Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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"The biggest thing for me is the mentality," he said. "If you feel like you're leg weary, you're going to be leg weary — you're just going to go out there and be lackadaisical." Kelly agreed that Brindza's reps would have to be monitored closely if he ends up doing both jobs this year. Ideally for the Irish, one of his competitors will beat him out in camp and simplify his tasks. Veterans Lead Returner Competition The pecking order on the other end of the special teams equation was also unsettled after two weeks of practice in August. Notre Dame mixed some familiar faces with talented freshmen at both return positions that have underperformed in recent years. (Last season, the Irish ranked No. 116 out of 120 teams in punt returns, totaling 46 yards on 21 returns with a long of 11 yards. Notre Dame finished 93rd in the country in kickoff returns, averaging 19.6 yards per runback.) Senior TJ Jones was first in line to catch punts during practice. He doesn't provide the element of unknown potential like some of the Irish freshmen, but Jones has steady hands and has proven to be slippery enough to avoid tacklers on offense in his first three seasons as a wide receiver. On one return in camp, Jones attacked a bouncing punt aggressively, something that has been absent from the returners during the last two seasons. Junior Amir Carlisle, who looked to be the frontrunner at the position this spring, and freshmen running backs Greg Bryant and Tarean Folston also took turns hauling in punts during practice. Junior George Atkinson III remains at the forefront as a kick returner for the third straight season. Atkinson returned two kicks for touchdowns as a freshman, but dropped off some last year. He brought back 22 kicks and averaged 20 yards per return with a long of 39 yards as a sophomore. If he remains as the top Irish running back this year, the coaching staff may pull him off the kick return team to avoid the increased possibility of an injury. In that case, Carlisle may take over returning those kicks. Junior Cam McDaniel and the freshmen Bryant and Folston are also options. Kick return might be a good place to allow the two rookies to get used to the speed of the college game and prepare them to increase the amount of work they can put in on offense. None of those position battles will have too much significance, though, if the 10 players in front of them don't do a better job of blocking this season. Kelly spent several days this summer at the New England Patriots training camp, where he says he learned a little bit more about special teams from head coach Bill Belichick. Last year's median national punt return average was 8.81 yards per attempt. Notre Dame averaged 2.19 yards a runback. Kelly's goal is to add somewhere between five and eight yards per punt return, which would launch the Irish from the very bottom of the national rankings in that category to at least the middle of the pack. ✦