Nichols is number nineteen | by Pat

Recruiting took another quick turn when the second Kentucky player offered a scholarship to Notre Dame committed instantly and became the 19th member of the 2010 class. Offensive tackle Tate Nichols visited campus this past weekend and as soon as ND offered, he accepted.

"I didn't have a scholarship offer going up there," Nichols said. "They had a version of my highlight film that wasn't high quality. I brought another one, from my senior year. They really liked it and they offered me a scholarship.

"... I'm a Catholic kid and it's closer to home. It's a perfect fit."

The closer to home bit references Stanford, where Nichols previously had been committed. He had backed away slightly the past few weeks from his Cardinal verbal and decided to make a clean break this weekend. That makes Nichols the third recruit this year to switch from Stanford to Notre Dame (Badger, Jones).

Two of the three main recruiting sites considered Nichols a tight end recruit and as such didn't slot him very high. Both Scout and Rivals tabbed Nichols as a 2-star tight end recruit with Scout considering him the 52nd overall TE. ESPN did list him as an offensive lineman, giving him 3-stars, a 75 grade rating, and a ranking as the 101st overall offensive tackle recruit.

Update: These were his rankings on Saturday when he committed. Today, Tuesday morning, Scout has changed him to a 3-star offensive line prospect and the #71 overall OT recruit.

It seems the confusion over his future college position was somewhat warranted when the recruiting sites added him to their databases a year ago. Nichols originally committed to Stanford in March of 2009 as a 6'7" 230 pounder that was told he would get a shot at TE. Now though he's pushing 275 according to self reports and Tate has acknowledged that his future lies at offensive tackle. As he started to back away from his Stanford verbal, Illinois, North Carolina State, and Michigan started increase communications. Part of the increase in weight is due to Tate just continuing to grow. Part of it though appears to be the result of working with the same personal trainer that Kyle Rudolph (who is also distantly related to Nichols) used to get ready for college. Here's Tate's senior highlight tape that mainly still shows him as a tight end, but includes some examples of him blocking.

Despite the recent added weight, Nichols will still be a bit of a project as most of his time in high school was spent at tight end or defensive end. ND needed more linemen in this class though so assuming the overall OL numbers stay high (and ND is able to haul in at least another tackle prospect like Matt James) Nichols should have time to work in the weight room and learn how to play offensive tackle. College is filled with high school tight ends who turn into solid offensive tackles, so he certainly has a good shot at turning into a dependable player with a lot of hard work and solid coaching.

Speaking of overall numbers, here is how the offensive line depth chart breaks down for the 2010 season. With a new staff, new line coach, and plenty of guys who haven't seen much action, I'm not going to separate tackles from guards here. After spring ball we should have a better idea of where the new staff will slot them. Remember that players with an asterisk have an additional year of eligibility.

5th Year	Senior	Junior	Sophomore	Freshman
Dan Wenger	Andrew Nuss*	Trevor Robinson	Chris Watt*	Christian Lombard
Chris Stewart	Matt Romine*	Lane Clelland*	Zach Martin*	Tate Nichols
	Taylor Dever*	Braxston Cave*	Alex Bullard*
		Mike Golic*

Running down the list | by Pat

The whole staff, minus new father Mike Elston, assembled for a press conference and interview session this past Friday. Und.com has the collection of transcripts and videos which are worth your time. It's a nice way to put some faces and voices with names.

Since the coaching staff names were doled out over time, I figure it might be handy to put all the names, faces, and interesting bio bits in one spot. For each coach I'll list the standard name, rank and serial number and then will throw in how many years they have spent coaching the position they will coach for ND, which BCS conference schools they have previously worked at (including work as a GA), if they have served as a recruiting coordinator in the past, and any somewhat interesting bit of trivia about them.

Offense

Name: Charley Molnar
Position: Offensive Coordinator & Quarterbacks
Years Coaching this position: 10 (OC) & 16 (QB)
BCS teams: Virginia (2 years), Cincinnati (3 years)
Recruiting coordinator experience: Yes
Trivia bit: Worked with both Alford and Denbrock at earlier coaching stops

Name: Ed Warinner
Position: Offensive Line Coach
Years Coaching this position: 16
BCS teams: MSU (2), Kansas (5), Illinois (2)
Recruiting coordinator experience: Yes
Trivia bit: Only coach who hasn't worked with Kelly yet.

Name: Tim Hinton
Position: Running Backs
Years Coaching this position: 5
BCS teams: Ohio State (2), Cincinnati (6)
Recruiting coordinator experience: Yes
Trivia bit: Coached LBs for Kelly at UC before switching back to RBs

Name: Tony Alford
Position: Wide Receivers
Years Coaching this position: 0
BCS teams: Washington (1), Iowa State (9), Louisville (2)
Recruiting coordinator experience: No
Trivia bit: His brother Aaron coaches for next year opponent Utah

Name: Mike Denbrock
Position: Tight Ends
Years Coaching this position: 10
BCS teams: Stanford (1), ND (3), Washington (4)
Recruiting coordinator experience: No
Trivia bit: Was both OC and DC for Brian Kelly at Grand Valley State

Name: Michael Painter
Position: Offensive Graduate Assistant
Previously at: Central Michigan, Cincinnati
Trivia bit: Played under Larry Kehres in college, the winningest active coach in football

