Notre Dame football: Day Two shows ND consistency
MARION, Ind. - Perhaps the most revealing nuggets from the Notre Dame football team’s relatively clandestine off-campus training camp venture is that backup safety Chris Badger might be the most proficient rock climber on the team and that the facility’s zip line had to be reinforced to go beyond its normal 250-pound weight limit.
As for actual football news coming out of Shiloh Park Retreat and Conference Center Tuesday, it remained whisper quality when it came to nuanced information. Day Two brought more generalities from Irish head coach Brian Kelly, who has locked out the media and fan base from the four-day, team-building experiment 100 miles southeast of the ND campus.
The first wide-angle look at the 2013 Irish figures to come Friday, when the media are invited in for the entire practice session, Day Five overall and the first session of the preseason to be held on the Notre Dame campus.
“I think consistency is what you’re looking at now,” Kelly said in a und.com-produced video in talking about the most striking part of Day Two’s workout. “Are the guys that on that first day had all that energy -- are they bringing that same kind of workmanlike attitude? And by and large, that’s what we saw.
“We’ve got a veteran team, a lot of guys that have done this before. And then we’re starting to have an influx of younger guys – a lot of com-petition a lot of roles that have yet to be defined. But I would say, by and large, this is a veteran group that knows how to come out here and practice the right way, you know day in and day out.
“So good, consistent prac-tice. They know what they need to work on. I think we can build on it every single day.”
The Irish return to the practice field Wednesday for day three of Camp Shiloh, this time working in helmets and shoulder pads.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but it’s been a pleasant surprise,” ND fifth-year senior offensive tackle Zack Martin said of the move to the secluded facility. “Everything’s real close. They put us in dorms, not by your position or really your age group, so I’m with a bunch of defensive guys, a lot of young guys in my room. There’s a chance to get to know each other.”
And on the practice field?
“I think the biggest thing’s the speed,” he said. “Offensively and defensively, we’re moving very quick.”
After practice the team engaged in taking on a man-made rock-climbing wall and riding back down on a zip line.
“We’ll do some things that are not football-related,” Kelly said of the camp agenda. “I think we’ll enjoy it.”
