Brian Kelly's Confidence Growing in Notre Dame Offense
Notre Dame will hit the road to Tallahassee to kick the 2021 season off and much of the talk since the Rose Bowl has been about the Irish offense.
Can Notre Dame become more explosive? Can they replace four offensive linemen that went to the NFL?
Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’ offense starts and ends with the run game and head coach Brian Kelly is seeing positive progress coming out of fall camp.
”The running game can be different and I think it can be extremely effective and efficient,” said Kelly on Monday. “You start with personnel. I think we're getting much more comfortable with the personnel up front on the offensive line. We lost some really good players. I think we're getting to the point where we're feeling more comfortable with how that group is working together.
“I think we've been very careful not do too much but yet have a great library of answers to what defenses may do. So that efficiency in terms of selection of plays have been repped and repped and repped.”
Oh. It’s worth noting Notre Dame returns its top three running backs, including Kyren Williams, who rushed for 1,125 yards in 2020.
“I think the maturity of the backs, in particular the two veterans,” Kelly said. “I say veterans and use that term loosely, they're still young in terms of Kyren and Chris (Tyree). And C'Bo (Flemister) is an outstanding back who's just in a crowded room. But he has demanded carries by his play.
“I really like what the two freshmen have done. I think we've got really good depth there. I think it's a talented room. I think the offensive line, we've been very detailed in making sure we're going to do what we're good at up front.”
It’s also safe to say Notre Dame will be utilizing Williams and Tyree on the field at the same time, which could put defenses in a pickle, especially if Kevin Austin Jr. and the receiving corps emerge.
“We're getting Mike Mayer on the field with Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree,” Kelly said of using 21 personnel. “We like that because we're putting three dynamic players on the field. At times when 21 is thought of, it's kind of an old-fashioned connotation about pro-style offense but in fact, it's putting another playmaker on the field for us that we can move around into different formation sets.
“21 breaks out for us into no back. It breaks out into 11 personnel because of the multiplicity we have with one in particular in Kyren Williams, who can move around quite a bit.”
Quarterback Jack Coan has also impressed Kelly by being the same guy as he was before being named the starter.
“He's the same guy every day,” explained Kelly. “You don't go to practice and say, 'Who's that guy?' He is so consistent in terms of who he is and his makeup, his preparation. I think he's even improved since the spring in a number of the more detailed areas that we've asked him to. I think that's the mark of a very good quarterback.”
Kelly also believes Coan’s experience will help guide the offense in a hostile environment on Sunday night.
”(He’s) been in some big games,” said Kelly. “Certainly, he's going to go out there and he's been in this environment before. It doesn't mean he's not going to have any jitters. He's going to know how to get into that zone that I talked about earlier that's going to help him execute and deliver a high performance when it's needed.
“It's very helpful.”