DEFENSE

Name: Bob Diaco
Position: Defensive coordinator & Inside Linebackers
Years Coaching this position: 2
BCS teams: Iowa (2), Virginia (3), Cincinnati (1)
Recruiting coordinator experience: No
Trivia bit: Butkus Award Semi-finalist as LB at Iowa

Name: Mike Elston
Position: Defensive Line & Special Teams Coordinator
Years Coaching this position: 6
BCS teams: Michigan (2), Cincinnati (3)
Recruiting coordinator experience: Yes
Trivia bit: 3 for 3 in having UC player win Big East Special Teams Player of the Year

Name: Kerry Cooks
Position: Outside Linebackers
Years Coaching this position: 0
BCS teams: Kansas St. (1), Minnesota (1), Wisconsin (3)
Recruiting coordinator experience: No
Trivia bit: College teammate of Bob Diaco at Iowa

Name: Chuck Martin
Position: Defensive Backs
Years Coaching this position: 6
BCS teams: N/A
Recruiting coordinator experience: No
Trivia bit: 74-7 record as head coach at Grand Valley State

Name: Bill Brechin
Position: Defensive Graduate Assistant
Previously at: Grand Valley State
Trivia Bit: Went 40-1 as a player under Martin

Strength and Conditioning Staff

Name: Paul Longo
Position: Strength and Conditioning Coach
Years Coaching this position: 22
BCS teams: Wisconsin (1), Iowa (15), Cincinnati (3)
Trivia bit: Was strength coach at Iowa for Cooks and Diaco

Name: Jacob Flint
Position: Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
Years Coaching this position: 3
BCS teams: Cincinnati (3)
Trivia bit: Is a nationally ranked competitive weightlifter

Name: Lorenzo Guess
Position: Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach
Years Coaching this position: 5
BCS teams: South Florida (1), Cincinnati (2)
Trivia bit: Was the Tight Ends coach at Cincinnati last season


So, what do you think? It's definitely a younger staff than the one under Charlie. And if you watch the interviews they do seem to be more personable across the board. Most of them come from similar midwest oriented backgrounds, so at least from a recruiting perspective, ND might get a higher percentage of midwest players in the next few classes. (It took Polian a few classes until he started to reel in California players with regularity) As for their coaching ability, well, we'll all have to wait and see how the team looks next fall.

Spring prep | by Pat

As we look towards Signing Day, the official roster got a bit bigger with the addition of some early enrollees, announced 5th year players, the return of a former preferred walk-on, and a QB recruit who will stick with ND.

On Tuesday, the largest group of early enrollee football players ever all settled into their dorms and started classes. Here's the list of the five early enrollees who will add much needed depth in spring practice, especially at QB and safety.

• Tommy Rees, QB
• Chris Badger, S
• Spencer Boyd, CB
• Lo Wood, CB
• Tai-ler Jones, WR

Rees will get most of the attention this spring, if only because enrolling early effectively places him as the only healthy scholarship quarterback on the roster. Much has been made of Kelly's ability to plug and play at the QB position and that will certainly get tested this spring. Badger will also add needed depth to a safety 2-deep that will need to be completely rebuilt with the graduation of Kyle McCarthy, Sergio Brown, Rey Herring, and Leonard Gordon. Depending on what the staff does with Harrison Smith, Badger could find himself already a second-stringer at strong safety. The other three players get a bit more of a luxury of learning from some seasoned vets at corner and receiver.

Speaking of vets, four 5th year players have been annouced, per Blue and Gold Illustrated. As expected, Darrin Walls, Chris Stewart, and Dan Wenger all return. Barry Gallup is also back, which is a bit of a surprise, but he was a dependable returner last year on special teams and will provide more receiver depth for ND's new spread offense. Leonard Gordon, mentioned above, would have added needed depth at safety, but apparently is moving on with his life and career. As noted in the article, Bobby Burger may still be back, which personally would be a good thing for the TE depth chart and special teams.

Finally, Crist and Rees will have some company this spring as Nate Montana is back at ND after spending the fall at Pasadena City College. Frankly, his numbers last fall were pretty mediocre, but experience is experience. He'll have his work cut out for him this spring, but ND needs the numbers at this point.

Help will arrive in the fall when QB recruit Andrew Hendrix enrolls. He backed away from ND briefly when Charlie was fired and recently took a trip down to Florida at Urban's request which had ND considering other options, but once back in Ohio decided to stick with his original commitment. He wrote a blog post for Irish Sports Daily that explain the last few weeks for him, so follow the link to see what he has to say.

Don't Drive Angry. | by Pat

If case you were wondering why I called ND's hiring process "lengthy" and "labyrinthine" in the past few posts, well, the South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen sheds some light on why...

A fully-staffed staff | by Pat

Though perhaps over-shadowed a bit by Lane Kiffin becoming Public Enemy #1 in the state of Tennessee, the rest of the ND coaching staff was finally officially announced yesterday evening after all members had made their way through ND's labyrinthine hiring process. First up was the new strength coach and his assistants. As expected, Paul Longo will be the new strength coach at Notre Dame and resume the position he held under Brian Kelly at UC and Central Michigan.

