By Brian HamiltonNot 48 hours before the season opener, Notre Dame has a new kicker.
David Ruffer will handle placekicking and kickoff duties on Saturday against Purdue, Irish coach Brian Kelly announced Thursday -- when sophomore Nick Tausch was listed as the No. 1 kicker on a depth chart released just this past Monday.
"Ruffer we felt had a great week, ball comes off his foot really well, he's earned that starting position," Kelly said.
Ruffer, who joined the team as a walk-on in 2008, went 5-for-5 on field goals and hit 9 of 10 extra points in 2009, replacing the injured Tausch for the last three games. Before that, Tausch set a school record with 14 straight field goal makes in 2009.
Photo: Notre Dame kicker Nick Tausch reacts after missing his second field goal during the second quarter vs. Navy in 2009. (AP / Darron Cummings)
Kelly added there were no more
changes besides likely seeing both Chris Stewart and Chris Watt at left
guard and Braxston Cave and Dan Wenger at center. Here were the rest of
this thoughts from his post-practice appearance:
On tight end Mike Ragone's status: "He was seen again this afternoon. Headaches. A little bit better, but clearly has vertigo and an ear infection. He's on antibiotics. I would think he is doubtful for Saturday."
On "Perfect Practice" Thursday: "Well our completion of our work I guess is what we're most excited about. We're not moving into 48 hours prior to the game which is a lot of focus just on the game. Today was our last practice, we call it Perfect Practice Thursday, we want perfection, we go fast, we demand our players are locked in with the details in mind. that was the practice today, about 15 periods. Spend a lot of time in special teams, lot of time in two minute offense, usually finish up with four minute end game scenarios and controlling the clock.
On having an actual huddle: "This is also the time we work on our huddle. Yes, in fact, we do have a traditional huddle. And we love to go into a traditional huddle. That means we generally have the game in hand and we're working the clock. I always love finishing the day with a huddle. That means it's close to game time."
On the plan to announce captains Friday: "Tomorrow will be what we call 'Focus Friday,' focus in on the game plan, watch a little film, move the guys around a little bit, stretch them out. and then get to the pep rally. We're excited about that. At that time, the normal tradition of the pep rally, we'll announce every Friday our game day captains at the pep rally. At that time, our game day captains will be informed as their stature is also shared with all of the fans at the rally."
On his coin toss preference: "I like to have the football. I think the only time I look at deferring is if there's weather. But by and large, my career has been about trying to get the football. That's been me traditionally, and that's probably what'll happen if we win the toss Saturday."
On any last words of advice for quarterback Dayne Crist: "You don't have to win the Heisman today. Take what they give you, be patient, let the offense come to you, you don't have to force it. There are plenty of answers for you out there. Let the game come to you. If you do that, you'll be fine. And for me, have confidence. We would not put you back there if we did not think you'll do a great job."
On the "48-hour" staff meetings two days before a game: "We go over things like end of game scenarios. If you're in a situation where you can get two, do you go for two and the win or kick it and go to overtime? How are you going to play your overtime? Fakes, timeouts, how we're going to utilize those. Situation substitution. All those things you have to really talk about and have those answers already in place. When it happens, no time to think about it, already made that decision. Two days way, takes the emotion out of those decisions".
On whether a team can be overprepared: "I think any time you have 29 pracitces you probably have too much in going into the game. That's the nature of it. But I've been doing it long enough that I'm not going to pull stuff out that they can't handle. Sometimes when you don't know your team and you have all this installation for 29 practices you're pulling stuff out that you worked on three weeks ago but you hadn't worked on the last couple of days. I'll stick to the script for our team."
On whether he'd watch future Irish opponents open their seasons Thursday night: "Not really. At this point, our focus is strictly on us. From an enjoyment standpoint, after my show, if I go and put something on, it's either that or the Food Channel."
On how he can tell a defense is up to snuff: "Closing speed to the football - when a hole opens up, it closes quickly. I always look at, we've got a window there to hit it and, boom, it's closed in a second. I like the way we've been able to close to the football. And contested balls on the perimeter. If you can just drop back and throw curls all day on the outside, that's a tough deal. We've been able to compete on the edge against pretty good receivers and our corners have been pretty competitive competing for the ball."
On the breakdown of play-calling with offensive coordinator Charley Molnar: "I call the good ones, he calls the bad ones. He'll be in the press box, we'll be talking down and distance, we'll be talking coverages and fronts. Tim Hinton will be looking at protections. So the information I get really is down and distance and hash from coach Molnar, suggestions from the back end in terms of coverages. And then I'm talking to coach Hinton relative to protections and things we may need to do."
