Brian Kelly Transcript | September 4
BRIAN KELLY: Good afternoon. We have an exercise that we use within our program, offense, defense, special teams, support staff, everything that we do, and we call it well-better-learned. What have we done well? What can we do better? And what have we learned? I think when we look at the Michigan game, what we did well, our football team had an accountability and a responsibility to each other that was outstanding, and I mean, as it manifests itself that accountability and responsibility was over seven, eight months in the working, and it showed itself on the sideline. It showed itself in the way they played. They played together. There was great communication on the sideline. We had guys that were locked in. They were holding themselves to a high standard. They did that very well. They stuck to our process. When we talk about what they did well, that was great to see.
What we learned is that we have to finish off an opponent. We had opportunities to put Michigan in a very difficult position, and we did not, and so I think we learned a lot from that experience. We've got to -- when we see an opportunity to put an opponent away, we've got to have a dominant mindset and be able to do that. I think we've learned a lot about that.
I think what we can do better, you know, obviously, from our standpoint, as we continue to grow the attention to detail on special teams. We have guys that are anxious and need to just continue to just focus on our process and relax and just have an attention to detail. There's certainly a lot of really good players on that group, but the attention to detail is not where it needs to be. So we've got to be better there.
I think what I've learned about this team is that it's a confident group. And I could tell that throughout the entire week. I could tell it leading up to the game. They were early for everything. They were not too high, they were not too low. They had an intensity about them that you could see there was a confidence about them.
You know, what they did well, the accountability, responsibility, they stuck with the process. What we've got to do better, we've got to finish, and we had that opportunity and attention to detail. We've got to coach better and play better in special teams. And then what we learned is that we've got a pretty confident group.
So now moving on to Ball State, a talented offensive group led by Riley Neal. He's an outstanding quarterback. He's a quarterback that could lead a Power Five team. He is an NFL prospect. He reminds me a lot of a quarterback that I had at Cincinnati in Tony Pike. He's 6'5", 225. He's got a live arm. He's got some nice weapons around him. He's got three very good backs, all quality backs, and they run them all into the game.
Justin Hall at the wide receiver position does a lot of really, really good things for them. They've got a big tight end that they use. So from an offensive perspective -- Coach Neu knows what he's doing. Obviously he's got a great pedigree and background with the Saints and the Arena League and obviously he's a quarterback coach; he knows what he's doing offensively. Coach Lynch, the offensive coordinator, has got a great background, a coach's kid. He knows offensive football. So this is a really good offensive system, and they know what they're doing. They were decimated last year with injuries, so I don't even think you can count what happened to them last year. But we'll have to play well. This is a good offensive football team.
Defensively they're a whole new system. They went to a 3-4 defensive structure, so you're going to see a lot of different things up front, a lot of stunts, a lot of movement, a lot of pressures, different fire zones. Their nose, Crumb, is a pretty good football player. He moves well. And then in the back end is their strength of their defense with Miller and Anderson at the cornerback and free safety positions. They're going to keep the ball in front of them. They're going to try to eliminate big plays, and again, with a 3-4 defense with the ability to do a lot of things, again, a nice challenge with a new scheme that we're going to see for the first time.
With that, I'll open it up to questions.
Q. I'm curious with your defensive end rotation, Ade Ogundeji is the one guy whose recruiting profile was a little bit different than the others. When you are deciding to give a scholarship to a guy like that and scouting him, what are you looking for in that kind of developmental player that would lead you to believe that something like this to happen?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah. So we had had some success with Romeo Okwara, who we felt had a similar profile, that was just a little bit outside of the weight and distribution relative to size, and we felt like his length, and if we could develop him in our program, that we could really have somebody special. And he's continuously showing us that we may have made the right decision there each and every month as he continues to grow and become more, I think, football savvy day in and day out. He almost blocked a punt. He came real close. He's just really starting to scratch the surface as it relates to football.
So from a recruiting standpoint, you have to have some other factors, and one of them was that we had seen some success with a similar profile before, and that's why we entered into that kind of a profile.
Q. The participation report from Saturday, it got a little bit skewed with which freshmen played and which didn't, but I think there was only about a handful that did. As you go into the rest of the season, is it kind of a flow-of-the-game thing with some of them with the new redshirt rule, in which games you try to get them in, or do you kind of have it charted out, okay, let's run this guy in this game? How does that dynamic work?
BRIAN KELLY: No, I have a sheet right here that I won't share with you that gives me a good indication of the guys that we want to start to plug in into particular situations. Obviously Jayson Ademilola was forced into action when Myron went down. He was going to be the next man in. So in that instance, those things kind of take care of themselves. The rest of them are planned if they're not forced into action by injury or their play has put them into the game.
