Notre Dame Notebook: Playing Without Kyle Hamilton, Blake Fisher's Status, Defending UNC
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly met with the media to discuss the North Carolina game and answer questions. Here is an overview of what he said.
On Kyle Hamilton’s injury
“Kyle Hamilton is doing well. He's been actively involved with coaching this week. This has been a coaching week for him. He's done a really good job. He's working with the safeties. Totally engaged, being a captain, obviously doing a great job. So, pleased with that. Had PRP earlier in the week and then we'll see where he is. But moving around, obviously not practicing, been in weight training. We're training around the injury right now. In terms of Chris Tyree, we've made the progress necessary for him to be penciled in on kickoff today, so he'll get the first-team reps on kickoff and he'll get reps in our Thursday second-team running back reps. So, the natural progress. Now he's gonna have to show us today at full speed that he's ready to go. But we like where we are at going into today's practice.”
On Hamilton not playing this week
“I think he's learning about himself. Not being able to play changes your perspective. We had a conversation about what the expectations are when you're not playing You are a captain. You've got to be able to leave something at the end of the day. If you're not practicing, you've got to leave something on the field. For him, leave some knowledge. I think he's done a really good job of understanding that. It's different than when you're playing and practicing, where you leave a lot of your conditioning element and learning the game plan. This is a different role for him and I think he's adapted really well. That's certainly maturity.”
On the safety rotation without Kyle Hamilton will be
I would add KJ Wallace into the mix as well. He would be part of the four-player rotation at the safety position with Isaiah Pryor and Wallace as the other two safeties as well as Houston Griffith and DJ Brown.”
On Xavier Watts playing safety
Xavier had a calf strain and it really set him back a little bit. We were hoping he'd be further ahead in terms of his development where we wanted him. We're really high on him and you know I've been probably his biggest advocate, but unfortunately, the young man has had some soft tissue injuries that have put him back a little bit. But he's ready to go this weekend. So, he would be a fifth for us at the safety position, if we were called to go that far down. He's been cross-training both that the safety and the nickel position. Actually, Kyle Hamilton has been working with him directly one on one this week. That's kind of been his student. Really like his upside, so that would be the five.”
On Blake Fisher’s progress recovering from his knee injury
“Blake is ahead of schedule, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's gonna put him on the field this year. But he is doing really well, healing extremely well. You don't know really how people will respond to surgery and how their tissue heals and how all those things come together. He's one of those guys that things have come together really quickly for him. Moving around already, but doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna put him on the field any quicker. But he is ahead of our rehabilitation schedule in the training room."
On North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell as a runner
“Sam Howell, he's difficult to bring down. He's big, he's strong. They're running him a lot more as you know. Quarterback draw in particular is problematic for most because you're trying to defend the width of the field. It creates great space for him to run. He's tough, he's physical and he's difficult to defend when he decides to run the football.
On defending North Carolina receiver Josh Downs
“When you're outside, you can roll the coverage, you can play somebody over the top, you have the opportunities to do things of that nature that, whether you spit a safety down. That's what you have to do with the slot receiver. Your health has to come from top-down and it forces you to show your coverage. A player like Sam Howell, he's obviously going to get some pre-snap reads that are gonna allow him to put the ball where he wants to. It makes it a little bit more difficult coverage. We've got to disguise some things and do a really good job of getting him down after the catch. That's really the most important thing for us defending a guy that is dynamic like him."
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