expect him to play, but his symptoms have now gone away in the sense that he's passed his cognitive testing,” explained Kelly. “Now it's just simply more of the subjective, how do you feel, and getting back to the point of confidence to go out there and begin to play.”
The junior defensive lineman won’t be rushed back on the field, as the decision is up to Cage himself at this point.
“Only if he feels like he wants to play,” stated Kelly “We would get him some work this week in a limited role, but no, I think he would have to show his want and desire to want to get out there, and then we'd have to get him enough work to feel like he could contribute.”
Quarterback DeShone Kizer was knocked out of Saturday’s game, but Kelly believes the junior will be good to go on Saturday.
“He was great in meetings on Sunday,” said Kelly. “You know, we were in meetings on Monday, as well. I haven't seen any issues with him at all. Normal DeShone Kizer.”
Kizer has had his ups and downs this season, but he has still managed to throw for 2,705 yards and 24 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.
Kelly believe his relationship with Kizer is strong and his player has taken coaching well through the 4-7 season.
“I think he's taken coaching well,” Kelly stated. “I think he's -- obviously the day-to-day with Mike (Sanford), they spend a lot of time together. I'm more of the bigger picture stuff with him in terms of what I want from a leader and what I need from him from just his presence on our football team, and I think he's taken well to it. I think there's been a transformation in his leadership skills, and just the way he's played. I think he's identifying how to win and what it takes to win and some of the more big picture items that I've wanted him to really focus in on.
“I’m really proud of the way he's kind of taken hold of just understanding that it's more than just distributing the football. You know, you've got to understand what it takes to win, and I think he's done a great job there.”
After the USC game, Kelly plans to do a little recruiting, but also will be back in his office to get feedback from the players leaving the program.
“A little bit, not a lot,” Kelly said of his recruiting plan. “I'll be back in the office -- I want to do exit interviews with all of our players, offensively and defensively, and I think that's as important as recruiting. What I think is most important is that I get in with all of our mid-year enrollees, so job one will be touching base with all of the mid-year enrollees, and with the current football team and doing exit interviews. Those are the two most important items on my list.”
Finally, Kelly has noticed a trend of his team not coming up big in the fourth quarter and that’s extremely apparent in the Irish getting outscored at the end of the game. Kelly also admitted everything will be looked at, including the strength and conditioning program.
“We've been outscored 51-16,” explained Kelly. “It's not a strength-and-conditioning issue, you've got to look at everything. You've got to look at structure on defense, you've got to look at structure on offense. You've got to look at your special teams. You've got to look at conditioning. You've got to look at everything. You know, fourth quarter -- we've scored 46 points in the fourth quarter this year. At this time last year, we've scored 106. So we're down 60 points in the fourth quarter.
“You know, I don't think there's any stone that you leave unturned when those numbers -- when you go to the fourth quarter and not have the success in the fourth quarter. Also, there's experience and not being experienced and not handling the mental end of things, and so there are a number of different factors that are involved in there.
“All of those have to be evaluated.”
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