BK | "Not Interested" In Watching Notre Dame Early Enrollees On Sidelines

Brian Kelly has made it clear to his coaching staff that he doesn’t want to bring any recruits in as early enrollees just to have them dip their toes in the water.

“I'm not interested in bringing in mid-years to see them on the sidelines,” Kelly said during a conference call with reporters on Saturday afternoon. “Or let's not bring them in.”

The Irish brought in 14 early enrollees in the Class of 2021 and Kelly said the program is willing to sacrifice reps that would typically go to veterans to make sure the newcomers get a chance to play.

“Look, if you're going to bring them in at mid-year, 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 is as elite as Notre Dame, and you've already put them in the weight room and we've pushed him hard, let's let them get out on the football field and get reps,” Kelly said. “I mean, this is what they love to do.

“If they can't enjoy playing football, then why bring them in at mid-year? So, we're just piling on reps and they're loving playing football.”

Quarterback Tyler Buchner is one of the mid-year leaders on offense along with linemen Blake Fisher, Rocco Spindler and Caleb Johnson. Both tight ends in the class - Cane Berrong and Mitchell Evans - enrolled early as did wide receiver Lorenzo Styles and quarterback Ronnie Powlus.

Defensively, linemen Devin Aupiu, Gabriel Rubio and Will Schweitzer enrolled early along with Ryan Barnes, Philip Riley and Justin Walters in the secondary.

It’s been obvious the early enrollees have been getting plenty of action during the practice highlights released by the University, but Kelly cautioned against reading too much into those clips.

“They haven't earned all the reps, but that doesn't really matter,” Kelly said. “I want them to have so many reps that when they come in to camp, it's like they've had a full year.

“So, I know you're seeing a lot of them. I don't want to mislead anybody by watching the film saying, 'Boy, they, they must be ready to start for Notre Dame.' We're just trying to give them as much work as possible. They're all making progress. But I wouldn't read too much into it and saying, 'Oh, 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.”

Kelly believes that approach is going to give that group of freshmen a great understanding of what’s going to be required of them come summer and fall.

“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 a lot of football and I know where I need to go to if I want to be part of a championship football program.'

“It's important that they get a lot of work and we're making sure that that happens.”