Kelly updates CJ Daniels status as bye week continues

By Hunt Palmer

Brian Kelly reiterated Tuesday that his team is approaching the open date with eyes on improvement rather than rest.

“We’re not at a point in our development as a team where we can kind of tap the breaks,” Kelly said. “We just have too much development to be done. We need this work. It’s important that we continue to work on the things that have improved. We’re getting better as a football team, but we have a lot of work left. We need to take advantage of this week.

The team worked out for two hours in full pads on Tuesday. Kelly called the work “physical”.

The team will get time off on Friday and into Saturday morning before honing in on Ole Miss.

Kelly was tight-lipped on the injury situation with his team. The SEC mandates reports during the week leading up to a conference game. No such requirements are in place for an open date.

Asked about true freshman Caden Durham’s injury status, Kelly eschewed the question.

“He’s doing great. One hundred percent. Thousand. Million,” he said with a smirk. “You’re not going to get much from me on injuries this week. This is a bye week. You may not want to go down that road this week.”

Kelly did confirm that Durham’s injury occurred on his second touchdown of the game against South Alabama. An offensive lineman fell on his foot.

The only sliver of information Kelly would offer was an update on transfer wide receiver CJ Daniels.

“He aggravated an old knee injury, but we got good reports on it,” Kelly said. “We were obviously concerned because he had an ACL (injury), but this is not an ACL. It turned out to be the best case scenario for us.

Daniels has made 20 catches for 239 yards and has yet to reach the end zone. Last season at Liberty he made 10 touchdown receptions.