Quick Hits: Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly's Virginia Tech week press conference

Fresh off its top-10 win over Stanford, No. 6 Notre Dame (5-0) will take its show on the road for a top-25 matchup at No. 24 Virginia Tech.

Before taking on the Hokies, Irish head coach Brian Kelly spoke with reporters on Tuesday.

Here are some of the highlights from his press conference.

• Left guard Alex Bars will have surgery next week for the ACL/MCL injury that has ended his season, Kelly said.

• Running back Tony Jones Jr., who left the Stanford game with an ankle injury, will attempt to practice on Tuesday, Kelly said.

• On preparing for the atmosphere at Virginia Tech: "We won't be caught off guard going into Lane Stadium." 

• Kelly said the communication aspect for Trevor Ruhland filling in at guard haven't been an issue because he's learned the importance of it while playing as the backup center.

• On what freshman Houston Griffith needs to improve at the nickelback position: "Technique, technique, technique."

• Kelly said defensive tackle Jerry Tillery, who has already graduated, has taken his work ethic to another level as a football player. "This is much more of a football piece to the story than it has been at any other time."

• Kelly said safety Jalen Elliott knows the defense so well he was telling a defensive tackle what his assignment was during a meeting last Friday. "It's amazing his depth of knowledge in our entire defense."

• Kelly said he was only counting on Dexter Williams being able to handle 8-10 carries in the Stanford game, but he proved his was in good enough shape to take on the 21 carries. Now Kelly's confident in leaning on Williams moving forward.