Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 39 recuperate and recharge," Kelly said. "We've added the ability to get our players into float tanks. Those are expensive propositions, but we've added them to our rehab. "We've added a new room downstairs across from the special teams room. It's a recovery room where our guys can recover, get some rest and rehab — all of the things that address keeping your football team sharp in November. "You're opening yourself up to it happen- ing again unless you're doing something be- fore you get to November. That was the No. 1 priority for me in the offseason." Ending each season on the road at USC or Stanford is not ideal, but those are the only negotiable slots for the Pac-12. "I'm not crazy about going out to the West Coast at the end of the year, but I've got to overcome that if we're going to continue to do what we're doing," Kelly said. He was even less pleased with the decision to move the Nov. 17 Syracuse game this year from Notre Dame Sta- dium to Yankee Stadium in New York. "Going to New York and then going to L.A. to play USC is not the easiest way to run the table," Kelly said of the arrangement. "Most of the teams in the SEC are playing a I-AA [Football Championship Subdivision] team that is getting paid to come into their stadium before the last game of the year for a reason." The same weekend Notre Dame takes the extra trip to play Syracuse, Alabama will be hosting The Citadel, while Au- burn welcomes in Liberty — prior to their Iron Bowl the following week. That same Nov. 17, rising power Georgia plays at home versus UMass. Also interspersed tactfully in the Bull- dogs' schedule are Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee. The Syracuse game shift involved several elements. "They wanted a Shamrock Series game contractually, NBC wants a piece of it — there's other callings that are outside the head football coach's domain," Kelly said. "We've got other people we have to look at in the equation. "If we were to bring the Syracuse game back here, which I wanted, we would have had an outcry from our season ticket hold- ers. Last year we told them after the increase in season ticket prices [in 2017] that there would be a freeze on it for the next year. But if we were to bring that game back here, we would have had to add that ticket price. "There are a lot of moving pieces here that a head football coach is going to be involved in the conversation. But at the end of the day you've got to line them up, and I have to fig- ure out how to play them — and then really do a good job in November. "My task was, 'Here's what your schedule is, here's what we're doing, go figure out how to be rested in November,' and that's what I'm working on. Those are difficult things for football teams to handle late in the season with all of that travel. I have to be proactive in doing the things necessary to keep this football team fresh." The new NCAA rule that now allows freshmen to play up to as many as four games at any time of the season, including the bowl, without losing a year of eligibility, is another area Kelly wants to strategically utilize. "The freshmen coming in and not losing eligibility is going to be a huge help for us in November as well," he said. "We'll plan out certain games as being those target games for freshmen. We think this rule can really help, especially in the special teams area where we can get some fresh legs and really excited guys to play later in the year. "I think at first we'll target some individu- als on some games, but as a group we'll look for it to add some depth to our November schedule." As a two-time national champion in Divi- sion II, a Mid-American Conference cham- pion, a two-time Big East champion and also having coached in the Football Bowl Subdi- vision national title game, Kelly is comfort- able in his own coaching skin, but hardly content. It's now a matter of whether time will be on his side. ✦ Generation Z? In February 2018, Notre Dame finished with its largest haul of recruits (27) in 12 years to rank anywhere from Nos. 9-11 in the three major recruiting services (Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN). Six months later by June 21, the Irish al- ready had 15 verbal commitments to rank among the top half-dozen or so schools. Head coach Brian Kelly believes the com- bination of talent, fit to the school and style and industriousness of a staff that has five different recruiting coordinators at other schools currently working for it, led by current Irish coordinator Brian Po- lian, has aided the process. Plus, he feels more invigorated himself. "I've got more energy for recruiting than I've ever had," Kelly said. The Irish head coach maintained his stance from a couple of years ago that consistently bringing in a top-five class in recruiting at Notre Dame is going to be a greater challenge in today's landscape, but there is no reason why it can't con- sistently be in the No. 5 to No. 15 range. That's not "Alabama-like," but Clemson has been to the College Football Playoff each of the past three years with classes since 2012 that were ranked by Rivals Nos. 14, 14, 13, 4, 6 and 22, plus No. 8 this past February. Kelly also believes the "consumer" — or the prospects who are recruited — em- brace better the mission of Notre Dame, which includes the classroom and com- munity, than not so long ago with what he terms were the "millennium-type personalities." "We're in a category called 'Generation Z,' and these young men are different," Kelly said. "They are much more interested in their suc- cess over a long period of time — the value of an education and what it can do for them in security. That's met with a positive kind of con- nection with the recruits immediately. "They also want to see themselves in making a difference in what they do. The third thing is they want transparency. They don't want you to tell them what you think they want to hear. "All of those traits resonate really well with our business plan and how we recruit. … There's been a shift, and it's resonating our message with the recruits in a different fashion than it did a few years ago." —Lou Somogyi Kelly is strongly concentrating on improving the Irish in November, including using the freshmen more with the new redshirting rule. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA