Notre Dame Football: Quick takeaways from Brian Kelly’s pre-camp press conference
By Ben Belden
Notre Dame football’s Head Coach Brian Kelly took to the podium ahead of fall camp to discuss his team’s progress and what to keep an eye on.
Football is back. The Notre Dame football team kicks off its fall camp with its first practice on Sunday at Culver Academy. Friday, Brian Kelly took the podium to discuss where he sees this Notre Dame football team and what he will be keeping an eye on as his team starts practicing in preparation for the 2019 season.
One of the major points that stuck out from Brian Kelly’s press conference was the feeling that the Irish have had tremendous internal leadership this summer. Asked about captains, Kelly said that there would be “more than a few” by the time the Irish start the season, which was a different tune from what he said in the spring.
Kelly went on to say that captains likely will be announced shortly after the team arrives back on campus. Specifically, Kelly mentioned Ian Book, who seems to have a new command of the locker room.
Overall, however, Kelly mentioned that he was very pleased with the internal leadership and accountability that he has seen from his team during the summer.
Without a doubt, another major point of emphasis in Kelly’s conference the development of depth, especially on the defensive side of the football. He mentioned that there will be competition to see who will play behind starting defensive tackles Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and Kurt Hinish, as well as a desire to find capable backups behind starting safeties Alohi Gillman and Jalen Elliott.
Kelly seems to feel confident that the Irish have the right players to step in to bigger roles and the the right veterans to improve from a season ago.
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Finally, in a somewhat telling portion of his press conference, Kelly was asked what the biggest thing he’s learned about himself as he heads into his 10th season in South Bend. His answer should be music to the ears of Irish fans: “Ten years anywhere is a journey. You have to be able to learn, keep working on yourself, keep pushing the envelope and never get satisfied. We got a taste of what it’s like to get to the playoffs. I wanna win the darn thing.”