Fighting Irish Notebook: Notre Dame eyeing Temple
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Assistant Editor
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — We are a week away from Notre Dame kicking off the 2013 season when it hosts Temple.
On paper, the Owls aren’t much of a test for the 14th-ranked Fighting Irish.
After all, Temple is coming off a 4-7 season a year ago, including 2-5 in the Big East, and are under new leadership with Coach Matt Rhule taking over the program.
Plus, the Owls will be breaking in a new quarterback as last year’s starter, Chris Coyer, has been moved to halfback.
The man under center will be adjusting to a newly installed pass-heavy offense. The problem is Rhule will be counting on a pair of inexperienced QBs in Connor Reilly and Clinton Granger. Reilly is the likely starter.
Even though the pundits have forecasted a long year for the Owls, Irish coach Brian Kelly isn’t taking his team’s season-opening opponent for granted, getting a head start preparing for them.
“We’re quickly moving into game week preparation for Temple,” said Kelly at Thursday’s Media Day. “We’ve had a good 2 ½ weeks of preparation taking the 2013 football team and really getting them prepared for a long and very difficult schedule.
“We have begun preparation for Temple and have begun to focus on specific schemes, packages and personnel groupings.”
Golson Focusing On Football Only This Fall
Former Irish starting quarterback Everett Golson won’t be enrolling in a school this fall. Instead, he’ll be solely focusing on football.
Golson, who is currently in the Chicago area and will soon be moving to San Diego, Calif., to study the game under guru George Whitfield, is serving a semester suspension due to an admitted academic issue.
Golson plans on re-enrolling at Notre Dame in January for the spring semester.
According to Kelly, Golson doesn’t need to take classes this fall to maintain his eligibility for the spring.
“He does not need to take any classes,” Kelly said. “His advising has been such that he’s not really needed to take any classes.”
Golson will be the odds-on-favorite to be Notre Dame’s starting QB come 2014.
Motivating Tool
Most either love Notre Dame or hate Notre Dame. There’s little in between when it comes to how fans perceive the Irish program. Kelly knows that and also knows with Notre Dame again become relevant on the national stage last year, staying in that spotlight will be much easier said than done.
“Everything that we’ve talked about has been focused on you don’t just begin this climb at the top of the mountain,” Kelly said. “We have to start all over again.
“If we do it like we did last year, we’re going to be an 8-5 team because everybody has taken their motivation off what we did last year and have worked harder.
“We supplied motivation for the entire college football world,” Kelly added. “If Notre Dame can do it, we can do it. So everybody has worked exponentially that much more in their off season because of us.”
Better Have A Roster Handy
Kelly plans on using a lot of different players this season and sees them having a vital role in how the 2013 campaign plays out.
“There’s going to be a lot of players that are going to have to play significant roles throughout the year at a lot of different positions,” Kelly said. “They may not be on the field for every snap, but they will have significant roles.
“Going into this preparation for 2013, it was important that we looked at the totality of the season, not one particular game, but the entire season, and getting a lot of players ready.”
Right Frame Of Mind
Kelly is proud of how Notre Dame’s program returned to national relevance last season, but is quick to point out that was then and this is now.
“I’m really pleased with the way our guys have focused on this year,” said Kelly, who led the Fighting Irish to a 12-1 record a year ago that included an appearance in the BCS National Championship Game. “There hasn’t been a lot of this is what we did last year and talking about the way we did it last year. It’s been about this year. The focus has been on the personalities of this team and the strengths of building this year’s team, not what we did last year.”
Rees Clearly No. 1 QB
With Golson out of the picture this season, senior Tommy Rees will engineer the Irish offense and Kelly believes he could perhaps have a memorable season.
“He’s had a great camp,” said Kelly of Golson. “I think he’s really developed his skill. He had to develop his skill in the off season, and I’ve seen tangible evidence of it every day in practice in the way he is throwing the football, getting us in the right place. Now I want to see it on Saturday.
“When he stepped on that field against Purdue and got booed and responded to that, you know, I was going to be in his corner all the way.
“At the end of the season, I think we could have a really good story about Tommy Rees,” Kelly added.
Unlike last season when Kelly didn’t hesitate to switch QBs in critical situations (i.e. the Purdue game late in the fourth quarter), this season might see Rees get an overwhelming majority of the snaps.
“We prepare for all situations,” said Kelly when asked if Andrew Hendrix and/or Malik Zaire will figure into the Temple game plan.
Kelly has confidence in Hendrix, saying he’s no longer a niche quarterback, saying he can effectively run the offense and that the Irish “don’t have to turn the playbook inside out to put Hendrix into the game.”
The same can’t be said for Zaire at this point of his young career.
Kelly said Zaire is a good-looking prospect, but just isn’t ready yet to be in the thick of things at the position yet.
“We would have to alter significantly what we’re doing (if Zaire entered the game),” Kelly said. “He’s just not ready to do everything that we want. We’re really excited about him as a player and as a quarterback. He’s just not at that level yet.”
Tons Of Talent In Backfield
Replacing the production of departed running backs Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood will be a tough task, but Kelly appears to have plenty of talent to choose from.
Tailback George Atkinson III will be the starter with Amir Carlisle, the former USC transfer, getting plenty of opportunities to carry the ball.
“We’re just really blessed to have such great talent at the running back position,” said Kelly, who also has Will Mahone, Cam McDaniel, Greg Bryant and Tarean Folston at his disposal. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had as much depth at the running back position in all my years of coaching. All of them can contribute to our success.”
Irish Items
* Notre Dame announced its three captains for the season will be offensive lineman Zack Martin, who will be the program’s 18th two-year captain, cornerback Bennett Jackson and receiver TJ Jones.
* Starting outside linebacker Danny Spond has decided to end his football career due to migraine headaches, which cause temporary stroke-like symptoms.
A year ago, Spond had to undergo rehabilitation to learn to walk again, missing the first two games, but returned to start the final 11.
Five-star freshman Jaylon Smith will be the likely starter at Spond’s outside backer position.
* Preseason All-American defensive end Stephon Tuitt got quite a scare in practice the other day, injuring his right leg.
On Thursday, Kelly confirmed Tuitt had suffered a twisted knee, calling the injury “nothing major.”
* The news out of fall camp hasn’t been entirely positive, however. Defensive lineman Tony Springmann will miss the 2013 season after suffering a major injury to his left knee that will require surgery.
Springmann, damaged ligaments and dislocated the knee, would’ve been among Notre Dame’s two-deeps.
* Look for the Irish to run the Pistol this season as they’ve shown it often in practice this month. Rees and Atkinson III have been featured prominently in the formation.