One constant of any coaching regime change are the stories about how the new strength coach will be a shock to the system of the players and he's a clear improvement over the last guy. We heard it when Mickey Marotti (who came to ND from Cincinnati as well) took over under Davie. We heard it when Ruben Mendoza took over from Mickey, and I suspect we'll hear a lot of it now that Longo is in place.

We wouldn't want to disappoint in the predictable praise of the new strength coach though, so here's a story on Longo's methods at UC and the dreaded Longo Beach (which is apparently included in your admission to Camp Kelly). It certainly sounds like Longo will is more apt to include Marotti-esque strongman-type competitions than the more traditional weight room work used by Mendoza.

Every year, the Bearcats' strength coach sets up an 80-yard long, 10-foot wide sand pit inside of Nippert Stadium for players to run sprints through. It saves some pounding on the knees, but of course sand is harder to run on than turf. He dubs his creation "Longo Beach."

"I'm sure our guys would tell you that it's no day at the beach," Longo says with a laugh.

Longo also constructs a 30-yard hill inside Nippert during the summer for sprint work. Peek inside some of the Cincinnati summer workouts, and you might think you're watching a taping of the "World's Strongest Man" competition. Longo has been known to ask his guys to lift unusual items like tires and perform what's called a Farmer's Walk, where you walk while carrying a heavy object in each hand.

"Our linemen will carry up to 200 pounds in each hand for 100 yards," Longo said. "Don't you think that's a better test of strength than a bench press?"

Mendoza reportedly also attempted to set up the hill for sprint work, but for whatever reason it never happened. It will be interesting to see if Longo does get his hill set up for this winter's conditioning work.

One difference between Longo and the former strength coaches is how Kelly views the role of ND's latest strength coach. Perhaps Davie, Ty, and Charlie had similar thoughts, but as far as I know they never mentioned the strength coach as a de facto third coordinator for the football team.

"Paul joins our offensive and defensive coordinators as leaders of this program. He cuts across the traditional strength and conditioning coach mold because he builds relationships with all players and coaches and serves as a leader, not just in the weight room, but throughout the program.

Paul is a critical addition to our program because, arguably, no coach will have more contact with our players throughout the whole year than our strength and conditioning coach. Based on his track record and what I have personally witnessed, I can't wait to see how he'll make our team better moving forward."

With Kelly reportedly inviting members of the media to witness some of the Camp Kelly/Longo Beach activities (whereI'm sure Brian Hamilton will be checking all available sheds for shunned players), I suspect there will be plenty more written about Longo's methods at ND.

Rounding out the day of announcements were the final three additions to the coaching staff that included one surprise twist. Former Kansas OC Ed Warinner, former Wisconsin DB coach Kerry Cooks, and former UC RB coach Tim Hinton were named ND's newest OL, OLB, and RB coaches respectively. The big twist is that ND already had a running backs coach in Tony Alford, but he will move over to coach wide receivers while Hinton takes on the same role he had for the Bearcats. Alford has never coached receivers before, but Kelly has been known to shuffle assistants around and that's what he's doing here.

"Over the past few weeks, I've gotten to know Tony Alford well while traveling with him on the recruiting trail," Kelly said. "I can tell that he is a terrific teacher and coach, so that is why I've asked him to become our wide receivers coach. This move will not only help Tony but also benefit the program. For Tony, this is a great professional development opportunity and gives him a chance to really increase his coaching acumen. For the team, this takes a great coach and puts him at a position where he will have multiple players on the field at one time in our offense. I have complete confidence in Tony's ability to coach our wide receivers and plan to see a similar impact with them as he had with the running backs last year."

Ed Warninner will slide into one of the most critical spots on the staff, not only because the OL coach is the most important coach on any college staff (in my opinion), but also because he is the replacement for Kelly's long-time OL coach and right hand man Jeff Quinn, who took the head coaching job at Buffalo. Ed's resume shows success running the football (Army, Illinois), and passing (Kansas) as well as experience and familiarity with the spread offense. But as the only member of the new ND coaching staff that has never worked with Brian Kelly before -- Cooks explains he technically worked for Kelly for 7 days -- Ed's transition will be interesting to watch.

Now that the whole staff has been named, they will be busy hitting the road recruiting for the next few weeks to try and finalize the 2010 recruiting class. Kelly hasn't officially assigned the special teams and recruiting coordinator titles to any of the assistant's yet, but it is assumed that DL coach Mike Elston will get the special teams title while Hinton will become the recruiting coordinator, a position he held at Cincinnati.

Wildcard! | by Pat

While Kelly has tweeted that the staff has been finalized and will be announced shortly, the big news of the weekend was Pete Carroll calling Wildcard and jumping for the NFL (where a game against Kansas City will feature its own subplot.) The news was shocking, coming the weekend before early enrollee candidates were scheduled to head to Southern Cal to start spring semester classes. There are theories why he left when he did and the threat of a looming NCAA crackdown does seem fairly likely.

So what is the impact for ND Football? Aside from the bummer that ND will never get a chance to beat a Pete Carroll led Southern Cal team, there should be a few short term and long term impacts for ND. First off is recruiting, as we're in the middle of the craziest recruiting month of the year. With the changes at the top at ND, FSU, and Southern Cal, the flip flopping going on at Florida, and the likely coordinator shuffling that may hit schools many other top programs, it's got to be a rough time for recruits who watch the coaches that built relationships with them bolt for other programs.

