Kelly: Few knocks now on Notre Dame RB Wood

By Brian Hamilton

Cierre Wood was basically a bystander earlier this season, the Notre Dame sophomore battling to move up the depth chart as he attempted to ensure that his football I.Q. matched his natural athletic ability.

Now, Wood must carry the load for the Irish with starter Armando Allen out for the year, a preeminent role given that the run game must also take pressure off of freshman quarterback Tommy Rees.

"He's getting so much better," Irish coach Brian Kelly said of Wood on Thursday. "Just his ability to go out there and compete every snap. Remember, he was third when we got into camp, and now he's taking the first-team reps. That requires a concentration level that he's never had to have before. He's been sitting there watching. Now he's in there and he's got to be locked in. That matures someone quickly."

Here was more from Kelly on Rees' development, Dayne Crist's involvement and recruits at Yankee Stadium...
On Crist's involvement: "Dayne is in all of our meetings. Dayne is still learning and absorbing a lot relative to new game plans each week as well. More for him, he's staying engaged. I don't know there's a lot of information that's flowing from Dayne to Tommy. He's been immobilized, too, to the point where he really hasn't been able to get around practice. More than anything else, what I would say about Dayne is he's stayed engaged, he's at meetings, he's still asking questions. Because he's still in the learning process as well."

On where Crist was stationed for the Utah game, and who can travel to New York: "He was up top. We could not have him on the field because we couldn't get him out of the way. We were afraid of injury. He's not cleared to travel. We won't be able to travel him, Armando and (Bill) Flavin because of their situations. They just can't travel. But pretty much everybody else will travel."

On whether the playbook opens for Rees: "That's probably accurate, where we try to give him some more opportunities within what I believe are is strengths. He distributes very well, his ball placement, it's all now about what he sees and how he reacts. We spent a lot(of time) this week on some plays in our running game that can help him. But obviously our receivers are going to have to do a very good job. He is still a true freshman. This is his second start. We have to keep it in perspective."

On satisfaction with the run game: "If you really look at some of the plays that would get us over the 100-yard mark is our quick option shovel that we've run a lot. Most teams would attack that end and pitch it. We shovel it, so it gets counted in our pass stats. It's really a run call for us. They are skewed a little bit relative to our offense. I'm pleased with our ability to pick and choose when we run the football based upon what we did against Utah and Tulsa."

On the wide receiver corps: "We're just battling with the guys that are healthy. It's not ideal, no question. We want some continuity. Michael Floyd has been a pretty consistent performer for us. That's probably the one area that you look back on that's been difficult for us. We put so much time and effort into getting Theo Riddick ready, and we get him there, and we lose him. They've really battled. The next guy has stepped up, whether it's been Robby (Toma) or TJ (Jones) or (John) Goodman or this past weekend with Duval (Kamara)."

On Brian Smith's double-duty this weekend: "He's going to play a little bit of the drop. Carlo (Calabrese) can't play the whole game, just because he's been out. His (work) volume won't be such that he can play 60, 70 plays. (Smith) is going to have to play at both positions."

On outside linebackers defending the option: "They have to defend the arc, and they have to play quarterback to pitch. Unless you move the front and change some things up, which obviously we're going to do a lot of those things. But when you really break it down, it's their ability to defend, take on a block, shed it, and either get to the quarterback or pitch. It's not unlike the inside position, but you're attacking it in a different manner."

On TJ Jones' availability: "He'll play. Robby will start, but he'll dress and he'll play."

On filming practice without scissor lifts: "We just altered the practice. So now instead of going the traditional way, when we want inside run, we just position ourself and go 53 1/3 in terms of our length. It's worked out pretty good for us. It's an adjustment we have to make, but that's something that's not a hard thing to do until we get this (investigation) complete."

On recruits at Yankee Stadium: "We can give out tickets and we have a huge ticket list of requests. Certainly we'll have somebody manning the booth and giving out the tickets. But we cannot have any personal contact with them."

Photo: Notre Dame running back Cierre Wood, running the ball against Utah, started the season third on the depth chart. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty)

Source: http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/11/kelly-few-knocks-now-on-notre-dame-rb-wood.html

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