Brian Kelly Notebook: 11/17

Rick Kimball/ISD

Subtle waves were made this week when Virginia Tech defensive end Ken Ekanem stated Notre Dame dropped him during the recruiting process when he had the Hokies and Irish as his two finalists. Ekanem tore his ACL in his final game in high school and said Notre Dame wouldn’t let him take his official visit. You can read the full story here: Virginia Tech’s Ken Ekanem looks forward to seeing Notre Dame, showing Irish what they missed.

“I do remember Coach (Bob) Diaco recruiting him – I’ve never pulled a scholarship from any player,” said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. “It’s never anything I’ve ever done in my career. We’ve always honored scholarships. I remember Torii Hunter Jr. had a devastating injury.

“It’s something I have never done in my career. We may fill up, but we are very transparent in telling recruit that we have two spots left at a position and when we fill up, we fill up. I am certain we were transparent about whatever the process was. I can’t recall exactly.”

Kelly is right, the Notre Dame program and his track record lack the evidence of dropping scholarships for injured players.

“I think we would ask questions about the severity of the injury,” Kelly stated. “In today’s injury world, an ACL doesn’t scare me. Mircofracture and things of that nature, where there is potential for further injuries or not being able to come back – each program does it differently. It was a while ago. All I know is how I feel offering scholarships and an injury isn’t going to persuade me. If we’re not filled up and we’ve offered them, my inclination is to not pull a scholarship.”

Growth
Growth has been used many times during Notre Dame’s 4-6 season and despite the record, Kelly feels his team has grown. The Irish have played Power 5 teams throughout the season and the competition has helped a young Notre Dame team.

“It’s a tough schedule for us,” Kelly said on Thursday evening. “We started off on the road and clearly even thought Michigan State isn’t having the year many expected, it’s still a tough game for you early on. Duke has been a really good football team off and on. They probably are similar to us in the sense that they are a better team than their record indicates.

“Early as we were trying to find ourselves and gain confidence, we had some tough games. You can add Stanford to it. We played a pretty competitive schedule.”

Notre Dame has played better football since the bye week, but Kelly isn’t happy with the losses.

“You go into the bye and we’ve lost a couple games, but if you look at the way we played since the bye, I like the way our kids have competed and I think the early season scheduling helped us,” he explained. Losing is never where you want to be relative to saying ‘Losing helped us’, but all that experience against good football teams that play in a Power 5 conference are going to benefit you even if you didn’t have the success we were hoping for.

“Being where we are right now, all of those things allowed us to get this football team to grow.”

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One player that has grown and will likely do more growing next fall is captain Mike McGlinchey. The 6-foot-7, 315-pounder made the move to left tackle from right tackle and has battled through the transition.

One of the struggles for McGlinchey this fall has been false starts. The penalties go back to the attitude and personality of the Pennsylvania native and he look to improve on that over the offseason.

“Mike is a highly strung guy,” stated Kelly. “It’s his personality and he knows it. He just has to relax and be more comfortable in those pressure situations. He see’s that as an area he has to get better at and work at. That’s probably something we will work on in terms of mental training more so than the physical training.

“He admits that one of the reasons he is coming back, he has some things to work on. If that’s the worst thing he has to work on, then I feel pretty good about him being able to conquer that.
I think consistency probably for Mike. He looks to really gain more confidence being on the left side. It was a transition for him. He was more comfortable on the right side. I think just settling into that position and being much more comfortable in his sets and being more consistent is what we will see from him.”

Devin Butler
It’s been a long season for cornerback Devin Butler, as he hasn’t gotten the opportunity to dress for the Irish with being indefinitely suspended from the program after he was arrested in August. However, the D.C. native has been preparing for his future and it will likely not be at Notre Dame.

“I got a chance to talk to Devin’s dad and I think we’re at the point where Devin is going to make a decision pretty soon,” explained Kelly. “I think he’ll make it public as what his intentions are. He’s at that point where he will make it public. I don’t want to say public, but I think you’ll see something out there from Devin regarding what he plans to do moving forward.”

Daelin Hayes
Freshman rush end Daelin Hayes has had a good season, but it might not show in the stat sheet. Heading into the final two games, Hayes will get a chance to show his progress, as Notre Dame will play traditional offenses.

“Playing the position that he’s at, I think is a perfect place for where we want him,” Kelly said. “Now it’s about being comfortable at the position and being correct with his assignments and techniques. I think Daelin has a huge upside.

“He came in with a bit of a deficit in terms of the techniques at the position. He has really good athletic ability and will impact our football team. I think he will make a bigger impact next year.”

Rick Kimball/ISD

Leadership
During his time at Notre Dame, Kelly’s best teams have had great leadership. Notre Dame has struggled at times with the right kind of leadership this fall and Kelly will make adjustments to how he goes forward in that area.

“I think we will let younger players lead,” Kelly stated. “If they’re ready to lead, we won’t hold them back from leading. I am going to encourage younger players that have natural leadership ability, I’ve spent more time allowing and spending time with them to go ahead and allow them to lead.

“I think we have some guys showing the kind of leadership capabilities and not to give any guys the captain seat, but Greer Martini, Drue Tranquill and Nyles Morgan are guys that stand out to me right away. There’s three guys that have done a really, really good job of leading immediately.

“I think we’re going to be in good shape. I don’t want to close the door for younger players to lead if they’re capable of leading.”

Notes/Injuries
On Mark Harrell starting at RG: “I think it’s probably going that direction. He had a good week. Colin (McGovern) did too. I think both will play again. It’s likely that Mark would start.”

Shaun Crawford: “We expect him to be moving and the way he came back from his ACL, he’s a pretty good healer. Hopefully that continues to be the case and in the spring he would be moving around in spring ball.

“We have a pretty good feeling about Shaun and what he’s capable of doing. Now add him to the mix, it’s the best core group I have had since I have been here.”

Nick Watkins: “He will be ready for spring ball. He’s excited and anxious to get back out there as well.”

Ashton White: “He’s back. He’s doing well now. He’s trying to get himself back. When you lose a couple steps to these younger guys we are playing, it’s a pretty competitive situation.”

Torii Hunter Jr.: “Hunter is still improving. I think we’ll see what he looks like after pre-game.”

Daniel Cage: “Cage is feeling better, but not to the level of where I think he’s ready to play.”