Brian Kelly Transcript: 11/9

Written by Jerry Strabley

Brian Kelly Transcript: 11/9 
Can you give us an update on injuries?
BK – We’ll start with Adams. He had a good week. We have him back to where he needs to be physically, whatever that means; 100 percent. Full activity in everything he is doing; mirrored the North Carolina State week. Wimbush, no ill effect from the hand. He did everything and got the swelling out of the hand. He wore a glove with a pad on it. Whether he does that Saturday, I’m really not sure. No ill effects there. Dexter, better, but I don’t see him as 100 percent. He can still definitely help us, but I wouldn’t say he is at 100 percent yet. Alize is cleared to participate. Cam Smith is out. We PRP him yesterday. We took another image of that hamstring. There was some edema in there and that was repaired yesterday. Nick Watkins is good, had a little tendinitis in the knee. We’re healthy going into week 10. I feel really good where we are from a physical standpoint.

Who besides Avery Davis has been quarterbacking the prep team.
BK – We have run three different quarterbacks, depending upon what the situation is. We throw a couple of balls in practice; we don’t just throw one ball. So, Montgomery VanGorder is over there for some drop-back scenarios. Avery and Nolan, one of our other quarterbacks, is over there as well. So, we have three quarterbacks working, depending upon what the scheme and the situation is. All three of them are working.

What is your impression of Avery Davis at this point?
BK – Pretty good. He is good in live situations. When you are working on 11-on-11 situations, I have been very impressed with him on 11-on-11. He plays fast, he makes good, quick decisions. I think if you were playing 7-on-7, he wouldn’t be the first guy that you would kind of go over to. When it is game and there are 11 guys out there, the ball comes out quick and he makes good decisions. Obviously, he is very athletic. We’ve been impressed. We have a thing called basic where we run it at the end of practice where the young players get a chance to run some of our basic plays. He has really been good in those situations.

There was talk about possibly some distractions before last week’s game. Have there been any distractions this week?
BK – I think the distractions are always going to be there. It’s how you handle distractions. I think my comments were more that our players needed to continue to work on how they deal with internal and external distractions because they are going to continue to be there. They are going to be there this week and next week, against Navy and the week after against Stanford. I think they have done a great job of getting back and focused on what is important right now, and that is in their preparation and they have done a really good job of that and that eliminates the distractions. So, I think they are always going to be there. I think they just did a better job this week of focusing on what’s important.

How did the defense respond at practice this week?
BK – They practiced the way they had practiced leading up to last week. Every week, they had created a new line of scrimmage. Last week, they did not create a new line of scrimmage in practice. Coach Elko did a terrific job. He took six practice clips of last week’s practice that were duplicate of plays of the game. In those six practice clips, you could see that we did not execute well in practice. You could see the same six plays how they weren’t executed very well in the game. So, it was easy to go back as to how we prepared, and he was great at showing our players that it’s in our preparation, and they prepared very well defensively this week.

What kind of atmosphere do you expect Saturday night?
BK – I think they will have a lively atmosphere, similar to Michigan State. I don’t know that our kids will be star-struck in that respect. I think they have been in big moments and big games kind of atmosphere. There will be some nerves and they will have to settle into the game, but they have been really good once they get into the game. They settle in nicely. There will be moments, early on, that they will have to settle into.

Do the early plays that are called help the players get settled in?
BK – I think there is always an eye toward making sure that you get your guys settled into the game. There are some guys, in particular, that you know are first-time starters that haven’t been in that environment.

What kind of a week has Chase Claypool had?
BK – I think he is ascending still; he is learning the game continuously. Practice for him is still about understanding how the details matter the most, and he is figuring that out. He’s a young guy that I wouldn’t say that he had it all figured out yet. He is learning every day, but he comes with a great attitude. He wants to get better. He’s definitely ascending. He’s not going to be a guy that plateaus out. He’s anxious to learn, eager to learn, but there’s a lot of teaching going on every day there.

How does this Miami defense match up with some of the others that you have faced this year?
BK – Defensively, extremely athletic, maybe some similarities in the back end of their defense to say USC. I don’t know if there is a peer to their athleticism and their front seven. They’re not quite maybe as physical at the point of attack as say Georgia but every bit as athletic as any defense that we play. And that’s not to knock them because they are physical, but Georgia was extremely physical. They’re just built differently. It’s not that they can’t be physical, but they are much more athletic than Georgia. So, where one team may have been built differently for their body type, these are longer, leaner, more athletic guys. You are comparing two different body types and I think in the back end, they are a lot like USC, really athletic and can run. Offensively, they are very opportunistic. The quarterback is a guy who just makes plays. He has a penchant for finding a way to win.

Is there anything you can do to lessen the effects of the humidity during the game?
BK – Hydrate. We have been hydrating and keeping our kids up on it. It’s really about hydrating during the week and making sure that they are well hydrated. That’s all you really can do and then just go play and see what happens. But that’s all you really can do.

Early in the year, the decision was made to have coach Chip Long down on the field during the game. What went into this decision?
BK – I think, early on, he wanted to get a feel of the personnel and get a sense of the players because he didn’t know the players as well in a game-like situation. So, being on the sideline this year gives him a better sense of how they react in certain situations, and it gets him down there. I think each year we will evaluate where that ends up, but this year, it gave him a better insight how the players react during the game.