Brian Kelly begins his 10th year as head football coach at Notre Dame on Monday night in a Labor Day weekend season opener at Louisville.

Ten seasons, some very good years and some bad years, but most importantly, no national titles. That is what he was hired to bring to South Bend. He has come close, losing the national title game to Alabama in 2012 and then last year losing in the semifinal round of the national playoffs to eventual champion, Clemson.

After the pitiful 2016 season when the Irish won only four games, Kelly “reinvented” himself. Kelly, with some heat from the administration and athletic director Jack Swarbrick, brought in new offensive and defensive coordinators along with some other new assistants. He turned over the play calling to the new offensive coordinator, Chip Long, and was not so deeply involved in the actual day-to-day coaching. The result has many believing he has his program near the top and maybe a few recruits away from being called one of the elite programs in the country — like Alabama and Clemson are now.

Time will tell.

Today we begin another year of weekly columns about ND football and everything ND. I will look at the players expected to play the most and have the biggest impact on the 2019 season, I’ll take a brief look at Louisville, and I’ll finish with my annual prediction for the entire season.

ND’s offense, despite some early fall camp injuries, should be able to score points. The defense is the bigger question mark with the loss of several key linebackers and defensive backs. Here is a quick look at how the starting offense and defense should line up on Monday night.

There is no quarterback controversy as senior Ian Book will be at the helm. His backup in Phil Jurkovec. Jurkovec is a Western PA recruit and the coaching staff has been working hard with him. As everyone knows, a player can go down in a moment with a injury, and the backup must be ready to step in. Jurkovec didn’t have a great spring and Kelly sent him home after classes concluded to work out with friends and clear his head. Reportedly, Jurkovec is in a better frame of mind and working hard and has shown improvement.

ND has plenty of running backs. The ones who will see the most action are Jafar Armstrong, Tony Jones Jr. and Jahmir Smith. Armstrong will be the starter. Others to watch include sophomore C’Bo Flemister and freshman Kyren Williams. On Wednesday Kelly announced Armstrong the starter along with Williams the backup.

The offense lost two key players to injuries. Tight end Cole Kmet and wide receiver Michael Young, both with collarbone breaks. Both will be out about four to six weeks.

With Young out, sophomore Lawrence Keys will start in his place. The slot receiver will be veteran Chris Finke and outside receiver vet Chase Claypool. Sophomores Brandon Lenzy and Joe Wilkins Jr. are the top reserves.

The coaching staff appears to be high on the offensive line. The starters should be Liam Eichenberg at left tackle; Aaron Banks at left guard; Tommy Kraemer at right guard and Robert Hainsey at right tackle. The center is newcomer Jarrett Patterson.

Defense is the potential problem spot after losing several key players to graduation. Although the Irish will be using a lot of new starters there are some returning veterans. The defensive ends are veterans Julian Okwara and Khalid Kareem. The tackles are Myron Tagovailoa-Amos and Kurt Hinish. The linebacking corp is the real question mark. Right now, it looks like Asmar Bilal will start at Buck linebacker and Drew White will be the Mike linebacker. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is the rover.

The free safety is veteran Alohi Gilman, a senior and a Navy transfer. Jalen Elliott is the strong safety. Freshman Kyle Hamilton has been a real surprise at the fall drills and will see time at safety and in the Irish nickle and dime packages. At one cornerback will be Troy Pride Jr., while either Donte Vaugh, or Shawn Crawford will start at the other.

There was a battle for the kickoff and place kicking job between junior Jonathan Doerer, and walk-on freshman Harrison Leonard. All-time leading scorer Justin Yoon graduated making the position wide open. Doerer received the nod as the starter on Wednesday. The punter will be freshman Jay Bramblett. The holder will be either Bramblett or Nolan Henry with long snapper John Shannon. Punt returns will be handled by Finke or Gilman and kickoff returns by Armstrong and Williams.

The Labor Day night road game at Louisville has an 8:10 p.m. start and will televised nationally by ESPN.

ND and Louisville only played once before, in 2014, with the Cardinals winning, 31-28. The Cardinals were 2-10 last year which cost head coach Bobby Petrino his job. The new head man is Scott Satterfield. He has made changes, of course. The starting QB is Jawon “Puma” Pass, a junior who saw action last year. Sophomore Malik Cunningham will also see action. Defensively the Cardinal will play a 3-4 defensive scheme. When Satterfield took over he fired all of Petrino’s assistants. Obviously, Satterfield has his work cut out for him.

IRISH NOTES ... The first AP top 25 poll has the Irish at No. 9, the highest preseason ranking for a Kelly team. Last year’s 12-1 Irish squad was AP’s preseason No. 12 team. Notre Dame ended up No. 5 in the final poll, the first time in the post-Lou Holtz Era (1997-present) that an ND team that was ranked in preseason by AP outperformed that ranking ... Sophomore wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. will miss at least the first four games of the season and possibly the entire season due to a university-imposed suspension ... ND captains for the season are QB Book, defensive ends Okwara and Kareem, safeties Gilman and Elliott, wide receiver Finke and tackle Robert Hainsey .... Kickoff times for ND home games are set. Of course, all home games are televised nationally by NBC-TV. The Virginia and Bowling Green games have a 3:30 p.m. EDT starts while the Southern Cal game is at 7:30 p.m. The remaining home games, New Mexico, Virginia Tech, Navy and Boston College are all at 2:30 p.m .... After Monday’s game, ND does not play the weekend of Sept. 7, but opens at home on Sept. 14 .... Monday’s game will be Notre Dame’s first-ever game played on Labor Day. ESPN will take advantage of Notre Dame-Louisville being the only game played Monday night with these notables: In addition to the traditional telecast a BlimpCast from the Goodyear Blimp and a SkyCam broadcast will be available on ESPN3 and the ESPN app ... The new ACC Network will televise an All ACC Watch Party during the game featuring Notre Dame graduates Jac Collinsworth and Mike Golic Jr. and former Louisville offensive lineman Eric Wood .. Now my annual prediction for the season. ND opens with a win over Louisville, 1-0; ND first home game is a win over New Mexico, 2-0; the win streak ends at Georgia, 2-1; ND returns home and manages to get by Virginia, 3-1; Bowling Green falls to the Irish, 4-1; ND beats USC again, 5-1; Michigan gets revenge, 5-2; a hard-fought win over Virginia Tech, 6-2; a road win at Duke, 7-2; returning home and beating Navy, 8-2; another home win, this one over Boston College, 9-2; finally a win on the road at Stanford, 10-2....Louisville has a lot of work ahead of it with a new coach, coming off a very poor year, so ND should be able to handle the Cardinals. The current line has Notre Dame an 18 point favorite. ND should cover, barring any injuries to key personnel. ...I will be back on Sept 14 with a New Mexico preview.