Take Five: Rover, Notre Dame Run Game, Jack Coan, Next Head Coach

Thoughts on the Notre Dame rover position, playing on the road, Marcus Freeman as the next coach and more

Five quick Notre Dame takes from head coach Brian Kelly's first official press conference of the season. 

1. Junior Jack Kiser being named the starting outside linebacker for Notre Dame is a huge victory for small schools. Kiser played at Pioneer in Royal Center, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 315 and it plays in Class A, Indiana’s smallest class. 

Kiser beat out Warren Central wide receiver David Bell for Mr. Football. Bell is a phenomenal wide receiver who was first team all Big Ten in 2020 while playing for Purdue. Bell led Warren Central in Indianapolis to a state title in 6A, Indiana’s largest class. There was a lot of grumbling from Indianapolis folks when Bell didn’t win the award. Kiser’s stats were off the charts. Kiser had 159 tackles, seven interceptions and five fumble recoveries as a senior while leading Pioneer to a state title. He also passed for 1,183 yards and rushed 2,109 yards. 

Despite the gaudy numbers, it’s hard to project how good a player from a small school will do at a place like Notre Dame. It’s rare for a kid from a school that small to get a scholarship offer from the Irish. It’s also a credit to the player development Brian Kelly and his staff are performing.

2. Pound it. Notre Dame wasn’t so good at running the football when Kelly arrived. The Irish rushed for 126 yards per game in 2010. Those yearly numbers hovered between 151 and 189 from 2011 to 2014. Notre Dame broke the 200-yard per game barrier for the first time in 2015 when it averaged 207.6. The best year for running the ball was 2017 when it averaged 269.5 yards per game. 

The message in those numbers is that the Irish are a cut above offensively when they average over 200. It’s only happened four times since Kelly started. The running back tandem of Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree should be in position to hit the 200 plus number, which is good news. This offense could be super diverse if the wide receivers are as good as they think they are going to be.

3. When Kelly started at Notre Dame, I asked about the importance of offensive time of possession. He referred to it as irrelevant. I thought that was ridiculous. Notre Dame had always had success running the football, which meant they needed to hold the ball longer. It turns out that it doesn't matter which team holds the ball longer in Kelly's system. At least by my analysis. Kelly’s teams have lost the time of possession battle in nine of 11 seasons. Last year, ND held the ball for nearly 34 minutes, which was its highest number under Kelly. For Kelly, it’s always been simple. Score more points than the other team.

4. Foreshadowing the Sept. 5 opener against Florida State, Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan knows what it’s like to play the season opener in Florida. In 2019, Coan started his first game for Wisconsin. It defeated South Florida 49-0 in Tampa Bay on August 30. The game time temperature was a balmy 80 degrees. Coan was 19 of 26 for 201 yards passing with two touchdowns, zero interceptions and three sacks. The Badgers ran for 264 yards. Let's see if history repeats itself.

5. It’s not true. Kelly didn’t say that Marcus Freeman would be the next head coach at Notre Dame. What he said is pretty muddy, though. 

Here it is. 

“We were talking about race, so we weren't talking about Notre Dame at all. It's like anything else. Somebody took the comments and inserted Notre Dame in it and it had nothing to do with Notre Dame. We were talking about giving qualified people, in particular African American and black leaders, the opportunity to lead. I’ve done that in my football program with the director of operations. Then we were talking about coaches and I said the next head coach will be Marcus Freeman, and that got taken as the next head coach at Notre Dame. But that was never part of the equation. I was talking about him being the next black head coach, in terms of that will be the next head black coach, head coach that is black in the country. But it's just one of those things, you're on a golf course, and you're talking about race in America and everybody else thought I was talking about Notre Dame football. So, it is what it is. I don't know if I clarified it any because I think it's still gonna be taken as, 'Oh, he must have been thinking that he's the next head coach.' But if you think about it, why would somebody ask me, 'Hey, who's going to be the next head coach?' I'd be pretty offended."

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