Kelly has hit the road pretty hard so far recruiting-wise, so if you are looking for insights into how he will fare as a recruiter at ND over the next few years, keep an eye on if he's able to swing any prospects ND's way that may have been leaning elsewhere a week or so ago. The true judge of his recruiting abilities will come in the next class when he has a full calendar year to attract recruits, but if he's going to be an excellent recruiter we should start to see some evidence of that in the next few weeks.

Taking a bit longer view, odds are good that Southern Cal won't be able to keep up the pace they have held for the past few years. They are still loaded with more talent than any team in the country not named Florida or Alabama, but the aura of dominance is gone. The time is now for Kelly to tilt the balance of the rivalry back in ND's favor after 8 painful years. The idea of moral victories like 2005, or to some extent 2009, need to be purged from the collective ND fanbase. I'm pretty sure that Kelly won't flinch from reminders of Lou's long successful run against the Trojans, so I don't feel bad in setting my expectations for future ND-Southern Cal games very high. Some might scoff at yet another internet ND fan expecting multiple victories against Southern Cal from his new coach months before he takes the field for the first time, but the biggest obstacle to the BCS has conviently been removed for Kelly. There is no shame or hubris in expecting him to take advantage.

Taking an even bigger step back, there is that other favorite off-season topic that should be considered: scheduling. As it should be, the Trojans will remain on the schedule indefinitely. But if the NCAA decides to actually do something for once and administers more than a slap on the wrist to our favorite west coast team, it's possible that the entire program could take a step backwards for a few years while they wrestle with reduced scholarships and/or post-season bans. That means one less boost to ND's strength of schedule in coming years. And if Michigan continues to stumble under Rodriquez the next few years or fails to replace him with a top notch coach, they also could experience a few more years of mediocrity. As ND continues to schedule within the framework of the 7-4-1 model, there needs to be a push to include top competition in future schedules. This isn't a cry for ND to play Top 10 teams on a weekly basis. It is just a recognition that assuming Southern Cal will be there to boost the strength of schedule might not be an option in the coming years and ND should schedule accordingly.

The Next Wave | by Pat

Two more former Kelly assistants were officially announced yesterday evening with both being given a coordinator title.

University of Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly has filled two key leadership positions on his coaching staff as Bob Diaco has been hired as defensive coordinator and Charley Molnar has been hired as offensive coordinator, Kelly announced Thursday.

Both Diaco and Molnar were on Kelly's coaching staff at Cincinnati in 2009. Diaco was the Bearcats' defensive coordinator and coached the inside linebackers while Molnar served as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach.

With the Irish, Diaco will also work with the inside linebackers and Molnar will coach the quarterbacks.

As with the previous hires, both will hit the road right away to visit recruits. Checking their bios, you can see that Diaco will only be in his second year as a defensive coordinator while Molnar has a bit more experience, coordinating offenses at Illinois State, Kent State, and Indiana State. Of course, when it comes to the offense Brian Kelly will be the one who calls the plays, much like Charlie called them the past few years. No doubt with his relative inexperience and the play of Cincinnati's defense down the stretch this past season, Diaco will be the one assistant coach that ND fans give the least benefit of the doubt. (On the other hand, in his one year as UC's DC he changed the defensive system from 4-3 to 3-4, had to replace 10 starters from the 2008 team, and still managed to field a defense that finished the year 44th in scoring defense.)

Taking a look at their released statements (Diaco, Molnar) here's the executive summary of how they plan on running ND's defense and offense, respectively.

Diaco on defense:
"It bases out of a 3-4. We've created a system where we go quickly from three down linemen to four down linemen and we can get that reduced player wherever we need it to be. That's part of the overall package. One great thing about basing out of a 3-4 is the element that the offense doesn't know where the fourth rusher will be coming from. A fourth rusher can come from the field. A fourth rusher can come from the boundary. A fourth rusher can come from the inside."

Molnar on offense:
"We'll run a spread offense that operates at a high tempo. Our players will play hard and they will be fundamentally sound. We'll be a team that will push the ball down the field through the vertical passing game but also understand the importance of having an effective rushing attack."

More to come on all of the assistants once the full staff is announced and we get a clear picture of exactly where all the position, recruiting, and special teams responsibilities fall.

Most Hands on Board | by Pat

A few of ND's newest assistant coaches managed to finally come out the other end of ND's lengthy hiring process and can now hit the road to help Brian Kelly and Tony Alford recruit. Mike Denbrock, Mike Elston, and Chuck Martin were officially announced late tonight on und.com.

Mike Denbrock, who coached at ND under Willingham, will coach tight ends at ND. Mike Elston, who coached the defensive line at Cincinnati will coach the same at ND while Chuck Martin, the former head coach of Grand Valley State, will assume the title of defensive backs coach. We'll dig a bit deeper into their bios in a later post, but it is worth noting that all three have a history of working with Kelly already. Denbrock was a GA at Grand Valley State with Kelly when both were starting out as coaches. Elston has coached under Kelly the past six years at Central Michigan and Cincinnati and Chuck Martin was hired by Kelly at Grand Valley State and worked with him for four years before taking over for Kelly when Kelly left for Central Michigan.

