BK Transcript: 4/7

Transcript by Jerry Strabley

What do you need to see from these last five practices?

“It’s a layering effect of just continuously building the traits that we need with this football team. Every day, as you know, we are moving into a phase defensively where everything is about our fundamentals, working on tackling, run support, stripping the football, that just takes day-after-day layering of consistency so they know what to expect every day. I want them to come to practice and know that, all of a sudden, we are not going to be changing it up on them. Oh, we are going to spend all of this time on pressures and schemes. So, it’s really trying to build that consistency and approach so they know what the teaching is going to be about, know what the programming is about every single day, both on offense and defense. So, there’s that understanding that they’re not going to get a curve ball thrown at them in practice. So, when they leave here, they know exactly what to expect when they come back here for camp. So, that layering effect of consistency day-in and day-out, that’s probably the most important thing and the development of the traits that I have been talking about ad nauseum from day one that you guys have taken so carefully to articulate back to me and that is the traits of attention to detail and certainly attitude and being a smart football team. All of those things, that’s what I really want to get out of it. So, every single day, that is what we are talking about and that’s all process. Each team has its own process how it is going about it. Our process is really about that, building a consistency from the programming that they are seeing every day from us and then clearly about what traits we are expecting to see from them every single day.”

Earlier there was the thought that the defensive team was  underrated. What is their progress report at this time?

“We will have to see. I haven’t changed the way that I feel about the guys that we have up front that can do some things and disrupt the quarterback. I think Daelin Hayes continues to get better and better the more football that he is exposed to. I think Julian Okwara is coming on and given us the edge presence we expected. Andrew Trumbetti is getting better and more consistent as a pass-rusher for us. Khalid Kareem has done some nice things for us. So, there are four guys right there, and I think we are even going to get Jamir Jones activated a little bit more. He’s up to 240 lbs. I don’t know if we are ever going to be able to hold him back from being a bigger guy. I really believe those young players, and Andrew, are going to continue to develop and give us the kind of edge presence that we need. Inside, Jerry Tillery has done a really nice job and Daniel Cage has had his best spring, and I think that is only going to continue to transfer, so add Micah Dew, Brandon Tiassum had a really good day today. He’s coming on. Remember, he came from a program that was really a basketball program, and he has been in a learning mode and we are seeing some signs. I stand by the fact that that group is going to be solid for us.”

How much are you counting on the Mike Elko scheme and what he has done and the success he has had in the past?

“Look, I think the most important thing is, the scheme in itself, is the fundamentals of football. It’s being in the right place to be timely in taking the football away. It’s being in the right gap. It’s all the fundamentals that we are talking about that we lacked at times. So, we are going to be a smarter and more disciplined football team that is going to put us in a position to schematically be a better football team without having to create and be exotic. We can be a football team that takes the football away and a better football team because we are just fundamentally in a really good position each and every snap.”

In tempo, is the line kind of blurred for the Z receiver?

“It is blurred. You have to play all three positions. There is a little bit of a specialty, if you will, to the short-side receiver, the boundary receiver. You won’t see much of a Z receiver into the short field because that’s where you get a lot of your individual match-ups but there is a lot of changing of roles to the field between the X and Z receiver.”

How is Kevin Stepherson doing?

“He has a hamstring. It’s been a lingering hamstring that has not responded quite well and it was pulled again. We are treating pretty aggressively with anti-inflammatories. He has not needed PRT, but he just hasn’t been right. He hasn’t been 100 percent.”

Your comments about Kizer. Do you have any regrets about the things you said or do you feel you gave an honest appraisal of the situation?

“No, I think whatever was interpreted, I have a great deal of positive feelings toward DeShone. I think he is the best quarterback coming out. I think that everybody who comes to Notre Dame benefits from another year when they don’t have their degree and use college football to season themselves. So DeShone is not in that category by himself. I think he has great character, I named him a captain, so for that to be seen any other way but positive, I think the headline could have been Coach Kelly sees Kizer to be the best quarterback in the draft or Kelly sees Kizer having great character, but it wasn’t seen that way and there’s nothing I can do about it. I think the world of DeShone, and I think he is going to be a great quarterback in the NFL.”

What is the progress with Javon McKinley and Miles Boykin? Are they getting more playing time?

“Well, Miles is beginning to build some bank, if you will, as it relates to consistency. He is putting a lot into the bank of trust that we can trust that he will go out there and give us performance that is going to lend itself towards playing time. He has been very consistent as a ball-catcher. He has been very consistent in terms of assignments. His traits have been very evident in terms of attention to detail. His focus has been great. His attitude has been gritty. He gets a lot of those back shoulder throws where he has to go up and get it and land. Physically, he gets beat up a little bit and he keeps coming back out there. I see him in there getting treatments and he makes good decisions. He is exhibiting all the traits that we are looking for. The nice part about Javon is that we will probably be able to play him in the spring game in a limited fashion. We will probably put a medical jersey on him so he can’t be touched or tackled, but we want to get him competing. We played him as a true freshman so we have a high opinion of him. He’s rusty so this is a good opportunity, with EQ with less than a one hamstring injury but one that we wanted to be very cautious with, with EQ today. He was a little upset that we wouldn’t let him do more today.  It was great to get Javon in there. We think we can get him some more work as we progress.”

