Brian Kelly joined The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday morning and discussed the state of affairs ahead of what promises to be a unique 2020 college football season. Here is page three, the final page of his responses.
Do Kelly and Notre Dame want ‘Bama?
“We have them scheduled down the road in a couple of years. I think that was going to suffice for us and certainly, those are the kind of games we want to play. We have Ohio State coming on our schedule, Wisconsin and Alabama in a couple of years. I don’t believe that was going to happen.
“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.”
Anymore personal NFL dreams?
“I think I did at times. I don’t anymore because I have a better sense and understanding of what the NFL model looks like. I much prefer to have – this isn’t to be said in a manner that I want control – but I do like the fact I can have say over my roster. I do have say over who I recruit on a day to day basis.
“In some senses, you probably wouldn’t have it and I certainly wouldn’t have it as a first-time head coach. Having 30 years in college football invested in having those kinds of decisions, it’s really difficult to move in another direction.”
On the change of quarterback style in the NFL:
“It’s interesting we have these conversations because for the last three to five years everyone had been saying ‘You will never go to the college-type quarterback in the NFL. He’ll never make it. He’ll never get through the season.’
“Now it’s the best athlete, right? If you’re in high school, who touches the ball every time? It’s not the cornerback. It’s the best athlete as the quarterback. Whether it’s Cam Newton or Lamar Jackson and Mahomes just got paid. He’s a pretty good athlete. It’s going to be about a guy who can extend and keep plays alive outside the realm of what the guy drew on the board. We’re only as smart as the guy who can keep the play alive and that’s a quarterback that’s a dual athlete.”
And finally, does the Labor Day weekend game at Navy happen as currently scheduled?
“We really don’t know now. Once we had the non-league games taken away from us, our calendar will probably be decided a lot by what the ACC schedule looks like. Sometime next week, we’ll have a better understanding of when we start.”