Max Redfield, a senior who was expected to start at free safety, was in the vehicle with the other four Notre Dame players during the August 19 traffic stop.
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However, the Irish have a strong offensive line and Texas struggled at stopping the run last season. Instead, the Irish needed to rally in the closing two minutes for an 8-7 victory.
“If they both play dynamically and feed off each other, my ideal situation would be I’m playing them both because they’re both playmakers”, Kelly said.
Kelly said last season he felt a two-quarterback system was not a path to failure, whereas much coaches follow the football mantra that if you “have two quarterbacks, you have none”.
Kelly said he doesnt have a definitive plan of how he will decide which quarterback will be used when, saying he will do it by feel.. Are they one of the favorites? However, he injured his ankle in Week 2, opening the door for junior DeShone Kizer to nab the starting job. But for now, Kelly sees it as the best option.
Not many teams on Notre Dame’s schedule could say the same thing at quarterback, or at least not with assuredness. His top targets will be John Burt, who led the team in yards with 457 last season, and also Armanti Foreman. Attorneys for Williams and White filed motions to waive initial hearings.
The first time this writer learned about year-to-year differences was as a 9-year-old in 1971, concluding that the game at Purdue that year should be a breeze because Notre Dame won 48-0 the season prior.
The 6-foot-1, 245 pound former four-star recruit has the keys to the vehicle now, and there’s plenty of optimism the Crete-Monee High School alum will succeed as The Guy in Brian VanGorder’s defense.
“This is going to be North Carolina fast”, Kelly said. “He knows what he’s doing”. But since this is now happening on a regular basis, and clearly there wasn’t much of a drop off a season ago with players heading off to the National Football League, not to mention a slew of injuries early in the year, it’s nearly to the point where you assume it’s truly more of a reload every season than ever a rebuild.
USC is definitely a cut below the other two teams in terms of ability, but it is the only one Notre Dame will face on the road. The defensive line has a number of players with good experience – Isaac Rochell, Jerry Tillery, Jonathan Bonner, Jarron Jones, Daniel Cage and Andrew Trumbetti – and a pair of Hayeses (Jay and Daelin) with high-impact potential.
Outside linebacker James Onwualu’s 3.0 sacks are the most for a returning player in 2016. Cole Luke and Shaun Crawford look like lock-down corners, too. He won’t wear it Sunday night when he walks into Darrell K Royal Stadium in Austin as a Notre Dame commitment.
All that inexperience means plenty of question marks.
The revenge factor – Everyone keeps pointing to Notre Dame’s 38-3 win last year but remember; in 2003 Notre Dame lost 38-0 to MI on the road and them came back the next year and beat the Wolverines 28-20 at home.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly says he intends to make four of the five players arrested by state police on marijuana possession charges available to play when the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish open the season at Texas on Sunday.
While a 10-win season isn’t what Notre Dame is aiming for (that’d be the College Football Playoff, duh) it would represent the first time the program has had back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins since 1992-1993.
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True freshman Devin Studstill had an impressive fall camp and looked like he was going to replace Redfield at free safety, but Kelly and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder will go with Avery Sebastian in the starting spot instead.
