Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 39 Ideally, Lea can be kept on during that time, although history has generally shown that not to be the case at Notre Dame when it comes to defensive coordinators, whose football life spans here generally don't ex- ceed three or four years. Equally significant is handing the keys on offense over to Tommy Rees, who might still be regarded as a coaching neophyte when compared to other more proven options who were available in January such as Joe Moor- head (hired at Oregon) and Mark Helfrich, a former head coach at Oregon and recent NFL coordinator. With Rees and longtime Kelly right-hand man/offensive line coach Jeff Quinn, the popular perception is he is leaning and bank- ing on familiarity and comfort rather than a voice from the outside. They will be moves that might be looked back on with either much admiration or admonition. Interestingly, over the past 35 years, the four biggest "name" defensive coordinator hires at Notre Dame were Foge Fazio, Gary Darnell, Jon Tenuta and Brian VanGorder. None worked out even close to the desired effect. (Elko not included because it was only a one-year stopover.) Conversely, less veteran or low-key fig- ures such as Barry Alvarez, Rick Minter, Diaco and especially Lea have worked out quite well. Either way, these hires will play a crucial hand in defining the home stretch Segment 4 Era. Much has been achieved over 10 years, but the ultimate prize still awaits. Ultimately, fair or unfair, because of the historical standards, the Notre Dame head coach is judged by one measure: Either he won a national title or he didn't. Nothing ages better than the former, no matter how long it might take. ✦ Fluid Situations As Summer Preparations Begin Notre Dame's summer plan sets up for an on-time start to the season. • Players began voluntary workouts June 22 after moving into the on-campus Morris Inn two weeks earlier. It will serve as their summer home. • Workouts and meetings with coaches commence in mid-July as part of a six-week preseason plan. • Padded, full-team practices begin Aug. 7, Brian Kelly said in an hour-long Zoom meeting with reporters June 9. • The fall semester starts Aug. 10, two weeks earlier than normal, and ends by Thanksgiving with no fall break in between. Players and staff will be administered COVID-19 tests every two weeks in the summer and once per week during the season. Everyone was first tested June 19. Provided there are no disruptions, Notre Dame is on track to play Navy on Labor Day weekend. But there are other less concrete, more unknown situations surrounding the summer and 2020 season. Kelly took time to address those in his June media session as well. • As of mid-June, the NCAA had imposed the recruiting dead period through July 31. It has been extended several times and could be again. Kelly is planning as if Notre Dame will not be able to host recruits perhaps all the way through the season and the end of 2020. "We get into August and everyone is wrapped up in camp," Kelly said. "It doesn't seem to me that's going to be reasonable [for visits]. "We seem to think with all the precautions being taken relative to your own campus and testing, how is it you can fly in a family that hasn't been tested, put them up on campus at your hotel and let them walk around campus freely?" Notre Dame had a March official visit weekend wiped out when the dead period was first instituted, and a June one axed when it was extended. Every school has suffered and no 2021 recruits have been able to take official visits. Football games are popular official visit weekends, but it's unclear if recruits will be allowed as part of reduced capacity stadiums. "If it does happen, we'll be excited about it, but we'll be cautious and have to ask a lot of questions," Kelly said. "We're operating as if you will not visit this campus this recruiting season, and we have to take our campus to you." Before any padded practices start, college football teams will do a couple weeks of walk-throughs. While that means a delay in sorting out some key position battles and on-field questions, it's designed to help make up for lost time during the spring, which in Notre Dame's case was 14 of the 15 slated spring practices. "The summer access is two weeks of walk-throughs," Kelly said. "You're not going to be able to see much in those. That's going to be all the installation you couldn't get in during the spring." The potential emergence of breakout players like Drew White or Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah last year will have to wait until later in the summer. "You're going to have to get into football-related activities and movement," Kelly said. "We'll be a few weeks into camp before we'll be able to make those kind of football impact decisions." Finally, Notre Dame has established a "unity council" in light of the racial injustice discussions and demonstra - tions that have taken place around the country. "That will start within our program to address any racial inequities we have," Kelly said. "They will then look toward campus as to where we can be a change-mover, then local government in terms of where we can be effective, and national government. You have to talk about it and be heard, but it has to be actionable. "It will not just be players. It will have some support staff as well. We'll have a cross-section. Males, females, black, white, Hispanic." — Patrick Engel The Notre Dame coaching staff is working under the assumption it may not be able to host recruits on campus throughout the remainder of 2020. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER