As I begin another season of columns about ND football one thing is very clear. Brian Kelly, beginning his eighth year as head coach, is on the hot seat. Kelly has plenty of pressure on him to turn things around in South Bend - or this will be is last year as head man.

After a terrible season in 2016, when the Irish managed only four wins, Kelly faces the deserved criticism of Irish fans and alumni that ND is not moving into the elite of college football but are becoming an after-thought. Instead of the Irish showing improvement, ND has been in reverse since they lost the national title to Alabama during the 2012 season.The ND administration decided to go out and get Kelly help. The Irish have new coordinators for offense, defense and special teams and new strength and conditioning leader. In all the Irish went out and got six new assistant coaches, and from what I have read, they paid big prices to get some of these new coordinators.So it all falls on Kelly. He got the help people believed he needed, did a creditable job recruiting, and now it is time to see if he can bring the program back, or be just another coach who has failed at ND since the departure of Lou Holtz.Kelly starts with plenty of depth in the running back department, but the Irish are light on proven receivers and have a new starting quarterback. Defensively he has good mix of experience and youth. He has the players, but you won't know if the young prospects are as good as you think or if the experienced players can be the leaders you need, until the games are played.ND enters 2017 unranked, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. More later.Here is a look at ND's probable starters and key backups for the new season:As we said there is no quarterback controversy this year as Brandon Wimbush is the starter. A junior at 6-2 and 226 pounds he has had a very good fall practice thus far. He is bright, has a strong arm and speed to run the football.As to backups, number one is Ian Book, a sophomore. He had a good spring and played well in the spring game. Third and fourth spots go to freshman Avery Davis and senior Montgomery VanGorder.Running back is the one position ND has plenty of talent and experience. All have looked good in the preseason drills this fall. In order of ranking, first to fifth, its Josh Adams, Dexter Williams, Tony Jones Jr., C.J. Holmes and Deon McIntosh. Adams and Williams are juniors, Jones and McIntosh are sophomores and Holmes, a freshman.ND has some talented receivers led by outside receiver and junior Equanimeous St. Brown. There are some others worth mentioning including Cam Smith, Freddy Canteen, Chase Claypool, Miles Boykin, C.J. Sanders and Javon McKinley. Kevin Stephenson, who was so outstanding in the spring game in 2016 and was the second most productive returnee on the roster, has been in the doghouse all fall camp and is rumored to be suspended for the first four games.The tight end position has a good one-two punch in starter Durham Smythe and Alize Mack.Great running backs need room to run and that, of course, is up to the offensive line. ND has experience with the projected starters being: left tackle Mike McGlinchey; left guard Quentin Nelson; center, Sam Mustipher; right guard Alex Bars; and right tackle Tommy Kraemer. Also worth mentioning are Aaron Banks, Liam Eichenberg and Trevor Ruhland.ND brought in a new defensive coordinator in Mike Elko. He is expected bring some new life and plug some holes in the Irish defense.Defensively, the Irish are led upfront by Jay Hayes, Andrew Trumbetti, Jonathan Bonner, Jerry Tillery, Daniel Cage and Daelin Hayes. Others to watch include Micah Dew-Treadway, Darnell Ewell and Julian Okwara. The middle linebacker will be Nyles Morgan, who is a senior with good experience and who has gotten good reviews from the coaching staff this fall. Weakside LB is Greer Martini, also a senior with experience. The rover back is Drue Tranquil. Others of note at the linebacker position include Jamir Jones and Te'von Coney.The secondary, that has been good and bad at times, especially bad at giving up the big plays, has Nick Coleman at free safety and Jalen Elliott at strong safety The field corner will be Julian Love and the boundary corner is Nick Watkins.As for the special teams. Justin Yoon will handle both the placekicking and the kickoffs for the opener. The punter is Tyler Newsome, the holder is VanGorder, the long snapper is John Shannon, the punt returner will be either Chris Finke or Sanders; and the kickoff returns will be Sanders.Today the Irish host Temple for the second meeting between the two schools. ND won the first, 24-20, in 2015, in Philadlephia. Temple enters with a new coach, Geoff Collins, and some holes to fill - but can't be taken lightly. The Owls have a quarterback problem or sorts. They have four players fighting to the starting position. Collins has not announced his staring lineup or who will be QB.The game will be televised nationally by NBC-TV with a 3:40 p.m. kickoff.Now let's catch up with what has happened since the last season.IRISH NOTES ... Kelly named seven captains for the 2017 team. They are Wimbush, McGlinchey, Nelson, Morgan, Greer Martini, Drue Tranquill and wide receiver Austin Webster ... Kelly announced a few new roles for Notre Dame's coaching staff. Defensive line coach Mike Elston has been promoted to assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Brian Polian will be taking on the responsibilities of recruiting coordinator, which had previously belonged to Elston. The Irish also officially announced the addition of Bill Rees, the father of quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees, as director of scouting. Rees, who will work in the recruiting office, worked in NFL scouting for 16 years. He worked recently for Northwestern and Wake Forest and spent 15 years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for UCLA ... Notre Dame's $400 million Campus Crossroads project, which got underway in 2014, is about 99 percent complete ... There is a new video board overlooking the stadium. The board measures 54.1 feet high and 95.5 feet wide. Other changes are new seating, improved rest rooms and refreshment stands along with big screen TV's throughout the stadium. About 3,000 premium seats have been added, but with other seating adjustments, overall seating capacity will decrease from 80,795 to between 78,000 and 79,000 ... Senior left guard Quenton Nelson was named a first team Associated Press preseason All-American on Tuesday while graduate student Mike McGlinchey was named to the second team. Rivals released its updated top 250 players in the 2018 recruiting class and eight of Notre Dame's 16 verbal commits were represented.... Notre Dame and Wisconsin have agreed to a two-year, neutral-site football series beginning in 2020. The Irish and Badgers will play Oct. 3, 2020, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Sept. 25, 2021, at Soldier Field in Chicago ... Now my annual predictions for the season ... The Irish open with a win over Temple, 1-0; ND hangs on and beats Georgia, 2-0; ND struggles at Boston College, but wins, 3-0; ND travels to East Lansing and beats Michigan State, 4-0; Miami of Ohio no match for Irish as they return home, 5-0; ND catches North Carolina in a rebuilding mode, 6-0; the streak ends as USC whips ND in South Bend, 6-1; N.C. gives Irish a run, but ND prevails, 7-1; ND gets by Wake Forest, 8-1; Miami has the offense and beats the Irish, 8-2; Navy gives ND early run before falling, 9-2, Stanford prevails in the regular season final, 9-3....Today the Irish are 17 point favorites. I don't know if they will cover, but the Irish should prevail.