Notre Dame adds 3 coaches, 5 recruits

Published Jan. 12, 2010 10:39 p.m. ET

foxsports

Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly brought in his first group of recruits and his final three assistant coaches on Tuesday.

Kelly announced Tuesday night that he has hired Kerry Cooks from Wisconsin to coach Notre Dames outside linebackers, Tim Hinton from Cincinnati to coach running backs and Ed Warinner, who had been the offensive coordinator at Kansas, the last three seasons, to coach the offensive line.

He also announced the lone holdover from Charlie Weis' staff, Tony Alford, will switch from coaching running backs to wide receivers. Paul Longo has been added as director of football strength and conditioning, following Kelly from Cincinnati.

The announcements came on the same day when Notre Dame added a quarterback and four other players to its roster after being in danger of having no scholarship quarterbacks ready to go full speed for spring practice.

Tommy Rees of Lake Forest, Ill., was one of five high school players to enroll early as spring semester classes began Tuesday. Rees likely will get plenty of work at quarterback with Dayne Crist, the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster, expected to be limited as he recovers from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee sustained Oct. 31 against Washington State.

Kelly has said the Crist isn't expected to be fully ready for spring practice. With Jimmy Clausen heading to the NFL a year early, Crist is expected to be the starting quarterback when the Irish open the season Sept. 4 at home against Purdue.

Kelly has said he also is considering moving receiver John Goodman, who played quarterback in high school, to quarterback.

Walk-on quarterback Nate Montana also is back. The son of former Notre Dame standout Joe Montana had transferred to Pasadena City (Calif.) College before the start of last season to get more experience.

Montana played in five games for the Lancers (5-5), completing 31-of-88 passes (35 percent) with five interceptions and two touchdowns.

The four others who enrolled early Tuesday are safety Chris Badger of Provo, Utah, cornerbacks Spencer Boyd of Cape Coral, Fla., and Lo Wood of Apopka, Fla., and receiver Tai-ler Jones from Gainesville, Ga., whose father, Andre, was a defensive end on Notre Dame's last national championship team in 1988.

They are the fifth-largest group of recruits to enroll early at Notre Dame. Other high school players who plan to play at Notre Dame next season will sign their letters of intent on national signing day, Feb. 3.