Brian Kelly Notre Dame Spring ’15 Presser Notes 4/11

Brian Kelly met with the media following practice #11 for Notre Dame spring football 2015.  The WatchND team has the entire video for your viewing pleasure, but in case you don’t have the 25 minutes to watch, here are some highlights as the Irish move forward towards next weekend’s Blue and Gold game.

• Kelly said that Jarrett Grace makes the coaching staff’s job easier because of how mature he is and how good of a leader he is on the field.
• Kelly said that there are times that Malik Zaire checks into things at times that the coaching staff doesn’t quite understand.  He said that this isn’t the case with Everett Golson – when he checks out of something they know exactly what he’s thinking.
• Golson ran the ball with his “shoulder pads down” today which is what the staff has asked him to do.  Kelly noted that there were 2 turnovers today but he didn’t say which quarterback was responsible specifically although it seemed implied they were from Golson.
• Golson has had his best spring since he has been at Notre Dame and is fully engaged.  Kelly said that if he didn’t think Golson was planning on being at Notre Dame for the long haul he wouldn’t have given Golson all of the reps he has this spring because it would have been a waste of time.
• Joe Schmidt will be back in action on 7 on 7 drills on Monday.  Schmidt will be able to be in non-contact situations and is cleared for all non-contact drills.  He was cleared today.
• Kelly said that Tarean Folston has had a good spring but that he needs to continue to work on consistency.
• Mike Sanford is still learning the offense and getting familiar with the things that Kelly likes and the things that he likes to be called.  Kelly still didn’t say who will be calling plays this season, but said that there is a lot of consensus in the room.
• Kelly said that if he were Folston or Greg Bryant he would be feeling some pressure from CJ Prosise.  Prosise outran the defense on Saturday.
• Max Redfield and Elijah Shumate are much more vocal this spring and have a better grasp of the defense.  They both are playing with more confidence this spring and both are capable of playing at a high level.
• When asked about the pass rush, Brian Kelly said there won’t be a single guy who has 15 sacks and leads the country, but they feel they have a combination of guys who will be able to provide that rush.  Kelly mentioned that Isaac Rochell, Romeo Okwara, and Andrew Trumbetti have all improved in their pass rushing from last year.
• Will Fuller and Greg Bryant are the punt returners as of now.  Deshone Kizer has been the holder with Scott Daly as the snapper on field goals.
• Todd Lyght wasn’t at practice today after attending a memorial service for his mother who passed away in February.
• This spring has been the most physical with the most 11 on 11, 1’s vs. 1’s that Notre Dame has had during the entire Brian Kelly Era.  Kelly has talked all spring about how the depth has allowed them to be more physical in practice this spring.
• Kelly said that the staff thinks that CJ Prosise is a player that they can give the ball 10 times a game to.  Kelly said very early on Prosise had a sense to press the hole inside-out instead of bouncing outside right away.  He said that Prosise hits the hole north-south and they think he will continue to improve as a running back.