Notre Dame head Coach Brian Kelly is slowly seeing his players make some headway as they adapt to his way of doing things.

"Last week we weren't very good. I think I made that pretty clear," he said on Saturday, referring to the “we stink’” comments he made last week.

"This week I wanted to evaluate three practices and then make a decision. In all three practice we started better, we finished better and we made progress. We still have a long way to go."

Kelly has placed a huge emphasis on his players making fast plays, and it has taken some of them time to acclimatize to the rapid-fire pace he demands.

The head coach also wanted to change the mindset of the players, some of whom were sluggish at the start of spring practice.

"That's really job one for us," added the former Cincinnati coach. "I'd rather leave the spring knowing how we're going to compete and how we're going to come to work every day."

The coaching team laid down the law at the start of the week.

"We drew a line in the sand. We said, 'Listen, this is where we're going to be with this. If you don't want to jump on board then it's going to be addition by subtraction.’"

Training and mindsets were put away at the end of the week as Notre Dame recruit Matt James was laid to rest after his tragic death in Florida last week. Kelly and fellow coaching staff, along with Kyle Rudolph, paid their respects to the family at Friday evening’s visitation.

"This is a family that needs all the support right now, because yesterday was Matt's birthday as well. So it made for a very difficult time," said Kelly. "But we were able to gain some closure with the James family."