I think we've got a pretty good plan moving forward how we're going to use players. Obviously we'll see how that pans out over the next few weeks.
Q. We didn't ask you about Daelin Hayes Saturday or Sunday. How did you evaluate the way he played? And what are you looking for from him to take the next step in his development?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, we think he is. I think we all get enamored with pass rush, and I think I could just point to Julian Okwara's ability to drop in coverage and really make two fine plays in coverage, and that position requires both the ability to play the run and certainly pressure the quarterback and be one eleventh of what we're doing defensively. When Daelin Hayes is in his pass rush lanes, he gives Jerry Tillery an opportunity to pressure the quarterback.
Again, he's taken the next step up in terms of being disciplined in terms of what we're asking him to do, much more physical at the point of attack, using his hands, shedding blockers, being much more disruptive at the line of scrimmage.
Q. You anticipated when he came in, I think you made comments early on that the development process with him was going to be a little bit more extensive. Is he on the pace that you kind of anticipated when he entered?
BRIAN KELLY: I think so. I think right now at the point of attack he's an issue for people. He can handle tight ends. He can handle a tackle. He can drop in coverage. I think he's a versatile football player that, again, from our standpoint, allows us to do a lot of things.
Q. On Sunday I asked you about Tagovailoa-Amosa, and you said 10 weeks, when he would come back late in the season. I guess I wasn't thinking in terms of the new redshirt rule. What do you have in mind there if he -- are you thinking about just the last three games so you could preserve that year, or how are you looking at it with him?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, we still have the ability with the new rule because he hasn't used the year. We could possibly redshirt him and play him late in the season. We'll see how he recovers, how he heals, if he's healthy and can contribute late in the season for us. We would certainly leave that door open.
Q. I wanted to ask about a couple guys, if you could just evaluate them for me, a couple guys that played very well, Khalid Kareem --
BRIAN KELLY: Played very well. No, I'm kidding. No, he was relentless in his effort. His effort was great. He cramped up a little bit late in the game, and I think our evaluation of our entire defensive front was relentless effort, play in and play out.
Q. And Alohi Gilman?
BRIAN KELLY: He was, I would say, again, from a safety position, active at the line of scrimmage in terms of his tackling and run fits, and he was on body. He was making plays both in the passing game and the running game. He was noticeable in his presence at that position, and he brings an edge to our defense that maybe we lacked at times.
Q. Would you revisit how you two came together, Gilman and you, what kind of brought him to Notre Dame?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, you know, there's some connections there and some players on our team. He just felt like when they made a new rule in the academies that they were going to require you to have your -- you could not go to the NFL. I mean, you had to have your commitment fulfilled, it changed his perspective, and he reached out, and I think that a few phone calls were made legally during that period of time, and we pursued the transfer regulations.
Q. I know you spoke about Jafar yesterday, but for the benefit of those of us that have cameras here, could you talk a little bit more about what you thought he did well in the opener and where you see the next stages of his growth coming from?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I think from an assignment standpoint for a first game, he did very well. You know, pass protection, he was solid, aggressive. He ran hard. He did a lot of things on the football field for a first start. He returned kicks. He was catching the football. He was picking up blitzers. He was running the football. He was in a number of different alignments. So we asked a lot for a first-time starter, so I think all that versatility in itself is quite a load, and I think he handled it very well with a great demeanor. He wasn't overwhelmed with the stage nor with the assignment that we gave him.
Q. So what would you want to see him do better, or are you --
BRIAN KELLY: Well, he has so many things that he has to get better from a technical standpoint. He runs with high pads, vision, he's still reading things that will just take time. This is just a matter of reps and seasoning, and it will play itself out over time.
Q. You've said a lot of complimentary things about your team the last 48 hours, and with good reason. They will hear that. What sort of techniques will you use now to keep them striving to grow and not just think, all right, we're pretty good?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, we have a standard. We have a standard. They know what the standard is, and they have met that standard for the last eight months. They know the standard that we have here, what our mission is, what our process is, and we'll continue to reiterate that on a day-to-day basis. We play Ball State, but for them it's a nameless, faceless opponent in the way they go to work every day. They'll know Ball State's scheme. They'll know their players. They'll know tactically what they need to do, but what overrides that is the standard that they have to live up to as a program on a day-to-day basis.
Q. Kind of going off that a little bit, obviously Michigan, high-profile brand name, first game, and you play Ball State here now. Is it harder to maybe focus, to get the guys to focus on an opponent that on paper seems inferior to like a Michigan brand name type like that?
BRIAN KELLY: It shouldn't. You know, we've got a mature group of players that recognize that it's really about our preparation. It's not about Michigan's preparation or Vanderbilt or Ball State or Virginia Tech or any other teams that we play. It's really about what we do, and if we prepare, and through our total preparation -- they've heard this now for the last couple years. If they stick to their process and their preparation, it really doesn't matter the team that we're playing.
