Brian Kelly met with the press on Tuesday afternoon to officially kick off the 2016 football season game week opener against Texas. Due to the wonders of television we still have nearly 5 full days until we see real live football from the Irish but we’ll make it soon enough. The slate this Saturday is loaded from afternoon to night, so rejoice in that comfort.

Since the game is pushed back–really a day and a half in comparison to the usual afternoon kickoff–the team will leave for Austin late on Friday evening. Prior to Kelly’s meeting with the press the annual two-deep was circulated which allows us to update our full depth chart before kickoff against Texas:

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There are no surprises on the offensive side of the ball. Despite generally believed to be better during fall camp Weishar slides behind Smythe but they’ve been 1A and 1B options for weeks. All of the skill positions remain the same from our last depth chart update. Interestingly, despite recently stating that former walk-on Chris Finke was a backup in the slot it’s Holmes who gets the nod on paper.

Kelly hasn’t decided (or won’t name) the quarterback to get the first reps in Austin, although Kizer is listed first with the “OR” designation between him and Zaire.

Although he’s not starting expect Tristen Hoge to see the field, per Kelly. He’s the backup as listed at right guard but is also the first center off the bench behind Mustipher.

All of Dexter, Coney, Stepherson, and White are on the depth chart and available to play per Kelly. Unless something comes down from the school before Sunday we’ll have these players suited up. However, I’m curious to see if the Irish can get away with not playing any of them on Sunday and it’s doubtful any of them would be truly needed in week two against Nevada, either. At worst, the school would probably hand out 2-game suspensions so maybe they can get away with time served heading into Michigan State?

That probably won’t happen, though. Everyone except White is kind of needed right now.

In a small twist, Coney gets moved behind Morgan at middle linebacker as Martini becomes the starter on the weak-side. In reality, it appears Martini is the backup at all three positions.

Back around National Signing Day it seemed like the Irish could have 6 or 7 strong-side linebackers depending on how they moved pieces around. The point was that there were that many young body types ready to fill that position. With Martini now sliding over to the other side it’s true freshman Jamir Jones who moves into the two-deep.

Kelly mentioned Jamir Jones (and fellow freshman Julian Okwara) as the young players who have the pass rushing ability to see the field. As such, they will travel with the team to Texas–and maybe we can infer so far at this point–neither will not be taking a redshirt.

We’re still listing Jay Hayes on the injury report, although in NFL terms he’s heading into the Texas game as “probable.” However, his absence from the end of camp allowed Trumbetti and Daelin Hayes to up their game and solidify themselves as the two-deep…for now. I’m not sure if they’ll really test Hayes’ ankle early in the game but Kelly also mentioned that they aren’t going to throw Daelin Hayes to the wolves early in the game either.

Obviously, the official Notre Dame dept chart does not list a nickel corner. Per that chart the top four corners are Luke/Love and Crawford/Coleman. We’ll see if that means Love is legitimately a backup at outside corner because all through camp he was believed to be confined to the nickel corner spot.

The biggest news of the day was 6th-year senior Avery Sebastian moving over to free safety and getting the starting nod against Texas. It’s genuinely scary but we knew there wasn’t going to be any happy answers here. Virtually no one knows what to expect from Sebastian who has spent most of the last 18 month since his transfer from California-Berkeley injured and/or receiving minimal reps at strong safety. He did have a great workout during one of the open practices during camp but otherwise his name was barely mentioned.

The hamstring suffered by Studstill was just too much for him to step into the starting job. Even without injury it was going to be a lot to ask. Kelly really laid it on thick about Sebastian’s ability to do his job and not make mental errors. I’m sure for now they’ll covet that stability but in the event that Texas runs something north of 65 plays we can probably expect Studstill to play 20 snaps or so.