Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly Apologizes for Alienating Charlie Weis Recruits

As if last Saturday’s decisive loss to USC wasn’t tough enough on Notre Dame, head coach Brian Kelly triggered some dissension in the ranks with his post-practice comments on Thursday. As reported by ESPN, Kelly implied that the players he and his staff had recruited were visibly outperforming those brought in by previous head coach Charlie Weis.

Last night, according to the ESPN report (citing The Chicago Tribune), Kelly apologized directly to a group of the upperclassmen in question. He was responding to some very public negative reactions, including a tweet from star linebacker Manti Te’o in which he said he was “Playin for my bros and that's it!!!!”

Kelly is already an offense-first head coach, so the last thing he needs is to further alienate a veteran defense loaded with Weis recruits. After all, with the exception of a 59-33 shootout with Air Force, the defense has played just as big a role Notre Dame’s 4-3 start as QB Tommy Rees’ much-scrutinized attack.

This far into the season, it’s unlikely that there will be any lasting repercussions from Kelly’s faux pas, especially considering that he had the good sense to back off as soon as he realized that his players were taking offense. Then again, Kelly probably should have had enough sense not to make such a comment in the first place.

A likely home win this afternoon over 2-5 Navy will go a long way toward healing any lingering resentment in the Irish ranks. It had better, because with a road date at surprising Wake Forest next Saturday, Notre Dame will need everyone’s heads in the game.