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Photo Illustration by Blair Chemidlin and Pat Coveney page 2 The Observer N IRISH INSIDER Friday, April 23, 2010 COMMENTARY Don’t expect to see whole new system just yet The helmets will still be gold. first half, but may need to tone The weather will still be awful. it down for the second. The field will probably still be The defense won’t be given 100 yards. full rein during the game, That’s about all that will be either. That’s for good reason, familiar as it would be irresponsible to Saturday as allow an important offensive fans get their player to get hurt in a game first glimpse that doesn’t matter. But it of the new means that sophomore line- Notre Dame backer Manti Te’o, one of the team, with a more entertaining players on different the defense, probably won’t be coach on making any massive hits, nor the sidelines Laura Myers will any others. and a dif- Junior quarterback Dayne ferent quar- Sports Writer Crist, recovering from off-sea- terback son knee surgery, will play but leading the has admitted that he is not at huddle. 100 percent. Junior tight end Supporters will head to the Kyle Rudolph, recovering from Blue-Gold Game looking for off-season shoulder injury, will proof that change is not always be used sparingly. a bad thing. The same goes for junior line- But at this point, the Irish backer Darius Fleming and have nothing to prove. sophomore wide receiver Theo It would be a stretch to say Riddick, both of whom will be that Irish coach Brian Kelly has important figures in the fall. installed a new offense and In short, the spring game will defense for the scrimmage. A be absent much of the excite- more accurate statement is that ment a real game would bring, SARAH O’CONNOR/The Observer Kelly has begun to install his in terms of interesting game Wide receiver Tai-ler Jones, an early enrollee, is one of many Irish looking to use Saturday’s Blue-Gold new scheme and the players plans, big tackles and star play- Game to impress Brian Kelly and the new coaching staff one more time before spring practice ends. have begun to learn it. The ers. entire breadth of the new sys- Through 13 practices, the Taylor Dever and junior Trevor need preseason camp. We’re have something to prove. But tems certainly won’t be seen same words have sprung up Robinson should play right going to need all our time.” not yet. Saturday. The coaches seem over and over. “Evaluation,” the guard or right tackle. Or Kelly was speaking specifical- The Blue-Gold Game will cer- hopeful that a majority of the coaches said. “Competition,” whether freshman receiver Tai- ly about the wide receiver situ- tainly be exciting for anyone new offense will be installed in the players translated. ler Jones is ready to line up ation, but his message applies looking to see Brian Kelly in time for Purdue in September. And that won’t change by opposite Michael Floyd. It might to every aspect of Notre Dame’s action. But it won’t hold any Most of the spring practices Saturday. The glorified practice allow them to answer 1,000 team as it stands. indication of what this team is were spent getting players used will certainly showcase some of other little questions. The Irish need all the time capable of. to the speed of practice and Notre Dame’s excellent talent, Or it could answer nothing at they can get, and it seems clear And it shouldn’t. teaching them about expecta- but it will really be nothing all. from the spring that Kelly will tions. “Progress” meant being more than a couple extra hours In his last scheduled inter- use that time wisely. After a The views expressed in this able to go all-out for 75 active of film for the coaches to dis- view before the Blue-Gold summer of hard conditioning column are those of the author, minutes of a two-hour practice. sect leading into the summer Game, Kelly had little to say and a grueling camp in August, and not necessarily those of On Saturday, it will be the session. about a depth chart. when the new recruits have The Observer. same; the team will be expected It might allow them to make a “We need more time,” he been added and more of an Contact Laura Myers at to go full-speed through the decision on whether senior said. “We need all summer, we offense installed, the team will [email protected] MEETS parachute with the carter twins legends 4/24 10 PM no cover charge. ND/SMC/HC ID required Friday, April 23, 2010 The Observer N IRISH INSIDER page 3 ‘They’re here for Notre Dame’ Kelly emphasizes physical, mental toughness as he prepares players for roles on field, in community is, in his core.” By MATT GAMBER And on the field, that’s what Sports Writer Kelly demands from his players — and it permeates through When Brian Kelly was first every aspect of his program, introduced as Notre Dame’s beginning with recruiting and football coach on Dec. 11, he ending with the finished product said he wanted “tough gentle- on Saturdays in the fall. men” who would represent the “There are tenants that must University on and off the field. be followed for you to win, and Irish players in need of an the easiest way to describe what example should look no further those are would be mental and than their head coach. physical toughness,” Kelly told In his first four months on The Observer in an exclusive campus, Kelly has made a interview April 15. “If you don’t noticeable effort to increase his have mental and physical tough- program’s visibility within the ness, then you probably won’t be Notre Dame and South Bend a guy I can count on.” communities. To do so, he’s spo- ken at a variety of campus Finding the ‘RKG’ events, ranging from home bas- There were once questions ketball games to the Junior about whether the University’s Parents Weekend Closing tough academic standards inhib- Brunch to a student government ited Notre Dame’s ability to meeting earlier this week. attract top-flight talent, but for- VANESSA GEMPIS/The Observer Kelly said his program will be mer coach Charlie Weis dis- Irish coach Brian Kelly has begun to instill into his team a sense of pride in the University of “a part of what makes Notre missed those by consistently Notre Dame and in each other during the past month of spring practices. Dame special,” something he reigning in highly touted players said may not have entirely been from around the nation. intrinsic values we need.” “We need to care about Our meetings that he’d be tough on the case before he arrived. So Still, Kelly said he hears other “Notre Dame is not meant for Lady. We need to care about all his players, but he also he’s made an effort to be schools “negative-recruit” his everybody, and when they rate Notre Dame,” Kelly said. “When knows there’s a line — he even “approachable” and has empha- program by telling high school high school students, they don’t I got here, our guys thought invoked the old “beating a dead sized that his players will be players they’ll have to work too give you four or five stars about themselves first, then horse” cliché. true student-athletes and mem- hard to stay academically eligi- because you fit the model of their family, then their team- “You’ve got to be careful about bers of the University communi- ble at Notre Dame. Notre Dame,” Kelly said. mates, then Notre Dame. I want what you’re getting on a guy for, ty. “If we’re going to lose kids “Somebody’s got to have more them to flip that. They’re here and you’ve got to know that That’s the gentleman: Always that way, I’m glad we’re losing than four or five stars to impress for Notre Dame, first and fore- what you’re demanding is going in a suit, looking and sounding them,” Kelly said. “I want guys us because we want more than most, and that’s really the para- to help them be a better football more like a polished, personable that understand if you come that.” digm shift for our players. player,” Kelly said. “I don’t need politician than a hard-nosed here, you’re going to get a pow- To assess those attributes, They’ve got to care about each to hear, ‘well, he doesn’t handle coaching veteran charged with erful brand in Notre Dame on Kelly said his staff must develop other and understand why criticism.’ I’m not talking about resurrecting the country’s most your degree. But on the flip side, a relationship with not only the they’re here.” criticism, I’m talking about storied football program. you’ve got to work for it. That’s recruit himself, but also with his That means both on and off doing it the right way. Walk toward the LaBar the kind of guy I want: some- family and coaches, through the field. Kelly said that begin- “We’re talking about attention Practice Complex, though, and body who recognizes the value campus visits and consistent ning next fall, the entire team to detail and skill development.

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