ESPN.com has posted a host of Notre Dame content for Thursday. Here's a look:
Before last season's opener, former Notre Dame player Tom Reynolds and a group of like-minded friends identifying themselves as "Linebacker Alumni" paid for a billboard in South Bend, Ind. They derisively wished Charlie Weis good luck in the fifth year of his "college coaching internship."
Reynolds is out of the billboard business this year. But if he were to purchase more ad space, it would probably be to offer an endorsement of new coach Brian Kelly.
"The ol' guys strongly believe that he will more than deliver on all of [our] success-defining criteria," Reynolds wrote in an e-mail.
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Run Game More Than Afterthought
Brian Kelly is bringing the spread offense to Notre Dame, an attack that became known at Cincinnati for its reliance on the passing game.
But Kelly knows that in order to be better in November than September, the Irish will need to run the ball. His system is not only set up to do that, but he says the team has the right personnel in place.
"I would be very surprised if we were not a solid team running the football," Kelly said.
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Rudolph Excited About Wildcat Formation
Widely regarded as the nation's top tight end heading into the 2010 college football season, Notre Dame junior Kyle Rudolph would be thrilled to receive a postseason award. He said that would mean the Fighting Irish are in line for some hardware.
"It's definitely exciting to be recognized," said Rudolph, a monotone 6-foot-6, 265-pounder from Cincinnati, at Tuesday's Media Day. "At the same time, it's just preseason stuff. Those awards go to the best players on the best teams in the country. You watch the BCS games and the national championship, those are the guys winning awards. That's where we need to get as a team."
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When it comes to Notre Dame, every play, issue, statement and other morsel is dissected and put under the microscope. But here are five big things to watch in 2010:
1. Faith in Crist: Dayne Crist is not only the best option at quarterback, he's pretty much the only one at this point. No one behind him has ever taken a college snap. Of course, Crist is just in his second year of playing and didn't see much time last year before tearing his ACL against Washington State. Not only does he have to manage Brian Kelly's intricate offense, but he needs to stay healthy. He's a talented and heady player, though, and he could put up dazzling numbers as most of Kelly's quarterbacks seem to do.
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180 Days, 180 Speeches, One Big Job (Insider)
Bruce Feldman chronicles Kelly’s first 180 days on the job.
On Dec. 9, 2009, Jack Swarbrick sat down for a series of meetings with Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly. Over the next 36 hours, Notre Dame's athletic director discovered Kelly had what it took to be successful in South Bend. He liked that Kelly had been a college head coach for 19 years -- winning more games than he lost in 17 of them -- and yet was still only 48 years old. Kelly was a sharp contrast to the man he was hoping to replace. Charlie Weis had shown up five years earlier flashing Super Bowl rings he'd won as an assistant but an empty entry on his resume under "Head Coaching Experience." That deficiency showed as the Irish limped to a 16-21 mark in his final three seasons. Swarbrick also loved the way Kelly ran a program, right down to dictating a body-fat percentage for each position. But there was one particularly thorny issue the AD had to broach before he could be sure he'd found his guy.
"There are a number of things about Notre Dame that aren't going to change," Swarbrick, class of '76, told Kelly. "You're either okay with them or you're not. If you're not, good luck to you; they're not getting altered." The list of immutables included striving to have the best graduation rate among D1 football teams, housing players in on-campus residences for most of their career, academic-support services run independently of the athletic department and random drug testing, also independently administered. "It's what we do, and you have to be okay with it," Swarbrick said.
"I know," Kelly replied. "It's part of why I want the job."
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Why Brian Kelly Is Perfect For The Irish (Insider)
Brian Kelly has won big every place he has been. I knew that before he arrived in South Bend, and I'd heard what a great coach he was, but I really didn't grasp why until I started working on a story for the ESPN Magazine college football preview issue. The story chronicles all the things a new head coach keeps -- and doesn't keep -- once he takes on a new job and the sales job he must undertake. The Magazine story is about Kelly's first six months on the job.
It's obvious to anyone who has read the blog or seen my chats that I am convinced Kelly is the ideal guy to replace Charlie Weis at Notre Dame. Here are six factors that opened my eyes about exactly why Kelly is such a great fit:
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Notre Dame's Recruiting Breakdown
Albeit he had only a short amount of time, but after Brian Kelly took the reins at Notre Dame, he didn't really make any big waves on the recruiting trail. As a result, it was tough to say how Kelly -- who has an excellent track record for winning but, due to short stays at his previous two stops, an uncertain track record in recruiting -- would do in the pursuit of prospects. In the midst of a full calendar to recruit at a high-profile program, Kelly is flexing his recruiting muscles by not only landing talent, but also addressing needs.
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