FooTball

Observer Staff Report

Two members of the notre dame football team tested positive for covid-19 last week, the team announced in a statement Tuesday morning. according to university Physician dr. matt Leiszler, the two positive tests came from a total of 248 covid-19 tests

Adams

conTinued From PaGe 16 he offers more in the vain of

Where this really gets interesting (for lack of a better word) is the slot receiver/ second tight end spot. avery davis has been consistently listed as the starter at the X position this season. Lawrence Keys iii is backing him up, and each of them can do some good things on jet sweeps or quick outs, but they haven’t proven to be ultrareliable guys.

The irish could opt for — and have already frequently implemented — two-tight end sets at the expense of the slot receiver. That’s not a bad option considering the fact that stud, and Tommy Tremble’s blocking/pass catching versaout speed guys like austin and Lenzy on the outsides to stretch the defense, they’re limited by the lack of burners. a lineup of Tremble, mayer and any two of skowronek/ to develop routes quickly or incentivize clemson to unload the box until they make plays downfield against their corners.

Lastly, this could be administered to notre dame football student-athletes from monday to sunday, the statement said. according to the statement, neither of the two student-athletes who tested positive traveled for saturday’s game at Pittsburgh, and no close contacts were identified. as of monday, three players are in isolation and another player something, but take it with a grain of salt. ian book offered praise for Jordan Johnson at Tuesday night’s notre dame player media availability, saying the freshman receiver made some really good catches in practice. since we’re at the point where the irish have only one more opponent before facing the Tigers, it seems like wishful thinking that new faces without any significant playing time or actual catches (like Jones, Johnson and Xavier Watts) would get be welcome, and maybe the coaches really are working on getting Johnson up to speed. alternatively, it might just be some gamesmanship. maybe book was told by the coaches or took it upon himself to try and help Johnson’s confidence after a difficult first semester for the st. Louis product. regardless though, aside from the tight ends, the running backs will also need to play a role in the passing game. chris Tyree and Kyren Williams have to get involved in screen passes and wheel routes to keep the Tigers on their toes. maybe staff resurrects the 75-yard screen to Williams that we saw against duke. or maybe they get another running back involved… is in quarantine as a result of being identified as a close contact, the statement said.

The undefeated irish (5-0, 4-0 acc) are coming off one of their most convincing performances of the season after routing Pitt 45-3 at heinz Field and are ranked no. 4 in this week’s aP and coaches’ polls.

Why can’t ian book throw over 6 yards? did you watch the game saturday?

Granted, book’s ‘development’ at quarterback over the last three seasons has been nothing short of bizarre. and precise pocket passer who feasted on the short-tointermediate game (although less so the intermediate) to flat-out bad in the intermediate and very good on deep throws (when he had chase claypool to sling it to) to a game manager struggling to see open pass catchers but seemingly growing as a dualthreat quarterback. i assume that what you are getting at here is book’s general lack of accuracy downfield. i really can’t explain that, or any other aspects of his regression, as anything other than a mix of the pressure of the notre dame starting quarterback job, defense’s having enough film to game plan for book, a lack of physical ability to throw downfield without some strain and the lack of receiving threats that can get open and make contested catches against any defense. but the thing is that book has also been struggling on short throws this year, as could be seen with a couple of low throws to avery davis notre dame travels next to atlanta, Georgia to take on Georgia Tech (2-4, 2-3 acc) at bobby dodd stadium this saturday. notre dame’s campus has experienced an increase in covid-19 cases during october. in the week leading up to the Pittsburgh game, the number of new cases peaked Tuesday with a total of 28 positive tests, according to the university

skowronek and mcKinley.

michael mayer is a s-T-u-d tility is solid. however, withmcKinley/Wilkins is not going

involved. it would certainly nov. 7 is when the coaching

he’s gone from an accurate dashboard. against Pitt. it’s really difficult to pin down what exactly book’s problem is, and he’s definitely got a few of them. but for what it’s worth, as a starter (and i know brian Kelly is a broken record with this), book is 25-3 and undefeated at home. he is now tied for third in career 300-yard passing games at notre dame (7), is second in total offensive yards (8,343) and career touchdown passes (63), behind only brady Quinn (11,944 and 95), and may pass Quinn, Tom clements and ron Powlus for career wins as a starter (29) barring an unforeseen conclusion to the season. say what you will about him, but he is a winner, and all that really matters is whether or not notre dame beats clemson with book starting under center. Which gets us to our final comment… reTurn To GLorY!!!

Let’s wait until about 11:30 p.m. on nov. 7 to determine the validity of that statement. Then we can reevaluate on dec. 19.

That’s all for this week. i can only imagine what it will be like next week, so have those hot takes ready. it’s gonna be a fun one.

Contact Hayden Adams at hadams3@nd.edu

Paid adverTisemenT as their first scheduled away game against Wake Forest was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak within the locker room. now it seems the irish are getting into the groove of a season, even if it is a season different than any other. The irish are looking to keep the ball rolling following one of their most convincing wins of the year against Pitt. Kelly looked ahead to the team’s next competition at Georgia Tech.

“[Georgia Tech head coach Geoff] collins has done a great job of transforming a triple-option team into a pro-style offense in a very short period of time,” he said. “he’s got some of the bigger offensive linemen that we’ve seen. and we’ve thought we had big offensive linemen. but these are so different than what Georgia Tech obviously has had in their program. now he’s got some transfers from the sec, some big physical offensive linemen, he’s got a young freshman who is going to be an incredible talent at tackle. so he’s recruited very, very well and making this transition to a pro-style offense. it should be a great football game and one that we need to continue to ascend and play at the level that we played at last week against Pittsburgh.” one question that Kelly may not have been expecting to field after his first resounding win was one he has been being asked all year, about his wide receiving corps.