What have you seen from the safety group?

“Well, again, I think they are developing. We’re playing the safety position quite differently than we did before. Nick Coleman has been the guy that has done some really good things for us. He is extremely athletic. We are in the process of continuing to develop his understanding of the defense, but Jalen Elliott and Devin Studstill are still in that programming mode in terms of doing all the little things right for us fundamentally. I think they are getting better. I know Mike Elko really likes those two kids, likes their toughness and their want to play the game. So, they are going to be there for us. I think what you will see is that we are going to be situationally playing guys that make sense at certain times of the game for us in second and third down and we are going to put guys in a position to succeed. It’s not going to be one guy and that’s it. You are just going to see him in all situations. I think Richardson, the freshman, he started at the level of not knowing much and he has grown considerably over the last few weeks and has done a nice job of picking things up. We’re making progress there. We’re going to need more time, but I’m pleased.”

Would you say that the safety position is one of your most concerns right now?

“I don’t know if there is anybody who is going to walk in the door that is 6’2”, 215 lbs. that can run a 4.5 anytime soon. We know who our guys are. We think there is some more flexibility coming and with the players that we have, that we will be able to come up with a really good solution by the time that we kick it off against Temple.”

What’s it going to take for Tony Jones to be in the rotation?

“Nothing. Honestly, he is in it. He is well ensconced in that rotation. He is a guy who, if at any time we wanted to call him a number one, we could call him a number one. He has done all the things to build that trust with us in terms of protections, catching the ball out of the backfield, he has earned that through his work this spring and quite frankly in the time that he has been here, it was a conscious decision on our part to not play him, more-so than he wasn’t ready to play. So, he is in it. He is going to be a part of it. You will see a lot of him this fall.”

How would you define your evaluation process?

“My evaluation process is effectively making sure that the teaching and the programming is staying consistent to what I have laid out so that our players will know what to expect on a day-to-day basis, as well as the teaching. I want positive teaching. I want everything to be followed up with good communication so that when it is being taught, they can clearly understand what is being taught to them and can settle into being replicated after it being taught. So, I’m listening to the teaching, the communication, making sure there is a consistency in how they’re communicating. I think of it as the coaches are responsible for the engine of those players and so they have to build competency with those players. In other words, they have to build them up so they feel they can be effective players and execute what they have to execute and then there has to be that buy-in to that particular drill and them understanding the drill and then they have to relate it to the big picture, why are we doing this drill. That’s very important. That’s motivation. They have to be motivated through those forms. I’m looking at that and that is what I’m evaluating on a drill-to-drill and station-to-station basis.”

Were you surprised by Perry’s announcement that he is transferring?

“No. Spencer has been a great kid and has done everything that we have asked him to do. He has expressed to me that he felt like athletically he needed to find a place that better suits him. I guess if you read between the lines, maybe he wasn’t seeing the position in which he was playing, nor the area of reps, suitable to where he is right now in the program. But I think you would have to ask him to get a real clear understanding of that. He’s a great kid and we wish him the best. We will release him to wherever he wants to continue his education because he has been a great kid in our program.”

Did you try to convince him to stay through the spring?

“I gauge every individual accordingly. He came to us, talked with his family, and made up his mind. I don’t want to put someone in a position where they’re not into it. They may hurt themselves or somebody else. We certainly don’t want that.”

Is it at the point in the spring where you start plugging in some of the freshmen who aren’t here yet and saying, here is someone who can help us here? Have you got to that process yet or will you wait until the end of spring?

“I’m always thinking in the back of my head who may give us some depth on the defensive line. Is there someone who we think can help us coming into the fall? Certainly those things are a part of my thought process as we begin planning positions and the depth chart. We haven’t spent a lot of time on the depth chart frankly. To answer your question, yes, you start to think of those things a little bit as to who some of those freshmen can help us, come Temple, but I haven’t spent a lot of time on Temple. This has been more about the process for our guys. We will split the teams up on Monday as we get ready for the spring game. We are going to have two teams and that will be probably the first time that I really look at the roster.”

Why were you not in full pads today? It seems like you have gone light quite a bit this spring.

“We had the uppers on. We can get as much done. It’s just a good transition on a Friday for those guys to not have the full pads on. You guys are out there. We get a lot done. They are very smart in the way they practice. We are going to have a heavy scrimmage on Sunday. My goal is to get in a 60-play scrimmage whereas last Sunday we had about 35 plays. This will be a very large scrimmage on Sunday. This is a good segue and transition to that on Sunday.”

Are Elliott and Studstill competing for the same spot?

“Not necessarily, though they will have to know both positions. They are not log-jammed though. They can independently work themselves onto the field at the same time.”

Why do you not have music during practice?

“Well, we do in our tempo period. For us, I think, we’re introducing new programming and new teaching techniques. I think I need our coaches to be communicating with our players. I want them to be building relationships and trust through their communications. Music does not work very well in that realm right now for us. We blare it pretty good in the weight room. If you want to go into the weight room, you can listen to all the music you want. If you like to lift, you can certainly do that too. We don’t just puke (laughing), we do other things in there too. For me, it’s more my laboratory, in a sense, where it allows us to do a lot more of the teaching and communicating with our guys.”

Did you play music last year?

“Yes, but not the whole practice. It’s not that much different than what it was in the past.”