Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/531612
BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 79 and he's thought to be too good a player to have such a low number. Is there any thought of moving him to strongside defensive end in some situations where he can maybe utilize his hands and explosiveness off the ball, plus experience? Kelly: "We've got some things in store for Sheldon. One of the things for Sheldon com- ing back is we were going to make sure we were going to put him in positions that we felt like could benefit him. We think he fits better in some of the things he's doing rela- tive to his skill set. He's pretty excited about what we're doing. I don't want to get into too much detail, but I think you're right in your assumptions that he's a skilled player. He can probably benefit from being in a dif- ferent position as it relates to getting to the quarterback. "He has a really good feel for the run game from that inside [three-technique] po- sition; not so much for the pass game. We've learned that about him, and we're going to put him in a position where we feel we can utilize him the best." Blue & Gold Illustrated: When you have a player like cornerback KeiVarae Russell who misses a full season, are there things as a coaching staff you can do to get him back up to speed, whether it's in the organized team activities (OTAs) in the summer, or the start of training camp in August? Kelly: "Absolutely. It's starting right now. KeiVarae is a very verbal guy, and I think people have been talking about his workouts that's he's posted online. Well, all of our other players did, too — they have a lot of pride and wanted to show him they've been working out, too. So KeiVarae was talking about his workouts, and we had our 350s [sprints] here the other day. Our guys were ready for him, and they beat KeiVarae. Max Redfield beat him by about 40 yards. "There's a competitiveness that he brings, which is great because it raises all tides. That's what we need. We needed that kind of internal competitiveness, and there was a lot of talking amongst the group. Just having the freshman corners here, it changed everything because they're all quick and they're all ath- letic. Bringing a KeiVarae Russell back and immediately being with the group changes the competitive atmosphere out there. It helps him and it helps everybody else." Blue & Gold Illustrated: Does the return of KeiVarae plus the emergence of Cole Luke at corner last year change the coverage structure, or give you more confidence to play more aggressive coverage because of more ready and able bodies along the front seven? Kelly: "What it really means is the inside guy, the third corner that comes out on to the field, that's where we get a lot more flexibil- ity. Whoever became the nickel last year, we couldn't do much with him. It also allows us to get more aggressive with the safeties and linebackers. "It doesn't really change what we did on the outside. It allows us a lot more flexibility inside out to do some things that we couldn't do last year. We have more moving pieces; we have more guys that can come in and fulfill specific roles. It's going to allow us to really keep our defense fresh throughout the entire year. We've got the depth necessary now in a lot of the areas. "We're probably still one more year in recruiting safeties. That's an area where we have a little bit of concern there, but ev- erywhere else we have the kind of depth necessary where we can do a lot of different things." Blue & Gold Illustrated: Do you believe VanGorder's NFL defense was almost too complex last year where you had to scale back, or was it more a product of having too much youth playing at the end of the season? Kelly: "In retrospect, I think two things were a problem. One was tempo with the communication. If the opposing offense went fast, the inability to get lined up was a problem for us. We've fixed that. We're now in a situation where we've addressed how we'll line up and don't have guys moving around at the snap or looking at the sideline, and we can stay in position. "The other is getting great communi- cation on the back end. It was a little less about complicated and more about just being smarter in our communication. It wasn't that the defense was so wholly difficult to under- stand; it was how it was communicated. "We had to chop down some words, clean up some nomenclature, get it communicated a little more effectively so our guys could get lined up in a quicker fashion. There were no communication issues with the 2012 defense because we had two calls." Blue & Gold Illustrated: That 2012 de- fense was as good as any here in the last 35 years, but when VanGorder came in you said you wanted to take it to the next level. How do you do that, because it's difficult to top the 10 points per game that defense allowed per game during the 2012 regular season. What do you define as "next level?" Kelly: "The defense we played in 2012 was exposed in the championship game [a 42-14 loss to Alabama]. It was all based upon that premise. Everything that we've done has been based upon getting to the national championship game — and then what we had to do at this program to get to the next level. One answer was more depth in our football program. We were woefully inadequate with depth on the offensive line, defensive line and then a few other position groups. We weren't there yet. "Defensively, we were too vanilla. If you had any time to scout us — as I said, we had two [defensive] calls, we had issues, we had no situational substitution groups. So that was the next level. We were going to change personnel groups and get into all those things anyways, and we were starting to evolve to it when we got to Brian. That's the next level for us defensively, and having the ability and depth to do it." Blue & Gold Illustrated: At Mike line- backer with Nyles Morgan, Joe Schmidt and Jarrett Grace, is it almost a three-for-two deal where you move one to Will and rotate all of them? Kelly: "That's still evolving. Te'von Co- ney is the guy that has probably changed most of it. He's been extremely impressive, and he's a guy that has some ability to play Mike and Will, too. He's 238-240 pounds, a big, physical kid. It's hard to answer that question right now. "All I can say is those three plus Coney is what we have to deal with right now, and that's a good problem." Blue & Gold Illustrated: At least three or four games every year come down to special teams performance. With a new punter and kicker, does it alter your approach to what you do on defense and offense? Kelly: "From an offensive standpoint, we can help special teams a great deal. We're going to go with a freshman kicker in Justin Yoon. When the game is on the line, you would hope that you could lean a little more on some veteran guys on offense. If the num- bers are right, instead of settling for the field goal, maybe you go for it. "As it relates to the punt game, we think Tyler Newsome is an extremely talented player. Now, his ability to be precise in pin- ning, we may be more in 'go for it' zones between the 30 and 39 going in instead of pooch punting. In those two areas we lean on the offense a little bit more." ✦ "We have more moving pieces; we have more guys that can come in and fulfill specific roles. It's going to allow us to really keep our defense fresh throughout the entire year. We've got the depth necessary now in a lot of the areas." KELLY