Brian Kelly: “We really don’t know” about season starting on time

“When you’re an independent and you have an open schedule, everyone is going to look towards Notre Dame as the first one you fill it with.” 

To me there is no better sports radio host in America than Dan Patrick.  His interview skills are superb, he doesn’t take himself too seriously and he doesn’t throw ridiculous “hot takes” at you endlessly in the hopes of getting retweets and more attention.

To me he’s the best at what he does but that’s not why you’re here.

Patrick welcomed Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly to his show on Tuesday morning to discuss the latest in regards to a 2020 college football season and everything else in regards to his Fighting Irish team.  Once a link is available it will be posted in here so you can listen instead of read the words but for the time being, this is what we’ve got:

On his message to the team:

“’What’s your priority?’ If you want to play college football this fall, you’ll have to do the things you’ve done over the last four weeks and the numbers speak for themselves. We’ve already said you can do this, but you’ve done it in a confined environment. They’ve had to do the things necessary. It’s staying out of the bars. They’ve stayed away from parties – social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands. All the things we already know.

“They’ll have to continue that and there is going to have to be peer accountability. Guys will have to say, ‘you can’t do that because I want to play this fall. If you do that and you get me sick, I’m not going to be happy.’

“A big dose of peer accountability and a good dose of guys wanting to play this season is really going to be about what happens when the season starts.”

Does he think the season starts on time?

“I’m optimistic we’re going to start. Then students get on campus and our guys move off-campus. Essentially, we leave the bubble and start the season, unlike some of the professional teams like the NHL or the NBA. They move into a bubble and start the season. College football leaves the bubble and starts the season. We’ll get to the starting line and we’ll see what happens after that.”

Where Notre Dame is at in terms of season-prep:

“We’re in strength training and conditioning. It’s really about four weeks in. Most football programs would normally get about eight weeks in prior to their first padded practice. We still have some work to do relative to the time off. Remember, no spring practice, no real designated offseason. These guys were deconditioned a little bit. We’re getting back there, but we still need a little more time to condition our athletes.”

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