Kelly says Irish QB battle to be decided next week; more Day 1 notes

Nothing about this will be protracted.

In fact, before the end of next week Notre Dame will identify its starting quarterback for the 2021 season.

That's what veteran head coach Brian Kelly declared Saturday after the Fighting Irish held their first preseason practice.

“This won't be a long, drawn-out camp (competition),” Kelly said. “We'll make a decision after the first scrimmage as to who the starter is.”

Notre Dame is planning its first intrasquad scrimmage of the preseason Thursday.

The presumptive starter is Wisconsin graduate-transfer Jack Coan, who logged the first snaps with the top offense early in the opening session and who played in 26 career games, 18 of them starts, for the Badgers.

“A lot, that's why we took him; we didn't take him because he didn't play before,” Kelly said of Coan's work for the Badgers as a key element in Coan's arrival to the program. “We took him because he had battle-tested experience in the Big Ten and in a very good program and quite frankly one that we respect in Wisconsin and Coach (Paul) Chryst and what they do. A lot of that had to do with where he came from and him being battle-tested. From our standpoint he came with a lot of that.

“You still have to earn it, and he's still earning it.”

The other signal-callers in the mix are redshirt-freshman Drew Pyne and heralded midyear enrollee Tyler Buchner.

All three quarterbacks got offensive series on Saturday inside the Irish Athletic Center. Pyne appeared in four games a year ago.

Kelly said Brendon Clark, recovering from injury, remains a few weeks away from being full-go.

“All of these guys, and in particular Drew and Jack, have a lot of respect and our guys will be ready to go with either one of them,” Kelly said.

“Tyler is a young kid and there would be more preparation needed there[ to get Buchner set as the starter]. So from that perspective, I don't know that this is one that, 'Hey, the guys are going to be unfamiliar,' but we just feel like we've got a pretty good sense of where this is going to go, and we want to make sure that we're going to make the right decision and give everybody the chance over the next week to make their case.”

Kelly did emphasize that Pyne is getting work with the Irish's top offensive unit.

“I just think he needs to continue to be Drew Pyne,” Kelly said, “and take advantage of the opportunities. He's getting first-team reps. So when he gets his opportunity, continue to take full advantage of it.”

O-LINE GUARANTEE

Jarrett Patterson is back at center, permanently, and will be the Irish starter. It's the only offensive position Kelly wholly declared as finalized.

Too, veteran Josh Lugg is going to play.

“He's going to be our starting center,” Kelly said of Patterson. “I think as we looked at a couple things, one, what's in best interest of Jarrett Patterson, first. He's one of the top centers in the country. It's hard for me to take a player and really put him in a position where it could affect him down the road. He's done so much for our program. Could we be better served if he played another position? You could make the case. But I think my feeling was we're a good football team with Jarrett Patterson at center, and it helps him in the long run playing that position.”

The rest of the front-line? That's a work in progress. Candidates at the tackle positions include freshman Blake Fisher and redshirt-freshman Tosh Baker, as well as Lugg getting some work on the right flank.

Along the interior, Zeke Correll's trying to nail down the left guard position and John Dirksen, Cain Madden and Rocco Spindler are among the other early candidates at guard.

“There's competition,” Kelly said. “I would not leave this conversation here and say, 'Oh, Blake Fisher is the starting left tackle.' Here's what I can tell you, Jarrett Patterson is the starting center and Josh Lugg is going to play for us. Those are the two guys I can commit to right now. Everybody else has to go earn their way. Other guys have got some work to do. Blake hasn't taken a snap for Notre Dame yet. He's got work to do.

“We're going to keep competition towards all those positions with the idea Lugg's playing, and Patterson is playing.”

INJURY UPDATES

Kelly revealed that Isaiah Foskey had endured a pectoral injury during summer camp but that Foskey was fine for camp. He said the Irish “managed” Foskey through the opening day but indicated no concerns moving forward.

Clark, as noted, remains weeks away from rejoining the quarterback group in full capacity.

Kelly said Paul Moala was full-go.

“Brendon is still limited. He's probably a few weeks away from being able to be cleared at 100%,” Kelly said. “He's still lagging behind. Not through anything he hasn't done. He's been crazy in the training room. He's a few weeks behind.

“Paul is full-go. Active in all 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 [drills during Saturday's first practice].”