The three coaches have a collection of quotes up on und.com (Denbrock, Elston, Martin). Most of it is standard fare about being excited to be at their new job, but out of the ordinary, at least for ND, is the last Q&A, which clearly is designed for curious recruits (and anxious ND fans) about how the ND staff was approaching recruiting over the next few crucial weeks.

Mike Elston -- On his immediate plans:

"Right now the plan is to hit the road and tie up some loose ends on a few of the committed players. I might potentially follow some leads on kids we had evaluated at Cincinnati but were either out of our reach or have recently reopened their recruiting based on other coaching changes or different circumstances. So I imagine I'll be flying around the country here a little bit towards the end of the week and potentially ending up in San Antonio on Saturday."

Chuck Martin -- On what the immediate future brings:

"I'm going to head right to Chicago to visit a couple kids we have committed and a couple other kids we are working on trying to get committed. I think we are going to take inventory in the middle of the week. Obviously it is a mad scramble with all of the other staff members coming on board and I think we'll stay in constant communication with Coach Kelly on where we're going next. I'm prepared to go anywhere next. I know Chicago is my main area but I'm willing to go recruit anywhere in the country to find players for Notre Dame."

Mike Denbrock -- On his immediate plans:

"I'm already out on the road recruiting. I'm looking to make sure that some of the commitments Notre Dame has received remain committed while also working to get as many of the young men as we have targeted. I'm looking forward to sitting down with them and their families and present the mission of the University of Notre Dame. I want to make sure those young men know there is a quality education and a tremendous football program waiting for them to be a part of."

Someone is paying attention to the concerns of recruits (and anxious ND fans) over how Kelly and his new staff would adapt to national recruiting and when they would get out to visit with recruits. Not only did they include the above quotes and mentions of flying all over the country, but the intro paragraph of the official announcement itself brings up national recruiting right away.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -Three coaches with a combined 43 years of coaching experience with backgrounds in recruiting California, Florida and Chicago have been added to the University of Notre Dame football coaching staff, Irish head coach Brian Kelly announced Tuesday.

The coaches will be judged as recruiters by their results, but I like how they and the ND athletic department are being a bit more obvious about bringing up their experience and eagerness to recruit. With other teams using the past few weeks to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of ND recruits, the new Irish coaches will need that eagerness.

Checking the cupboard | by Pat

While we wait for the coaching staff to be officially announced during this week, let's take a look at the players they will be coaching. When Brian Kelly was hired, he stated that he didn't care what he didn't have on the depth chart, he only cared what he did have. This post will take a look at those players he does have, specifically the ones that got some playing time in 2009.

One thing to keep in mind while reading through these tables is that with every coaching staff turnover, players can be moved around positions and even swap sides of the ball. There may or may not be a lot of that this spring, but it wouldn't be surprising to see at least a few players shuffling positions. Also, the decision on 5th year players hasn't been made yet. We'll list all of the eligible candidates, but not all of them might be back and the percentages will change accordingly. As always, credit to Lou Somogyi for publishing the final playing time numbers. If you want to look through the numbers of past years, here are the links to the 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 seasons.

Overall, 62% of the minutes played last season return for Kelly. The breakdown is 53% of the offense and 73% of the defense.

Legend: PT = playing time; ST Appr. = special teams appearances; all players are listed by academic class, not eligibility.


Quarterback - 11%

Last year was the season to get Dayne Crist some meaningful minutes, especially as Clausen proved more and more NFL ready. Unfortunately in his first extended chance to lead the team, Crist tore his ACL. Meanwhile, Clausen continued to play so well that an early jump to the NFL was the smart business decision. So now not only will ND field an inexperienced quarterback next season, the only scholarship QB on the roster in the spring (except for likely early enrollee Tommy Rees) will be coming off a major knee injury. Obviously how Kelly manages the lack of healthy scholarship quarterbacks as he tries to install his QB-centric offense will be the major story of the spring. Former high school quarterbacks John Goodman, Dan McCarthy or E.J. Banks might see some time in the shotgun depending on Crist's rehab schedule as will some of the unheralded walk-ons (or heralded in the case of Nate Montana, who is likely to return to campus).

Quarterback	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Clausen	1	339
Crist (jr)	0	38
Sharpley	12	4
Total		377
Returning		38
Difference		(343)
Return Pct.		11%

Running Back - 94%

Arguably the deepest and most talented position on the team next season, nearly everyone is back for 2010. Aside from the 94% of the playing time coming back, 98% of the running back carries return with only James Aldridge (6 carries) moving on. With the names set, the biggest question will be how they adapt to the new spread offense. It seems like a natural fit for guys like Armando Allen and Theo Riddick, but might be a bit more of an adjustment for the bigger backs like Robert Hughes and Jonas Gray. In the case of Hughes though, he is a solid receiver out of the backfield, which should help. And don't forget about Cierre Wood, the most highly touted member of last year's recruiting class who preserved a year of eligibility in 2009. What the spread means for fullbacks like Bobby Burger, who played more of an H-back role in '09, and Steve Paskorz, who didn't play much of all, remains to be seen.

