Rockne's Roundtable

Tennessee Lamb,

During the summer workouts, there can be no football-related involvement whatsoever between the players and coaches — other than the strength and conditioning staff headed by Paul Longo.

Even that interaction is relegated to either work in weight room or "voluntary" workouts dealing with conditioning. However, if players gather for 7-on-7 passing drills in the summer, not even Longo nor his staff are allowed to be there. No grad assistants, no interns. The only member who would be allowed in a 7-on-7 workout is an athletic trainer for safety purposes, in case someone were to sprain an ankle, etc.

In fact, after the Blue-Gold Game, Brian Kelly mentioned that while the coaches can give everyone an outline of what specifics to hone or emphasize in the workouts during the summer and not just chuck the ball around like you're in the backyard, it's the players who have to take ownership of themselves.

"Now this summer, they've got to help themselves," he said. "The guy that really commits to the details this summer is probably one of the guys that's going to start."

He then jokingly added: "So if you can go to any of those voluntary workouts, then let me know. I'd be happy to field that when I'm on the golf course. Just text me if you have that opportunity."

By the way, this is what happens every summer: Somebody "hears" that someone is "lighting it up" in the workouts. Um, yeah, in 7-on-7, that's going to happen, or should. The offense has all the advantages, and if you don't complete about 90 percent of those plays, something's wrong. But people are so starved to hear anything positive over the summer that it becomes like wildfire.

I will make you one other guarantee. For the 29th straight year since I've been doing this, the players will return in "excellent shape," will be "closer than ever" and will be "really excited about the coming season."

Nothing ever changes in that area.