On preparing for two straight dual threat quarterbacks: "It's important that you have within your defensive structure a knowledge base of who the quarterback is. You've got to be disciplined as far as how you get after the quarterback. You've got to have some things in place that maybe you put a spy on him and keep an eye on him. there are a lot of things within our defensive structure that, if we have a problem with a quarterback that's breaking contain, we've got some answers."
On tight end Mike Ragone's status: "He was seen again this afternoon. Headaches. A little bit better, but clearly has vertigo and an ear infection. He's on antibiotics. I would think he is doubtful for Saturday."
On "Perfect Practice" Thursday: "Well our completion of our work I guess is what we're most excited about. We're not moving into 48 hours prior to the game which is a lot of focus just on the game. Today was our last practice, we call it Perfect Practice Thursday, we want perfection, we go fast, we demand our players are locked in with the details in mind. that was the practice today, about 15 periods. Spend a lot of time in special teams, lot of time in two minute offense, usually finish up with four minute end game scenarios and controlling the clock.
On having an actual huddle: "This is also the time we work on our huddle. Yes, in fact, we do have a traditional huddle. And we love to go into a traditional huddle. That means we generally have the game in hand and we're working the clock. I always love finishing the day with a huddle. That means it's close to game time."
On the plan to announce captains Friday: "Tomorrow will be what we call 'Focus Friday,' focus in on the game plan, watch a little film, move the guys around a little bit, stretch them out. and then get to the pep rally. We're excited about that. At that time, the normal tradition of the pep rally, we'll announce every Friday our game day captains at the pep rally. At that time, our game day captains will be informed as their stature is also shared with all of the fans at the rally."
On his coin toss preference: "I like to have the football. I think the only time I look at deferring is if there's weather. But by and large, my career has been about trying to get the football. That's been me traditionally, and that's probably what'll happen if we win the toss Saturday."
On any last words of advice for quarterback Dayne Crist: "You don't have to win the Heisman today. Take what they give you, be patient, let the offense come to you, you don't have to force it. There are plenty of answers for you out there. Let the game come to you. If you do that, you'll be fine. And for me, have confidence. We would not put you back there if we did not think you'll do a great job."
On the "48-hour" staff meetings two days before a game: "We go over things like end of game scenarios. If you're in a situation where you can get two, do you go for two and the win or kick it and go to overtime? How are you going to play your overtime? Fakes, timeouts, how we're going to utilize those. Situation substitution. All those things you have to really talk about and have those answers already in place. When it happens, no time to think about it, already made that decision. Two days way, takes the emotion out of those decisions".
On whether a team can be overprepared: "I think any time you have 29 pracitces you probably have too much in going into the game. That's the nature of it. But I've been doing it long enough that I'm not going to pull stuff out that they can't handle. Sometimes when you don't know your team and you have all this installation for 29 practices you're pulling stuff out that you worked on three weeks ago but you hadn't worked on the last couple of days. I'll stick to the script for our team."
On whether he'd watch future Irish opponents open their seasons Thursday night: "Not really. At this point, our focus is strictly on us. From an enjoyment standpoint, after my show, if I go and put something on, it's either that or the Food Channel."
On how he can tell a defense is up to snuff: "Closing speed to the football - when a hole opens up, it closes quickly. I always look at, we've got a window there to hit it and, boom, it's closed in a second. I like the way we've been able to close to the football. And contested balls on the perimeter. If you can just drop back and throw curls all day on the outside, that's a tough deal. We've been able to compete on the edge against pretty good receivers and our corners have been pretty competitive competing for the ball."
On the breakdown of play-calling with offensive coordinator Charley Molnar: "I call the good ones, he calls the bad ones. He'll be in the press box, we'll be talking down and distance, we'll be talking coverages and fronts. Tim Hinton will be looking at protections. So the information I get really is down and distance and hash from coach Molnar, suggestions from the back end in terms of coverages. And then I'm talking to coach Hinton relative to protections and things we may need to do."
On preparing for two straight dual threat quarterbacks: "It's important that you have within your defensive structure a knowledge base of who the quarterback is. You've got to be disciplined as far as how you get after the quarterback. You've got to have some things in place that maybe you put a spy on him and keep an eye on him. there are a lot of things within our defensive structure that, if we have a problem with a quarterback that's breaking contain, we've got some answers."
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