Weis was in a pretty good mood when he addressed the media Saturday after practice which should be seen as a pretty good sign for Notre Dame fans.
- This kickers have taken terms in practice having the best day. “Nate was disappoint in his feidlgs because after the first kick he missed the next two and then drills one right now the middle. So he was disappointed there whereas on the kicksoffs, he kicked off the best today. Brandon, whose been kicking off the best, was the best kicking field goals today. Ryan was kind of behind both of those guys today.”
- Speaking of the kickers, I left out of my last blog that Whitaker was 3 for 5 (missed 30 and 33 yarders) , Walker was 3 for 5 (missed 35 and 45 yarders) , and Burkhart was 0-4 (and did not get a final attempt). Looks like it could be another year of question marks at kicker for Notre Dame.
- On the quarterbacks first week of practice – “We’ve had different quarterbacks doing different things on different days.” “They’ve been ok. They haven’t been great, they haven’t been terrible, they’ve been ok.”
- “We have through Monday before we completed that initial process. We still have Saturday night installation, Sunday installation, and Monday morning installation. For that matter we also have installation on Monday afternoon. It’s going to have to be another three days before we’ve gotten enough in where now we can start tuning it up and deciding what we’re gonna try to run.”
- On what he has learned about his team after a week of practice: “I think that we’ll be good enough to win, that’s what I’ve learned.”
- Weis again made mention that he is very pleased with the wide receivers so far: “I’ve been saying all along, everyone’s saying this is a weakness. I really like the wide receiver position. I really like them.”
- DJ Hord caught the ball very well on Saturday and Weis was asked if he has been doing that all week: “More towards the end of the week than the beginning of the week. We’ve put some pressure on guys like DJ, and Richard, and Barry and those guys who have been here because you have these two young guys that you haven’t even seen practice yet. So if you’re trying to get people reps and you want to see the two young guys, you say ‘Hey, we don’t have time to wait around here. Either you’re in the mix or the ship has sailed.’ ”
- On some of the older guys at receiver feeling the pressure from the freshmen: “They’re feeling the pressure not just from the top down, but from the bottom up.”
- On the quality of the running backs: “We’ve got a lot of running backs that can play.”
- “There’s five halfbacks you can put on the field and you could win with any of the five of them. Now, obviously you can’t play all five running backs; but I think it’s a little too early to etch in stone that Travis is going to get every snap, or hey that Armando Allen is fast let’s give him every snap, or everywhere in between. That Robert Hughes is 237, let’s give him every snap. I haven’t even mentioned James and Junior. I’d say the running back position is the one position where right now im not worrying about too much.”
- On whether or not freshman will be playing this year: “There will be freshman on the field in the first game and it won’t be in mop up time, that I can tell ya. And it won’t be one, it’ll be multiples.”
- On why the defense ran a lap in the middle of the practice: “We had ten men on the field, I’d prefer we have eleven.”
- Weis feels as though he has enough depth at the corner position to be able to match up against any personnel package that gets thrown at them: “The first year here I wouldn’t play more than two or three guys at corner. You’d go into games wanting to play nickel and dime and trying to get into packages where you’re trying to matchup and you really in good faith couldn’t do it because you felt like you were putting lesser players out there when you did it.”
- When asked about who has stood out once the pads have come on there were only two names Charlie mentioned individually: “Toryan(Smith) and Joe (Brockington) at inside linebacker.”
- Weis wants to create position flexibility at the inside linebacker position in case Maurice Crum were to get hurt. Weis prefers having a veteran guy running the show in terms of calling the defensive plays at the position so they want Smith and Brockington to learn both inside positions. My take here is that Smtih is going to start and Weis wants Brockington to be able to backup both Smith and Crum so that if Crum went down Smith wouldn’t have to worry about calling he defenses.
- On what he knows about his team that he didn’t know before this week: “We’ve got a lot more players that can play. A lot more players that can play in a game.”
- “Corwin and I are so much on the same page, as far as our upbringing that when we talk, it’s like we’ve been talking for two decades”
- On the development of Kerry Neal and Brian Smith: “When we brought those guys in there and put them at the outside linebackers, we saw guys that were 240ish, strong as oxes, with a lot of athleticism. In this defense, one of the things you need are those guys that can stand up at the point when they are running right at you, rush the passer, and stll have the athletic ability to get into coverage. Both of those have the athleticism to do that.”
- On the difference between Neal and Brian Smith: “Kerry was always with his hand on the ground and Brian was inside and outside as a linebacker when he was in high. Both of those guys are definitely on the depth chart.”
- When asked about Jimmy Clausen’s ability to throw the ball deep, something he did not do in Saturday’s practice: “Can he throw the ball deep? I think we’ll have to wait until September 1 to find that out.” Clausen was the only quarterback to not throw the ball downfield Saturday.
- Weis discussed how he and Ron Powlus have been coaching the quarterbacks mentioning that he takes whoever is running the offense at the time one on one while Powlus has the rest of the group.
- On why he had the freshman singing the alma mater after practice: “It was one of those games where at the end of the game we were singing the alma mater and some of the guys were standing there either not singing or not paying attention. I just felt like that’s not what Notre Dame is about.”