Running Back	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Allen (sr)	4	183
Hughes (sr)	1	118
Burger (5th)	83	54
Riddick (so)	60	44
Gray (jr)	36	36
Aldridge	4	27
Paskorz (sr)	11	3
Total		465
Returning		438
Difference		(27)
Return Pct.		94%

Offensive Line - 43%

Would it concern you to note that heading into the 2007 season ND had nearly an identical percentage of returning playing time on the OL (42%)? The depth is certainly better this time around -- only 3 juniors or older heading into '07 compared to 9 for '10 -- but there is still going to be inexperience on the line. Nowhere will be less experienced than at the tackle spots. Both starting tackles are gone and there have been no heirs apparent stepping up over the past few seasons. Matt Romine is the closest thing to one, but he has battled injuries the past few seasons. It's going to be an interesting position battle this spring for the starting tackle spots. With the need for quicker, more agile linemen in the spread, the winners of the open tackle jobs will probably be the guys that do the best job slimming back down from bulking up the past year during what will undoubtedly be a pretty rough off-season conditioning cycle.

Offensive Line	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Olsen	65	370
Young	66	364
Duncan	64	360
Stewart (5th)	65	338
Robinson (jr)	44	269
Wenger (5th)	1	116
Romine (sr)	8	33
Nuss (sr)	154	30
Dever (sr)	6	14
Golic (jr)	3	7
Cave (jr)	110	7
Clelland (jr)	16	7
Total		1908
Returning		814
Difference		(1094)
Return Pct.		43%

Wide Receiver- 49%

Losing Golden Tate to the NFL takes away not only a special talent but a big chunk of ND's wide receiver experience. Having Michael Floyd come back does ease the transition, but at least one of the younger receivers will need to step up and take on a bigger role, especially with the frequency that Kelly uses 4 receiver formations. If Goodman moves over to quarterback in the spring that will make this position group even less experienced. It would be ideal if Duval Kamara could have a Mo Stovall-like senior campaign and help out the younger receivers like Walker, Evans, and Toma who should all see a jump in responsibility.

Wide Receiver	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Tate	67	336
Kamara (sr)	0	192
Floyd (jr)	1	172
Parris	2	146
Goodman (jr)	9	54
Evans (so)	1	33
Walker (jr)	1	10
Toma (so)	1	5
West	1	3
Gallup (5th)	54	1
Total		952
Returning		470
Difference		(482)
Return Pct.		49%

Tight End - 100%

It's always nice to see a three digit number next to a position group. Assuming they can successfully avoid ResLife until the fall, ND will have a solid depth chart of experienced and young tight ends. Kyle Rudolph will be a big part of the offense and will probably split out wide even more than he did this past season. Ragone will be two years removed from his knee injury and hopefully the speed he flashed running down a WSU cornerback will be all the way back. One note about Tyler Eifert is that he should preserve a year of eligibility despite playing since he hurt his back and should be eligible for a medical redshirt. Jake Golic and incoming freshman Alex Welch will round out the depth chart that features a number of quicker pass-catching tight ends that should easily adapt to the spread offense.

Tight End	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Rudolph (jr)	57	276
Ragone (sr)	101	159
Eifert (so)	0	3
Total		438
Returning		438
Difference		(0)
Return Pct.		100%

Defensive Line - 86%

With a new defensive staff and a shift (back) to a 3-4 defense, expect plenty of moving and shuffling of players as the new coaches try to fill out a new depth chart. The good news is that there are a lot of players returning who saw action in '09. A front three of Ethan Johnson, Ian Williams, and Kapron Lewis-Moore seems like a pretty natural fit for a 3-4 line, but players like Darius Fleming and Kerry Neal, both possible candidates to move to an outside linebacker spot, are also pretty experienced and can help provide the pass rush that ND will absolutely need next season. And don't forget the rest of the promising junior class including Sean Cwynar, who looked impressive in limited action, Hafis Williams, and Brandon Newman. Add in Emeka Nwankwo, Tyler Stockton and the incoming freshmen, including the massive Louis Nix and there appears to be some solid numbers along the defensive line.

Defensive Line	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Johnson (jr)	51	263
Lewis-Moore (jr)	51	227
I. Williams (sr)	38	204
Fleming (jr)	60	202
Ryan	31	174
Neal (sr)	19	174
Cwynar (jr)	12	51
Mullen (5th)	22	12
H. Williams (jr)	2	9
Richardson	2	8
Wade (5th)	0	2
Total		1326
Returning		1144
Difference		(182)
Return Pct.		86%

Linebacker - 88%

The announcement that Manti Te'o would return was fantastic news for a linebacking corp that struggled at times but still has plenty of young talent. The number of Smith 'backers will be cut in half but the two that played the most are the ones that will be back. Brian Smith will be on the field for sure while the coaches will have to figure out if Harrison is in fact a linebacker, where he ended 2009, or safety, where he started 2009. If you asked which player on the team played more special teams than anyone else, most might not realize it was actually Steve Filer. Now in the second half of his college career, hopefully the talented athlete will see the field more on defense. With the 3-4 defense there will be an additional linebacker on the field and there will be plenty of candidates like Poz, McDonald, Calabrese, Fox, and the incoming freshmen. It would be great to see one or more of them stepping up to help solidify the depth at the inside linebacker spots.

