Year Two Off and Running

Brian Kelly’s second year as Notre Dame’s Head Coach started this past weekend with the first fall practices and of course, press conferences.  Kelly remained grounded concerning his team’s ranking in the pre-season coaches poll.  He attributes the ranking to how they finished last year and the fact that they are Notre Dame.  Going into his second year, he admits they can get to football right off the bat as opposed to learning about his players and having his players learn about him as they started off last year at this time.  The coaches know what to expect from their players and the players know what to expect from the coaches.

For the first few days, players will be wearing helmets, adding shoulder pads in a couple of days and full pads on Wednesday in accordance to NCAA rules.  After the start of th team’s first practice, the skies opened up and the rain fell, soaking players and coaches.  Players appeared vocal and excited to get started.  Kelly will use the next two weeks for conditioning and evaluation, the following two weeks will be used for specific preparation for South Florida.

Brian Kelly did speak to players, positions and playing time.  In several areas, the word depth was used in a positive way, thanks in part to returning players, red-shirting players and freshman that could have immediate impact.  One of the areas in which depth is a concern is at running back.  After Senior Jonas Gray and Sophomore Cierra Wood, it gets pretty thin at the tailback position.

Although Kelly spoke a lot about players and roles, he did not tip his hat to where he stands on the $64,000 question, who will be the starting quarterback.  My take is that Dayne Crist will start, Tommy Rees will be the solid back up and there will be designed plays and situations for both Everett Golson and Andrew Hendrix for their athletic abilities.