Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Under the Dome Meanwhile, freshmen Greg Bryant and Tar‑ ean Folston might pos‑ sess the higher ceilings, but they have a much steeper learning curve in the college game. Like any coach, Kelly is seeking a "bellcow," which former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz (1986-96) once de‑ fined as a back who can be entrusted to "carry the ball 20 times on Sat‑ urday and not report to practice Monday with a doctor, lawyer or agent." Carlisle had the most yards (68, 45 on the first carry) and the most catches (two for five yards) against Temple, McDaniel the most car‑ ries (12 for 65 yards), At‑ kinson (eight rushes for 34 yards) the lone scor‑ ing run, and Bryant and Folston did the mop-up work in the closing min‑ utes. The most irrelevant question about the run‑ ning back spot after the first week is, "Who will start?" The far more per‑ tinent issue to Kelly is, "Who can finish?" "We played five be‑ cause we're still trying to find out who that guy is," Kelly said. "We're not at that point." They might not be for a while yet, either. Mi‑ nus Riddick and Wood, there is a void in experi‑ ence, including receiv‑ ing and blocking. "Last year we knew when we were going to close out the game, Theo Riddick was in the ball game — and we're not there yet," Kelly said. "We're still searching for that. Everybody is going to have an opportunity to show that that's [his] job. "All of them are very versatile. They all can 25 years in business Best selection & Prices 1-800-925-2500 www.NotreDameTickets.com do the things that we're asking them to do. We're still searching for that guy to close out ball games. … They all have things that they need to work on. I don't think we left the [Temple] game going, 'We know everything about all these guys.' I think it's going to take some time for all of them to con‑ tinue to work and con‑ tinue to progress. "… We're not going to answer the questions about who's one, who's two, who's three, four, five. It's going to take us a few weeks before we get to that." Other than Atkinson with his 361 yards rush‑ ing last year, nobody in the Irish backfield sta‑ ble has seen meaning‑ ful game-on-the-line ac‑ tion entering the Sept. 7 game at Michigan. If it remains a commit‑ tee throughout 2013, so be it. It's better than not having options, espe‑ cially with all five slated to be back next year. "We're willing to play them all and we're will‑ ing to take all of them and their strengths and try to make it work at that position," Kelly said.