After Brady Quinn took over at quarterback, Carlyle Holiday switched to wide receiver. He spent most of the spring and second half of the season learning a new position. When this fall came around, it appeared that he was ready to have an impact on an experienced receiving corps.
However, Saturday night against Brigham Young, Holiday saw little action, and no passes were thrown his way. Tuesday, Irish coach Tyrone Willingham said this won't be the norm.
"We would like to see Carlyle play a bigger role," Willingham said. "For whatever reason, sometimes the rotation doesn't work out in one's favor, but that's something that we will be looking at to see if we can find ways to get Carlyle more involved in what takes place."
When asked if he wished that he had someone like him who could make something happen when the Cougars were so aggressive in coming after the Irish, Willingham replied, "I'd have to say yes to that."
Grant may play
Irish coach Tyrone Willingham said that senior Ryan Grant might play Saturday against Michigan.
"Right now he'll begin the week practicing as our No. 1 back, and we'll see where that goes," Willingham said. "That may mean he may be in the lineup, or he may not be in the lineup. It just depends on how strong he is and how the injury responds to practice this week."
Grant had said last week that he was going to play against Brigham Young. However, by game time, he said he wasn't quite ready.
"I think that [not facing contact in practice] was part of it," Grant said. "It was more of the fact that there were other guys who had taken more reps and [the coaching staff] just felt that if I would have went that maybe I wouldn't have been prepared and maybe that would have hurt my leg more."
Grant also said he wants to play. He feels he can help his team win.
"I feel like the team needs me because I know I can help the team," he said. "I definitely don't think that's an excuse for what happened [on Saturday]. We as a team didn't play up to our ability. But I'm just happy because I feel that I can be a boost to this team in a lot of different ways."
Calling their number
During Saturday's game, officials called the number of the player that committed the penalty. Last season, they didn't call the number, the just announced the penalty. Willingham said he wasn't sure what to expect, but he didn't mind it.
"I gather from the first game, it's been a pleasant surprise for me," he said. "I was once not necessarily in favor of that, but it didn't seem to create any undo problems. The officials did a good job with it and structurally it went well."
Goodbye, GameDay
ESPN's College GameDay will not be coming to Notre Dame Saturday, as originally anticipated.
Instead, the college football show will travel to the University of South Carolina, where they will broadcast the South Carolina-Georgia game. Former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, who led the Irish to a national championship in 1988 and left the program after the 1996 season, is now the head coach of South Carolina.
