Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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From The Locker Room Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly … On the development of the left side of the offensive line with Mike McGlinchey and Quenton Nelson this spring: "Much better than I thought. Now, we knew we had really two solid football players there. "I was extremely impressed with how seamless it seemed in that sense; that they worked so well together, and their game is at a very, very high level." On third-string quarterback Brandon Wimbush: "I haven't figured out how I can get him involved in this race for starting quarterback. Somebody would have to give up reps, and I'm not prepared to do that right now. I'm not prepared to give up reps on [DeShone] Kizer or [Malik] Zaire to fit Brandon in. And so I would have to make that decision on my own to give up reps on those two guys to give more to Brandon to actually give him a fair chance. "So this is on me more than anything else. Brandon's doing everything that he's been asked to do. He just doesn't get enough work. And when he gets in there, he shows — you can see it from the physical talents what they are. Just doesn't get enough work. "So I have to make that decision as the head coach at Notre Dame; do I get him the opportunity to compete for the starting job, because he's really not getting that chance." On the areas of focus for junior quarterback DeShone Kizer and senior signal-caller Malik Zaire moving forward: "We'll sit down with each one of them. We've got a list of things that they have to work on in particular. "Some of it now, as we move forward, is physical. It's not all mental. There are some physical things that we want to make sure that they attend to and continue to work on. So that will be part of it. What size we want them, what weight we want them; how they are moving in that direction is very, very important in terms of their durability. These are guys that are going to run the football as well. "And then we'll work on some of the things — I think we need to continue to work on the manage- ment end of things with Malik, continue to manage the offense, clear communication. "And DeShone, scoring opportunities. We talked a little bit about the red zone, things of that nature. So there are some specifics we'll continue to work on with each one of them." Junior safety Drue Tranquill … On returning to the field this spring: "It feels good getting back out there in the stadium, on the field, with the fans and the families. We had a good performance from all of the guys, and we're looking forward to getting back out there this summer and in the fall." I've done — I feel like I can't sit there and be disappointed and think what I could have done better. "For me, it's continue to take that next step and reaching that level to help this team win the national cham- pionship. I want to do that really bad for this football team and the only way I know I can perform that and do that for this football team is playing my best and being the best in the country. "That's my motivation getting me ready through the summer and look- ing forward." Notre Dame will kick off the 2016 season at Texas Sept. 4. ✦