By Brian HamiltonNEW YORK -- Brian Kelly sat down for coffee in Manhattan on Tuesday morning and mused about issues big and small relating to Notre Dame football. And amid the chatter about the job and the challenges and the impending spring practices was a small nugget of significant interest:
Theo Riddick is officially now a wide receiver.
The sophomore-to-be showed explosive bursts as a freshman running back, but Kelly confirmed plans to shift him outside in order to maximize the use of his offensive weapons with the Irish.
"We have to get more touches for the three dynamic players at running back," Kelly said. "We got three really dynamic players that need to get on the field.
Photo: Theo Riddick made an impact as a running back as a freshman in 2009. (Darron Cummings/AP)
"So if you assume that the other guy we have to find room for is Cierre
Wood, then if you have Cierre and Theo, somebody's not going to get a
chance to get touches. So somebody had to go to wide receiver. And Theo
has the best overall skills. So he's going to get a chance to compete
for that inside slot receiver (spot) right away."
Kelly basically envisions Riddick, who rushed for 167 yards and 5.5 yards per carry as a freshman, as a clone of Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers, a multifaceted performer that can help in numerous ways.
"He can catch the fly sweep, you can get screens to him, you get him to run the ball, he can be out in the slot, he can do a lot of things," Kelly said.
The one catch: Riddick first must recover first from shoulder surgery that could limit how much he does in spring practice, when Kelly plans on installing the entire offensive repertoire and seeing how his new team responds.
"We need him to get up and get him going," Kelly said.
Kelly basically envisions Riddick, who rushed for 167 yards and 5.5 yards per carry as a freshman, as a clone of Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers, a multifaceted performer that can help in numerous ways.
"He can catch the fly sweep, you can get screens to him, you get him to run the ball, he can be out in the slot, he can do a lot of things," Kelly said.
The one catch: Riddick first must recover first from shoulder surgery that could limit how much he does in spring practice, when Kelly plans on installing the entire offensive repertoire and seeing how his new team responds.
"We need him to get up and get him going," Kelly said.
I think that this is the best running back that Notre Dame has and is as big a mistake as moving Golden Tate to receiver. Tate may have been a great receiver but he was even better running the ball. His brilliance showed every time he touched the ball in the wildcat. Riddick is the same way. Every team that wins championships in college football has a big time running game. Armando, Gray, Hughes are not there. They have not been there from the beginning and I don't think they will be continuing forward. First thing that Kelly has done that I feel is a mistake. 5.5 yards per is nothing to sneeze at. That is a freshman none the less.