Q. And then watching back the tape, is there someone that stood out to you in the game that you might not have realized was having a good game on Saturday? Was there one player specifically that really came off the screen there for you watching it back?
BRIAN KELLY: I don't know that there was one guy that I could point to. I think the guy that doesn't get much credit is John Shannon. Our long snapper is pretty good. He doesn't get any love, so let's give John Shannon some love. He runs down there and covers kicks. How's that? Long snapper love for anybody? Not really? You guys are haters. (Laughter.)
Q. As you're evaluating the offensive tackle play from last week, curious all the factors that go into it, whether that be the talent of Gary and Winovich, what Don Brown is trying to do, the fact that Eichenberg, it was his first start, Hainsey's second? How do you sort of evaluate the way they played when you evaluate all the variables that went into Saturday?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, it starts with their preparation was outstanding. They trusted it. And then they played really hard. They made mistakes. Those are good players, and that's a tough scheme. But they overcame it with great communication. They helped each other. There was a lot of help going on. We were sliding together. Those guys were working well together. Very rarely was Hainsey or Liam left out on an island. Somebody was sliding their way. There was a back that was over there. A tight end would kick. The center would push the guard off. So there was a lot -- in unison, that group was working really well together, and I think when you talk about really good offensive lines against a defense that has so many moving parts, you can't put somebody out on an island. If you do that, you're going to have some problems.
Q. How do you evaluate the way Alizé Mack played on Saturday night?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, that's a good question. I think what's happening to Alizé Mack is kind of what I've talked about is that his ability to handle the moment, his control over himself in the competitive mode is going to get better, got better, and I think you're going to see it continually progress to where he can be the kind of player that everybody has made him out to be, and maybe even in his own sense, right? I can see it in his eyes. I can see the way he works, works out, and even in pregame. Yeah, he had one drop that maybe he would have liked back, but I can see him growing and maturing in a competitive light that I didn't see last year. I think you're going to see growth as we continue to go through the year.
Q. A couple of special teams questions: Stick with Doerer as your kickoff guy, or any thoughts to trying Yoon?
BRIAN KELLY: I don't want to use Justin Yoon. We needed to get Jon right. Obviously he got in his own way, and he's a talented player. You know, we needed to go rescue him and get him out of the game. He wasn't throwing strikes. But he's going back in, and he's going to kick off and he's going to get it right. He's a talented player, and he's committed to doing it, so he'll be back out there.
Q. And Chase Claypool as a kick coverage guy, whether it's kickoffs or punts, I'm not sure what on the kickoff you could evaluate what happened when it got all the way back, but also the punts that you threw, how talented can he be? Is that something he could take beyond here?
BRIAN KELLY: Oh, it's definitely a trait that will transcend itself at the next level. Yeah, you know, our attention to detail needs to get better on kickoff coverage, certainly. And there's a lot of moving pieces there that are very simply fixed. And part of that is me. I mean, I had, I think, one live kickoff throughout camp, and then we kick them down there and we get out of our lanes. Having said that, to answer your question, Chase Claypool is on outstanding special teams player, and he is a must on all of our kick teams.
Q. Ball State has an offensive tackle named Danny Pinter from John Adams High School. What stands out on film when you watch him?
BRIAN KELLY: I'm aware of him. He's a big kid, long, he's athletic. Their offensive line -- look, I coached in the MAC, and a lot of times it's trying to not be sloppy on the offensive line. This is not a sloppy offensive line. This is an athletic group. They move their feet well. They're not on the ground. They pass set well. And he's a good player. I know him; his cousin played for me, his the starting center for me at Grand Valley State. Good player. Good player.
Q. I realize you're perhaps biased on this because you have a son that plays in this conference, but how would you evaluate the play of that NIC because Ball State has three NIC players on its team, there are a number of NIC players that have gone on to play Division I?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I think Indiana football in general, when you talk about the players that are coming out and playing Division I football, I think it's pretty clear that it's really good high school football. It's well-coached. There's good coaching. I get a chance to watch some games, and the one thing that stands out, it's well-coached. You're going to have kids that are well-coached that get a chance now to play at different levels, so it doesn't surprise me that there's some kids out there.
Q. As for your own team, how pleased were you with Brandon's decision making during the game on Saturday night? Did you see an improvement from last year?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, you know, I don't think he -- I don't know if that was the No. 1 concern for us last year. I think quarterbacks are always going to be judged by decision making during games, and there will be times where you question a decision here and there, should he have taken a sack on 1st down in the red zone. But by and large, he's been a good decision maker. Accuracy, confidence, those things are on the up. But he was another guy that had a great week of practice. His energy, his demeanor, you could sense that he felt really good about what he was going to do, and I think that's going to continue to grow.
