By SCOTT NOVAK
Edwardsburg Argus

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With spring practice beginning last Friday, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly kicked off the 2010 College Football Hall of Fame Gridiron Legends Luncheon Series recently at the Century Center.

The new coach of the Fighting Irish didn’t mince words and didn’t avoid the tough questions, showing he is ready to take on the task of putting Notre Dame back up with the elite college football programs.

Kelly is so excited about getting started that he misspoke when he said he couldn’t wait to get on the practice field Thursday. Unfortunately, spring drills didn’t begin until Friday.

But with that one misstep aside, Kelly wowed the nearly 500 people in attendance with his straight-forward answers.

One of the questions that came from the crowd wanted to know if he could produce a winning team right away.

“Does it matter?” he quipped, knowing full well that is what Notre Dame fans are expecting of him, to win football games now.

The players on the team got that message earlier this month after going through “Camp Kelly.”

He had the players outside practicing in the snow beginning at 5 a.m. When the team went at it again nearly two weeks later, Kelly learned just what he was working with.
“Camp Kelly is about addressing some of the clear deficiencies that we had,” he said during a press conference following his appearance at the luncheon.

When asked what he learned from that experience, Kelly was pretty blunt.

“Their attention to detail is not where it needs to be,” he pointed out. “Their discipline is not where it needs to be. They need to care about themselves and their (teammates) a lot more. I’m tired of hearing about the next NFL player coming out of Notre Dame, quite frankly.”

Kelly is quickly trying to put the past behind this football team as he and his staff prepare for the upcoming season.

He said that chance must come quickly.

“They need to understand who we are – we’re the Fighting Irish,” Kelly said. “So we’re creating an atmosphere that’s a little bit different than what they’re used to…

“You go back to your roots – who we are as a university, why you’re here at Notre Dame. You’ve got to work for it. Hasn’t worked out so well the last three years. We’re 15-21.
We are who we are. You want a championship footbal team? You’ve got to pay attention to detail, and our guys are starting to understand that.”

One of the criticisms of the Charlie Weis era was his inability to make players better over their four-year career.

Kelly and his staff already are trying to do that by switching players to new positions and getting some others on the field who did not figure into the Irish’s plans last year.

Among those is Theo Riddick switching from running back to slot receiver and Harrison Smith moving from linebacker to safety.

Kelly pointed out by moving Riddick out of the backfield, it makes room for highly regarded running back Cierre Wood.

“It’s important to get our playmakers on the field,” he said. “We also have to open up space for Cierre Wood. We believe (Riddick) has the ability to catch the ball at the line of scimmage and make big plays for us, and it gets Cierre Wood into the football game. It has a double-pronged effect.”

So come Friday when the Fighting Irish really hit the field for the first of its spring drills, Kelly and staff will be ready to get the program headed in the right direction and with a different mindset.

And by the time the Blue & Gold spring game rolls around on April 24, Notre Dame fans are going to like the product they see on the field.