“i’m not here to make apologies, there are no excuses — you gotta be ready to play with what you have and the fact of the matter is no one really cares, so we weren’t going to sit up here and complain about what our situation was, we were gonna deal with the situation that was at hand,” he said. “a lot of them were because of injuries and not having the continuity, but you know everybody has problems and you deal with it and you work through it. We’re gaining some continuity and i said it many times — i believed in this group when we got continuity within the offensive structure and particularly the passing game, it would look better and it would get better and ian would feel a lot more confident getting the ball out on time. We’re getting there and we’re getting better. We have another level that we need to get to and we hope to continue to work on that in practice so when we get to Georgia Tech this weekend we see another level that we get to.”

Kelly was also asked about the progression of sophomore punter Jay bramblett, who played quarterback at hill crest high school.

“There were times last year that he did too much because he wasn’t used to not being fully engaged in a practice setting, he was used to being a starting quarterback,” he said. “There were clearly some times where he punted his leg out and coming into a saturday he was tired. i just think the maturation, the understanding of how to prepare himself is being to show itself.”

The observer | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com

ND FOOTBALL

Recruit charged with trespassing

ND FOOTBALL

Kelly talks Pitt win, looks ahead to Georgia Tech

Observer Staff Report

notre dame football commit david Abiara, 18, a member of the class of 2021 and strong side defensive end for mansfield Legacy high school, has been charged with criminal trespassing in southlake, Texas, as first reported by the Fort Worth star-Telegram. Abiara was charged along with southlake carrol high school offensive lineman marquette seaton, 18. Further details have not yet been released as it is an open case.

Abiara, a four-star mansfield, Texas product, per 247sports composite, committed to the Irish back in march, but news had since swirled that he was at risk of flipping to oklahoma. he is listed as the no. 20 strong side d-end in the nation and thew 47th best player in the state of Texas. Abiara chose notre dame over 23

ND WOmEN’S BASkETABALL By HAYDEN ADAMS

sports editor notre dame media were treated to a new look monday media session. Immediately following head football coach brian Kelly’s weekly press conference at noon, women’s basketball head coach niele Ivey took the Zoom spotlight for her first press conference since being named successor to hall of Famer muffet mcGraw back in April.

It’s been unique circumstances for a first-year head coach to inherit, but Ivey nevertheless had an almost constant smile on her face and offered profuse gratitude for the position in which she currently finds herself throughout her meeting with the media.

“super excited to be back here at notre dame, my first press conference,” Ivey said. “A lot of smiles because of where I am and what I’m other schools, including oklahoma, Alabama and Texas.

Abiara and seaton were first booked on sept. 30. They were originally under suspicion of burglary with intent to commit a felony for an incident which reportedly took place on sept. 27. however, charges were filed under trespassing, a misdemeanor offense, and the two were eventually released on $10,000 bond.

This news comes just barely over nine months since the football program revoked the scholarship of 2020 threestar defensive back and thennotre dame signee Landen bartleson of danville, Kentucky. bartleson and two other teens were arrested for shoplifting nine firearms from a gun shop in danville. bartleson has since quit football. notre dame has yet to make a comment regarding the charges Abiara is facing.

not a whole lot of questions this week after notre dame beat Pitt 45-3. but that’s oK. It just means we can go more in depth on what we got. enjoy. does nd have the ability at receiver to compete with clemson after 2 injuries?

Love that you’re already looking past Georgia Tech. Let’s hope the team doesn’t.

To answer your question, at receiver alone, no. They don’t have a guy of chase claypool or miles boykin’s caliber to strike fear into the heart of clemson’s defense. It has to be a by-committee approach with tight ends and running backs chipping in significantly. ben skowronek and Javon mcKinley have two combined touchdown catches, both coming from skowronek against Pitt. clemson isn’t going to let a guy like skowronek do

CHARLES LeCLAIRE | USA TODAY Sports

Irish junior placekicker Johnathan Doerer kicks a field goal during Notre Dame’s 45-3 victory over Pitt on Saturday at Heinz Field. By JIMMY WARD

Associate sports editor

notre dame head football coach brian Kelly spoke to the media on a Zoom call on monday after his team’s 45-3 victory over Pitt. Kelly and his team are looking forward to another road game next weekend when they meet Georgia Tech at bobby dodd stadium in Atlanta.

Kelly shared his immediate thoughts following the victory in Pittsburgh.

“certainly coming off an improved performance, we want to build on that against a Georgia Tech team going on the road for a second week in a row,” Kelly said. “We certainly learned about the procedures necessary to have an effective road game during this pandemic, so we feel a lot more comfortable certainly being able to take our team on the road after going through it last week at Pittsburgh.”

Last week was the first time the Irish have hit the road this season,

head coach niele Ivey gives first press conference

FOOTBALL COLUmN

Questions from ND’s big win

Hayden Adams

sports editor

see KeLLY PAGE 15 what he did this weekend; he’s going to have to be the move-the-chains, steady hands kind of guy we saw against Louisville. They’ll also probably give mcKinley more problems than he had with Louisville, and look how he handled that. backing those guys up is Joe Wilkins Jr. Aside from his drop against Florida state, Wilkins’ lack of production is partly a product of him not being able to create separation, but mostly book over- and underthrowing him on endzone targets in pretty much every game. maybe a guy like micah Jones makes his way into the two-deep with his 6-foot-5 frame. he has no career catches, so it would require him bursting onto the scenes like Wilkins against duke, but I wouldn’t hold my breath at this point, especially because the Irish are lacking speed (more on that in a second) and