Notre Dame's Kelly eyes May 15 as key date for Irish

Brian Kelly on Wednesday emphasized it still is too early to determine if Notre Dame athletes, particularly football players, could be back on campus by June for workouts and possible team activities.

Earlier this week, Notre Dame formally announced that it had moved all first session summer classes online, as it was forced to do mid-March for the remainder of the spring semester amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In a Zoom videoconference with reporters, Kelly eyed a date 37 days away as when the school has said it would make more long-ranging decisions regarding summer classes, camps, possible recruiting events and more items.

“We’re going to have a meeting on May 15 to kind of further look at what the next step is,” Kelly said. “Certainly there are not going to be classes in the first summer session. Provost Burish has made that clear in a memo to the community.

“But on May 15 we will look at, again another five weeks, look at whether there will be any changes relative to in-person or on-campus (meetings) and that includes whether we get into any sports-related activities. So, that decision will not be made until May 15.”

IRISH EYES ON IRELAND

Most recently this week, the Royal & Ancient announced that golf’s fabled The Open Championship would not be played this summer at the Royal St. Georges Golf Club in United Kingdom, as was scheduled from July 12-19. Golf’s oldest major championship, it’s the first time the event has been cancelled since World War II.

Notre Dame presently is scheduled to face Navy in Dublin, Ireland, just 34 days after The Open was to conclude.

Kelly again reiterated the uncertainty surrounding that game being played overseas.

“We’re having discussions with that,” Kelly said. “Clearly we can’t just wait until May 15 to have the first discussion about going overseas. Those discussions are taking place. Jack, again, has a number of things on his plate right now. That is one of them. Navy is aware of it. We’re looking at all options at this time.

“We’d like to play the game in Ireland. Whether we can or not, that is obviously a topic that is being discussed. But we’ll have some alternatives, whether there’s a particular date, I can’t give you one right now. I can tell you this: Those discussions are underway and they’re certainly being deliberated as we speak, relative to where that game is played.”

KELLY STRESSES PLAYER SAFETY

As potential dates to resume training activities and, later in summer, perhaps the opening of training camps, are discussed, coaches across the country have weighed in about exactly how much time, at minimum, is necessary in order to conduct a college football season as presently scheduled.

Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, in a quote shared by The Athletic’s Max Olson, hearkened back to his days as a player at NCAA DIII powerhouse Mount Union (Ohio).

“I coached at Division III football Mount Union and I played football at Mount Union, where you didn’t have much engagement,” Campbell said. “There was no spring practice. Didn’t have many guys on campus through the summer. Everybody was accountable to their own workouts and what they needed to do.

“And then on August 1, you got there and four weeks later you were getting ready to go play football.”

Kelly reiterated his stance first shared last week, when he discussed his belief in a need for four weeks of training followed by four weeks of practice, a timeframe that was similarly referenced by Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo on ESPNU radio.

Notre Dame’s 11th-year coach also emphasized player-safety and well-being during Wednesday’s Zoom session.

“First of all, we’re not going to put any student-athlete in a position where they can’t be properly trained to compete at the highest level,” Kelly said. “This notion of trying to play the game at its highest level without safety being at core of what we’re doing, it’s not going to happen. I’m not gonna put a young man on a playing field and ask him to compete unless he has had the opportunity to be properly conditioned and trained to play this game at highest level.

“We’re going to need a proper amount of training necessary for our guys to be prepared from a safety standpoint to play this game. Again, what that looks like … it’s not going to be just a few days. It’s not going to be just a week. We’re going to need minimally three to four weeks to prepare our football team.”