Fresh off Monday night’s SportsCenter appearance with Scott Van Pelt, Brian Kelly continued to speak make the rounds Tuesday. It started when he was interviewed by Mike Tirico. After that, he was the center of a virtual roundtable that hosted multiple media members. Irish Illustrated broke down some of the main points he made.
Unsurprisingly, the meat of the conversation revolved around how Notre Dame’s past, present and future has been affected by COVID-19. Testing players, not having recruits visit this spring and what this all means for training camp all were addressed. As for players and parents who are concerned about coming back to campus, Kelly said no program activities are mandatory, but openness and honesty are required.
Kelly also talked a little about how the recent racial issues that have been raised have allowed for dialogue among everyone in the program. Additionally, players having trouble with things like racial and mental issues have access to mental health specialists, and they’ve taken advantage of that during the pandemic. This is a time when everyone needs all the support they can get, perhaps now more than ever.
Kelly has a duty to keep his team sharp. When many experts are predicting the 2020 Irish will make some noise in the national championship race, no stone can be left unturned. He has no problem letting the media know that, so cool your jets if you’ve felt uneasy about how he might be handling all of this.