Brian Kelly hasn't taken it easy on receiver Michael Floyd since he took over the head coaching job at Notre Dame.

Before the start of spring practice, Kelly talked about the work Floyd had to do and the need for the receiver to slim down to be able to handle his workload in the spread offense.

But Kelly's revelation during Tuesday's media day about his first impression of Floyd, who has amassed 92 receptions for 1,514 yards and 16 touchdowns and is on the Biletnikoff Award list, was unexpected.

"I thought Michael Floyd was overhyped. I thought he was at times average," Kelly said. "He ran down the field, you threw it up. He wasn't a precision route runner. He wasn't asked to be. He was a matchup guy. He bodied people, got the ball, sometimes he'd caught it, sometimes he didn't.

"If you watched him and were evaluating, you'd go, 'OK, he's got a big body. He runs down the field. If they throw it up there, there's a good chance he's going to get it.' You never saw him in positions to run the dig or the drive, or one-on-one beat press coverage on a quick slant on fourth down and snap his hands. All those things that go to winning football games, I didn't see all of that. Maybe it's because they had Golden Tate, and he did all of that for him."

Floyd took Kelly's criticism in stride.

"A lot of coaches see different flaws in peoples games, and I see flaws in my game that I need help on," Floyd said. "Him saying stuff like that really makes me want to be a better player."

Kelly's motivational tactics has worked, as the coach's opinion of Floyd has done a 180.

"What we've done in the last couple of days, situational live if you will, he's been dominate. Believe me, I'm not easily impressed," Kelly said. "Going back to where I thought he was in watching film last year, wasn't all that impressed with him. Very impressed with his work, he's been outstanding. He's set a bar for the way all of our other players need to compete on a day-to-day basis."