Today was Notre Dame media day, and with it Brian Kelly addressed the media contingent concerning the be here before you know it 2012 season. The Irish open up in Ireland; taking on Navy in Dublin in the Emerald Isle Classic. The Irish still don’t have a quarterback set, and have a bit of a Hobson’s Choice type situation going on there.
They also have a brutal schedule this season, making it a challenge for them to reach 8 victories for the third straight year.
on the QB situation:
The quarterbacks, when you start preparing for Navy on Monday, do you have to then have the idea in mind of exactly how you’re going to operate with the quarterback situation?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think we’re getting closer to that. Certainly as we start to prepare, it’s not going to be a 50/50 proposition. We’re moving closer towards that as we move into actually working against Navy.
Q. How soon do Andrew and Everett and Gunner, how soon do they need to know from you this is how it’s going to go?
COACH KELLY: I think probably Monday we sit down and talk about how the reps are going to be distributed. But there’s still so much learning, so it wouldn’t be as cut and dry as say, here’s my No. 1. The door will still be open for growth during that week, but we’ll start to separate the reps a little bit.
Special teams can provide the small point differential that ha been the difference in the games ND hasn’t been able to close lately. Interesting Q & A to think about:
Q. Building on that, is there a position group or unit where I guess since last season you’ve seen enough improvement where you think that it’s kind of an added strength or a new strength from last year?
COACH KELLY: I think our punter and kicker. You know, I really like ?? I think you saw in the end of the year Ben Turk starting to come on with some consistency. He had a great spring. He’s been terrific, and I don’t want to jinx him, but Coach Diaco is working with the punters directly, and he’s done a great job of getting them to a level of consistency. I really think that unit ?? there were some questions in my mind, but watching them and special teams, they’ve done a really nice job. And that means obviously you’re talking about Tausch and you’re talking about Brindza and you’re talking about Turk. Those three guys I’ve seen really great movement in terms of their development, even over the last couple of weeks.
I also love the big picture questions, don’t you?
Q. Big picture in your career, you I’m sure have stood up at media days where you knew exactly what you had, where you knew what your team’s identity was going to be, and I’m sure you had years where you didn’t know what you had and you weren’t going to know until the first game. Where does this team fit into that mix in terms of how much you still need to learn and how much you already know?
COACH KELLY: I think we’re really good up the middle, to use a baseball term, and I mean on both sides of the line. We’re going to be able to physically handle ourselves in the trenches against anybody in the country. That’s a good feeling right away that you know you’re going to go out there and be able to handle yourselves physically.
We need to continue to develop on the perimeter, both on offense and defense. I think that development will go a long way in deciding how successful we are. And then certainly the quarterback position. If I was to leave you with one thing, I think we’re really strong up front, and I think that in itself gives you a chance to win all your games.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, MSN and Fox Sports
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