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Notre Dame
vs. Purdue When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday TV: NBC Radio: 1190 AM, 92.3 FM |
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Notre Dame returned from its 50-10 thrashing of Navy in Dublin, Ireland, ready to hit the ground running in preparation for the Irish’s home game against Purdue on Saturday.
Coach Brian Kelly said during a Sunday teleconference that he is not worried about fatigue being a factor.
“Our trainers and physicians were there (Sunday), and they feel like the plan has been effective in making sure that we didn’t have guys that were going to be fatigued on the way back,” Kelly said. “We will monitor it during the week. If we’ve got to make an adjustment, we will, but I don’t see that there is going to be any issues moving forward.”
Notre Dame had few issues in their season opener.
First-time starting quarterback Everett Golson managed the game well, completing 12 of 18 passes for 144 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Golson will remain the starter even with Tommy Rees, who started 12 games last season, returning from suspension this week.
Kelly said Rees will complete with Andrew Hendrix, who completed 4 of 5 passes for 53 yards against Navy, for the backup spot. Rees, along with linebacker Carlo Calabrese, was suspended for the season opener because of a May arrest.
“Tommy now will get a chance to take some reps and get some work,” Kelly said. “That is going to be a process. You don’t just jump in there and pick up where you left off. He’s got a lot of work to do, and it will be nice to have him back in practice where he can go in there and get some meaningful reps.”
Along with Rees getting back into the mix, the Irish’s secondary will be preparing for a more significant challenge in pass protection. The Irish gave up 192 passing yards against the Midshipmen with Bennett Jackson and KeiVarae Russell making their first starts at cornerback.
Purdue quarterbacks Robert Marve and Rob Henry combined to throw for 372 yards and completed 37 of 47 passes. Marve had a career-high 295 passing yards and three touchdowns.
The Boilermakers, who defeated Eastern Kentucky 48-6 Saturday, will also have quarterback Caleb TerBush back after he served a one-game suspension.
“We will get a real good look at where we are,” Kelly said of his secondary. “It is like I told our team: this is a process. Every week we are going to get challenged in different areas.
“(The) challenge against Navy was obviously the option and the things that go into preparing for that. This week, it is going to be more of a balance between the run and pass. We will learn a lot more about our football team after Week 2.”
Kelly also updated the situation involving Ernest Jones, the director of player development and engagement for of Notre Dame. Kelly said Jones had a bad reaction to sinus medication and suffered from dehydration on the return trip from Ireland.
Jones was in stable condition at Memorial Hospital of South Bend, the university announced, and Kelly said Jones could be released Sunday afternoon.
“We were very fortunate, we had Dr. (Jim) Moriarity (the university’s director of sports medicine) and Dr. (Christopher) Balint and Dr. (Brian) Ratigan,” Kelly said. “They were able to give him great care.”
