Cavalier Corner Digital

✦ NEWS & NOTES Head coach Brian Kelly believes his team will be well prepared for the game against Rutgers Dec. 28. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA of opponents, especially with five ACC teams rotating into the schedule starting next fall. "As long as we have the ability to play both three and four down [linemen], and we have the ability to adjust to playing option, playing spreads, our defensive coaches and the schedule that we have have got to have a great deal of flexibility," Kelly said. "The defensive coordinator has got to have that ability to handle a variety of different offenses. It can't be, 'Well, I just do this.' We've got to have some flexibility, and to do that you've got to be able to run both three down and four down." While Kelly said he wouldn't rule out hiring a first-time coordinator, he does believe it's important at a visible school such as Notre Dame to not have on-thejob training. "The coordinator's job here at Notre Dame — now having been here for four years — requires a lot of experience in defending so many different looks," Kelly said. "One of the most important things is you don't have a lot of knowledge of your opponents, unfortunately, with so many different teams that come in and off our schedule. So you have to have a great bank of experience." The fact that both cornerbacks coach Kerry Cooks and defensive line coach Mike Elston have been with him all four years at Notre Dame might give them an inside track for the coordinator title. Or, one could also be a co-coordinator, as Cooks was to Diaco. They might not have experience as the full-time defensive coordinator, but there is no substitute for actually having worked with the head coach and his system the past several years. "You can gain a lot of [experience] by maintaining continuity on your staff," Kelly said. PRACTICE ITINERARY Notre Dame's practice schedule planned to get in 10 sessions in December. The first was a "get reacquainted again" workout Dec. 8, the day bowl destina- tions became official. The Irish then held practices Dec. 13, the day of the Football Awards Banquet, and Dec. 14, a huge recruiting weekend. There was a community service day Dec. 15, when the Fighting Irish players took local disadvantaged children Christmas shopping and then to dinner, with the former funded by the Kelly Cares Foundation run by head coach Brian Kelly and his wife, Paqui. The first-semester final exams were Dec. 16-20, so Dec. 16 and Dec. 18 were used as weight training and conditioning days, while Dec. 17 and Dec. 19 had a window of 60 to 90 minutes of practice, with some scrimmage work mixed in to get back into more tackling. The players were given the day off Dec. 20. Game-plan preparations against Rutgers for the Dec. 28 Pinstripe Bowl began in earnest Dec. 21. The team will have a day off Dec. 22 and then a two-hour session Dec. 23 before flying to New York. Several more practices would be held there prior to the game. Last year, while preparing for the BCS National Championship Game against Alabama, Kelly and Co. were wary of engaging in too much contact work because the offensive line was almost depleted beyond the starting five. Kelly said because the bowl game this year is Dec. 28 instead of Jan. 7, it is not nearly as much of an issue, even though Notre Dame will be playing without former starting center Nick Martin and former starting guards Chris Watt and Christian Lombard. Rutgers isn't quite Alabama, either. "The period of time is a lot shorter, so I feel a lot more comfortable with the preparation time leading up to when we'll play," Kelly said. "We'll tackle a little more. … I'm not in a position this year where I feel ✦ PAGE 10 concern that we can't get the work done necessary. "We're going to be very well prepared for the game. There won't be any excuses about not being prepared and not having our guys ready to play." THE RETURN OF EVERETT GOLSON The top football-related story for Notre Dame in December was the official readmission of 2012 starting quarterback Everett Golson into school Dec. 13 to begin the second semester Jan. 13. An academic transgression by Golson last spring barred him from returning for the 2013 fall semester. He will not practice with the Irish until spring practice commences in March. "I've got to figure out whether we have a scholarship available for him," said head coach Brian Kelly, with his tongue pressing heavily against his cheek. "I think we can probably find one." Kelly met with Golson earlier this month in the quarterback's home state of South Carolina, and he was impressed with him both physically — Golson had worked with quarterbacks guru George Whitfield Jr. in California this fall — and in overall maturity. "He's physically more mature, over 200 pounds. He looked great, quite frankly," Kelly said. "I think I saw a young man that understands what he's coming back to. He even said, 'There's going to be a lot of people out there that are looking at me, and not all of them are going to want to see me succeed.' He knows what he's coming into. "… He's got to come back and get back into academics and the community. He's got to come back and earn the [starting quarterback] job back." Golson, who already had a trip arranged separately to New York that he had to pay for, hopes to meet with the team there. ✦

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