Q. There was one position on defense where you didn't really have a rotation; it was at linebacker.
BRIAN KELLY: Yes.
Q. I did notice on the chart, I don't know if it's yours or Mike's decision, but Shayne Simon at buck linebacker --
BRIAN KELLY: Mike Bertsch makes all of the personnel decisions in our football program, so I would from now on ask Mike about anything. Any bad plays, Mike is -- he makes all those decisions, too. No, Mike had nothing to do with putting Shayne Simon --
Q. I didn't think so.
BRIAN KELLY: But the deference that you give Mike, I think, is to be applauded. No, Shayne is going to cross-train at that position. He's going to cross-train at the Will linebacker position.
Q. That's kind of unusual for a freshman to have two positions; is his depth of knowledge such that you're confident in doing that?
BRIAN KELLY: We just think he's a really good player that has good instincts, and I think Clark feels comfortable, as I do, that with the three technique predominantly kicked his way that we can call a game and let him run and hit and play the position for us if need be.
Q. With Myron out and Jayson Ademilola the next person in, are you looking at similar type of reps or really do you see more of a committee at that position with maybe Bonner shifting over some to where he played last year?
BRIAN KELLY: I don't know that you'll see an immediate rep transfer, if you will, from Myron to Jayson. You may see a little bit of Bonner taking a little bit of that off of him, so Bonner can do both. Micah Dew will step up and get more reps, as well, so you'll add him to the mix certainly. But yeah, I don't think necessarily you'll see an immediate transfer.
Q. And then with Alohi, as far as the energy that he brought that you said was kind of lacking a little bit last year, what specifically as a new starter, as a new player, has he been able to do where veterans have been following his lead and where he has that type of impact?
BRIAN KELLY: Well, I mean, playing the safety position is a reactionary position. You see it, you react, and it requires great instincts, and he has really good instincts, and he's a sure tackler. I mean, we'd like to take all the credit for Alohi, but Alohi has got great football instincts, and when you have those instincts, you then build it into eye discipline and technique and all the things that fit within our system to get the complete player. But he brought a lot of that with him, and then it's up to us to coach him within our system.
Q. What did Jalen Elliott do in camp to kind of maintain the other starting position or re-win it? I'm not sure if it was settled until the final week of camp. How did you evaluate his play?
BRIAN KELLY: Much more assignment correct, better tackler, and just -- I just think consistency of performance. That was probably the thing that we were looking for. We didn't need anything else but a consistent performer at that other safety position, and he gave us a consistency in performance.
Q. Going back loosely to the tight ends, how did you evaluate your use of the two tight ends, the 12 package that they started in versus, I guess, anything else that you can throw at a team? Was that a little bit opponent specific just because of the defense you were going against?
BRIAN KELLY: Yeah, I mean, it's a team that loves to attack edges, creates some very difficult problems for you, unique problems for your zone reads game, for your play action game, your RPO game. Tight ends neutralize that a little bit. But we think we've got three really good tight ends, four actually, but three in a constant rotation. That's not going away. Michigan definitely prompts you to use them a little bit more, though.
Q. You had a unique depth chart from Mike Bertsch on Saturday. He left Autry Denson, your assistant coach, off the all-time Notre Dame list. I wondered if you agreed with that.
BRIAN KELLY: You know, I've got a lot of jobs to do, and keeping an eye on Mike Bertsch is a full-time job. So I would like to have some help from you folks, so thank you for that. Appreciate it. Can we wrap it up with that?
Q. With Chase, and I kind of mentioned this Sunday, you had him play in that role as a freshman, really didn't last year, went back to it. Was that his idea, your idea, and maybe why didn't he have that role last year on special teams?
BRIAN KELLY: I just think that Chase is maturing as a player, and quite frankly understanding his importance to our football team and recognizing that he can make an impact in those areas. I'm proud of his development in the sense that he recognizes he has a talent that can help our football team.
Q. And with both Ademilola twins, I know Mike Elston has said Justin is going to surprise some people at some point --
BRIAN KELLY: He's really close. He's really close.
Q. What do you feel like has them in the position to do that as freshmen, both of them, each of them individually?
BRIAN KELLY: It's similar to Lou's question in that they have really good football instincts. Sometimes it takes a little while to get a sense and feel when the tight end blocks down, you're not running upfield, but you're squeezing and feeling the tackle, and just instincts. They've got really good football instincts. So you can play off that a lot quicker, and you can accelerate the teaching and the learning when they come in with some really good football instincts.
Transcript by ASAP Sports