Linebacker	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
B.Smith (sr)	66	313
H. Smith (sr)	127	300
Te'o (so)	63	238
T. Smith	29	81
S. Smith	209	45
Filer (jr)	213	22
Posluszny (jr)	89	6
McDonald (jr)	180	4
Total		1009
Returning		883
Difference		(126)
Return Pct.		88%

Safety - 2%

Here's the position that will worry fans the most (and whose depth chart should be emailed to any and all safety recruits). Assuming that Harrison Smith sticks at linebacker, which is just a guess at this point, the safety position will be as inexperienced as any position since we started doing this 5 years ago. The top returning player is the promising Zeke Motta who, like Harrison, might be more linebacker than safety, especially after a full off-season in the weight room. That leaves career backup Leonard Gordon, Danny McCarthy, and their 3 minutes of playing time last year. It wouldn't be surprising to see one of the bigger returning corners like Jamoris Slaugher move to safety to help out the depth. Regardless of what happens, the safety spot will be the least experienced position on the field next season.

Safeties	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
K. McCarthy	124	303
Brown	148	249
Herring	86	15
Motta (so)	166	11
Gordon (5th)	137	2
D. McCarthy (jr)	15	1
Total		581
Returning		14
Difference		(567)
Return Pct.		2%

Cornerback - 88%

One of the biggest disappointments of the 2009 season was the play of the veteran cornerbacks. Whether it was scheme or coaching or both, the talent and experience was much greater than what the play on the field showed. Getting this unit back to where they should be will be one of the major tasks of ND's new defensive backs coach. The good news is that there are four very capable and experienced corners including multi-year starters in Darrin Walls and Robert Blanton. Gary Gray and Jamoris Slaughter add a more physical element to the position, but one of the two could find himself moved to safety to help out with depth there.

Cornerbacks	ST Appr.	PT Minutes
Walls (5th)	51	222
Blanton (jr)	35	167
Gray (sr)	38	153
McNeil	49	79
Slaughter (jr)	110	34
Anello	141	1
Total		656
Returning		576
Difference		(80)
Return Pct.		88%

Happy New Year! | by Pat

For those watching the Cincinnati-Florida Sugar Bowl, here's your open thread. It would be a stretch to try and take too much much from the game, but UC's defensive coordinator Bob Diaco will likely be ND's defensive coordinator as soon as the game ends, so the style of defense is worth paying attention to. Likewise, UC's spread offense is more or less what we should expect next season so fell free to note what you like and don't like.

And speaking of future ND assistant coaches, it sounds like Kelly has hired his new offensive line coach. Again, it probably won't be until next week for anything official, but it sounds like former Kansas assistant Ed Warinner is ND's next line coach.

Meet the Presses | by Pat

When Kelly was hired, I had three major concerns about how he would make the transition. Over the years he has clearly proven that he knows how to coach, but I wondered about how he would assemble a coaching staff to compete against some of the best staffs in the country, how he would recruit nationally against those same elite recruiters, and how he would handle the media on a much bigger stage. We'll find out about the staff soon enough and should start to get some clues as to the recruiting question in the next month. In the meantime, Kelly is already showing a willingness to work with the media and not treat them as the enemy, as Charlie did on occasion when he started the job. Kelly's still in the easy honeymoon phase, but more and more it looks like he will embrace rather than shrink from the bigger media spotlight.

Along those lines, Kelly recently had two sit downs with the press in order to expand upon what he said during his intro presser Q&A. Interestingly, Kelly had two separate meetings because he met with the, for lack of a better term, "internet media" separate from the more traditional print journalists. It was an interesting move that is one of the reasons I feel better about how he will handle the media. The online guys, in this case writers from Irish Sports Daily, Irish Illustrated, Blue and Gold Illustrated, and IrishEyes, have a different level of interaction with a coaching staff than the print folk like Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune, Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, Tony Krausz of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, and Tom Coyne, the local AP writer, and Kelly appears to recognize that.

Case in point, Kelly was surprisingly blunt about promising more "inside scoop" for the online set assuming they stick to the facts, leave the rumor-mongering at the door, and keep the best interests of the program in mind. The later point was one I am a bit surprised he made as the criticism of recruiting sites as de facto program propaganda sites is one reason they have had a long road to universal print media and athletic department acceptance. None of the ND sites have ever fit that description in my opinion, but you can't help but notice it periodically when reading updates and interviews from other programs. Here's an excerpt of the multi-question back and forth between Kelly and the recruiting-centric online ND sites.

Lou Holtz had a famous saying for us, ‘Abuse leads to restriction.’ I think the competitive nature of the media market feeds that demand to know.

KELLY: “Like I said, I think I kind of outlined that I know what your job is. But if it becomes misinformation. If it becomes, ‘I’m throwing out names and I have no idea,’ then it makes it hard for me to navigate that. If you want access to players, if you like to do things that others can’t do then we’re going to have to carve that out. We can treat you like the newspaper journalist or you could get some access that others can’t get. I think we’ll have to sit down and our next time we get together after this will be, ‘What’s the rules of engagement? How are we going to do this?’ I can tell you how we did BearcatInsider at Cincinnati. When I got there no one (cared) about Cincinnati football, OK? So we were just happy as heck to have anybody write something about us. So it was, ‘Come on. You can stand on the sideline with me. You can call a play.’

