With the honeymoon officially over after last week’s loss to Navy, Brian Kelly met with the assembled media.
Here’s a slice of what he said:
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Some thoughs:
I’m feeling pretty good about my injury diagnosis of Ian Williams, with the “no surgery” call part in my one paragraph of medical analysis. Again, I’m no doctor, but from what I’ve heard an MCL tear and MCL sprain are practically the same thing, depending on the severity.
Here are Kelly’s official comments on the injury:
“Well, it seems to be the worst-kept secret in America. Ian Williams will be out four to six weeks, and we will be able to modify any of those comments based upon when we can get him moving around again. It’s an injury that some come back quicker than others. We’ll be able to get a better feel for it probably next week after we get it to calm down and go from there.”
When asked if it was a sprain or tear, Kelly was crystal clear.
“Sprain,” he said. “No surgery.”
I guess that would qualify as the lone ray of sunshine from the Navy game.
*****
The Kona Schwenke era begins at Notre Dame, one season ahead of schedule.
I don’t think anybody expected to have Kona Schwenke make his way into the two-deep this season, and the best thing for him would’ve been saving a year of eligibility. But the injury to Williams, and a general lack of depth reshuffled the entire defensive front’s depth chart, with Sean Cwynar moving into the starting nose guard slot.
“Sean’s been a consistent performer in there when Ian came out of the game so, we feel good about Shaun stepping in for that position,” Kelly said. “The next player, really, for us, is Hafis, and Sean can’t play the whole game. He doesn’t have the work volume to do that yet. So Hafis and Sean, together, can get that done. So that then meant who becomes the next guy in at the defensive end, and we want to take a good look at Kona. So Kona would be that next defensive end, and whether it’s for Ethan or whether it’s for Kap, who knows. We’ll kind of see how that plays out this week and then Emeka, we believe Emeka can give us some reps, as well.”
Kelly was clear why he was willing to burn a year of eligibility in the ninth week of the season.
“Got to help us win games. This is still about winning, and we are in that mode where we have got to win some more games obviously,” Kelly said. “You know, getting to a Bowl game is very important, so this isn’t one of those, let’s ride out the streak here. We need help.”
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One of the better points made during the press conference was that of the “growing pains” experienced not just on the offensive side of the ball, but on the defensive side as well.
“There’s a lot of ways to look at it. It’s not like we were in the top 20 in defense last year,” Kelly said. “So I think if we had a national caliber-defense last year, we probably would be a little bit concerned right now. I think we have made great strides defensively, even putting in a new scheme with the 3-4 defense. So I think it’s perspective. My perspective is, and I see it every day, is that we have made very good progress defensively and I think we’ll continue to make that as we go forward.”
While many don’t like to hear this and feel like it’s Kelly making excuses, there’s a widely known old axiom that mentions chicken salad and... well -- other chicken stuff, and I think that’s probably befitting of the situation here.
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Besides the achievement of just reaching the postseason, one of the biggest reasons why the Irish want to get to a bowl game is the extended practice time.
“It’s an important goal. We need those 15 practices,” Kelly said. “They are very important to the development of our program and moving forward. Those 15 practices are important. So, you know, getting to a Bowl game allows you more time with your players. I need more time with our guys. Our coaches need more time with our players. So, yeah, it’s very important to us, and it’s important to the development of our program.”
One of the reasons I thought the Irish should’ve gone to a bowl game last year was to get the extra practices needed to develop the youth on this roster, though the logistics of that would’ve been an absolute nightmare, with most of Kelly’s staff coaching at Cincinnati, and quarterback Dayne Crist less than three months into rehabbing his ACL.