“But as we moved and developed our program then we had some things that we wanted to stay away from. Reporting injuries, well I don’t like to report injuries if it gives the other team a tactical advantage. You guys are Notre Dame guys. Moms and dads of Notre Dame players. There are some things and ground rules that we’ll have to talk about. At the end of the day, we want to win. You want Notre Dame to win. If Notre Dame wins and it’s positive, you get more people. Again, Brian [Hardin] will probably lead that kind of initiative because we haven’t even crafted it yet. This is kind of, I just wanted to meet you guys and give you guys some access and talk about some of the things that were on the agenda for where we are. We’ll have to sit down and say, ‘OK, here’s how we’re going to do this stuff.’ Then maybe you guys after this conversation can kind of communicate your wants, desires, concerns. Then we can craft back some of those things. I’d say at the end of the day, Lou Holtz is a pretty smart guy.”

Contrast Kelly's "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" approach with the more draconian measures Charlie took that put some of the press on the defensive from the start and led in some cases to articles that appeared to take frustrations with Charlie out on the players.

Moving on from the higher level analysis of the meeting, Kelly gave out more information about his recruiting philosophies, his approach towards assistant coaches and recruiting, the health of Dayne Crist, and other topics. Irish Sports Daily has a two-part transcript (I and II) of the entire first sitdown that is well worth reading. Here are some choice quotes:

On getting to know the current players on the roster:

Yeah, oh yeah. There’s no question that everybody starts with clearly a chance to make me notice you. I’ve always said, ‘It’s not my job to notice you. It’s your job to make me notice you.’ I think that’s what spring will be about. But before we get into spring ball, January, February and March will be, to a large degree, the three most important months as we get ready for the fall. It won’t be April, it won’t be spring ball. Spring ball will be secondary to what happens in January, February and March.”

On his plans for Crist this spring:

We’ll push him to be very, very active in non-contact drills. And for me, in the spring, will be a good part of spring practice. We’ll contact too, but he’ll be able to do quite a bit. He’ll leave the spring with a good base and knowledge of the offense.”

On moving from regional to national recruiting:

“You can’t recruit everybody. You can’t be in every state and every city so you’ve got to look at some areas that will allow you the opportunity to evaluate early and often and I think we know that those are spring ball states. I think you also want to be able to evaluate demographics, where there are more potential Division I players. I think it’s pretty traditional. If you were a regional school like the University of Cincinnati, well where are you going to go? You’re going to go into those areas that have traditionally had strong programs. Football is important in certain areas in Ohio and it’s not so much in others. We’ll do the same thing in the other states.”

On redshirting:

“I think positionally it does make a difference because you’re right, I think mentally and physically, there are a couple of positions, in particular the offensive line, that would from my experience mean that they’re probably not ready to play as true freshmen. But I’ve always believed, I’d rather play true freshmen. I’ve always had better success with a young man that plays relative to time management than if he redshirts. It’s just worked for me philosophically.

On how he recruits players:

"I have a different ways of categorizing as we get to know each other better. I recruit power, big skill and skill. Those are the three categories, those are the only three categories I operate out of. Power, big skill and skill.

"A power player fits a profile for us. Generally, those are your linemen. Big skill is profiling out, if I could take 20 guys who are tough gentlemen who fit the profile at Notre Dame academically and were 6-foot-4, 215 or 220 pounds, you’d never be able to track whose playing where. ‘I don’t know, he just takes a bunch of those guys and some play defensive end, some play tight end, some are safeties, big skill.

"Then skill obviously have a specific, specific, strength in that particular area, be it ball skills, throwing it, kicking it and I’ve always operated out of those three categories wherever I’ve been and will continue to operate out of those three categories here at Notre Dame.

Moving to his meet with the print media, Kelly talked more about current players, the plans he has for the defense, and the soon to be mentioned everywhere "Camp Kelly". There doesn't appear to be a full transcript out there, but Hamilton provided most of the Q&A here and here. Again, here are some of the more interesting bits.

On what defense ND will run:

"We''ll operate and begin our defense as a 3-4 base, but we're extremely flexible within that 3-4 structure. It allows you to be in both those fronts without substituting personnel. I felt over the past four or five years as a head coach, increasingly, running multiple personnel packages on defense took away from our skill development."

On recruiting the more high profile national recruits:

"I think they're all 18- to 21-year-olds. Some of them are a little bit taller and maybe their 40 (yard dash) time is a little bit better. But they all have the same wants, needs and desires. They have to have their priorities in order. If they're more interested in their future recording contracts or what car they drive, then regardless of where they are, they're probably not going to be the right kind of guy for me."

On taking transfer players to round out the depth chart:

"I'm not really interested in it. We don't have to look toward that avenue."

On the off-season, pre-spring ball "Camp Kelly" workouts:

"I gauge the commitment level. I need to find out how important it is for you to be a football player at Notre Dame. It really is an opportunity for our players to show what I think are some of the most important principles of playing winning football: physical and mental toughness. It's a tough game for tough guys. And I can tell you this: it has absolutely no football applicability relative to skill development. You go into it knowing you won't leave here a better receiver, but you'll leave a tougher wide receiver."

All in all, Kelly was pretty open and clearly has a plan for what he likes and does not like. Sure each new coach sounds great in his first few weeks with plans to make the team tougher, faster, and more disciplined, but when you are reading coachspeak it's always better to get more detailed answers "we're running a 3-4; we don't need transfers; recruiting will focus on national power programs early" than more vague generalities. At the very least, it gives us some specifics to look for in the coming months while we all impatiently wait for the next season to kick off.