Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 30, 2019 5 FAN FORUM MECHANICAL STRESS Thanks for a great magazine! I am a big Brian Kelly fan, but de- spite his denials I believe he messes up every quarterback by trying to change their mechanics. What do you think? Bob Reilly '61 Via the Internet Mr. Reilly, this is a topic we asked Kelly about in the preseason. "We don't touch it," Kelly replied. "We stay away from it. I've always phil- osophically stayed away from [throwing] motions. It's just you're entering into an area where they've had so many reps at it, to get into changing motions, I've never had much success with it. Let them be who they are. "By and large, most of it is the mental aspect of the game. Get their confidence back, work on their footwork. If you do those things, I think you're better off. We stay away from trying to make major — any arm angle throws. I just haven't had a lot of success with it." What has occurred in the last decade or so in college football is more and more quarterbacks hire quarterback special- ists, as Everett Golson did with George Whitfield Jr. This can sometimes lead to having too many cooks in the kitchen. The Irish staff is fine with outside con- sulting as long as it is in line with their own approach and style. UPON FURTHER REVIEW … Ian Book's marked improvement against Duke and redshirt sopho- more Tanner Morgan's fantastic play for Minnesota have motivated me to clarify my previous comment about playing Phil Jurkovec. Morgan was also a three star who was headed to Western Michigan when P.J. Fleck rowed his boat to Minnesota. Three stars can definitely develop and exceed the performance of more highly rated recruits. I wasn't advocating a starting role for Jurkovec, but merely pointing out that there were good reasons for considering it despite his youth and inexperience. I promise not to write again on this topic even if Jurkovec is a surprise starter and blows every- one away. Ed Szewczyk, Class of 1973 Belleville, Ill. Mr. Szewczyk, our Fan Forum section would not be possible without people sending in their questions, concerns and misgivings, so keep writing. With the In- ternet, this section is not what it used to be in this magazine so we always encour- age such topics, if presented reasonably. Although sometimes fans might have a difficult time grasping this, a coaching staff, to preserve its livelihood, is going to go with the quarterback who it be- lieves provides the overall operation the best opportunity at success. Naturally, if there is no success, the first position that gets questioned is quarterback, which is so often unfair. A coach cannot base a decision on who was the five-, four- or three-star player in high school; it's who can function best for what they do in college and in their system. That doesn't make coaches flaw- less, but they are the professionals who are around it every day. Under Kelly, Notre Dame's three high- est-rated quarterbacks included five-star players Dayne Crist and Gunner Kiel, plus Brandon Wimbush. But it's not always about who has the most stars. Tommy Rees had three stars, classmate Andrew Hendrix four and Crist five, but Rees earned the starting role. Everett Golson also was a three star who sup- planted fellow three-star Rees. Book was a three-star figure who the staff believed could be more effective in the long run than four-star recruit Wimbush. This staff has demonstrated many times that if it believes someone else pro- vides a better chance to win, that change will be made. FROM THE WEB Entering the Boston College game Nov. 23, Notre Dame's bowl options appeared to be lim- ited mainly to either the Camping World Bowl against the No. 3 pick from the Big 12 (Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State or Texas) Dec. 28, or the Cotton Bowl versus the top Group of Five team (possibly Memphis) Dec. 28. Here were a few reactions from the masses on BlueandGold.com: NewMember21: If we can't get back to the Playoffs (which we can't), then 11-2 with a win in a NY6 Bowl is the next best thing we can do. You'd love for that win to be over [an SEC- caliber team] instead of Memphis, but either way I'd prefer that over Texas. We've already repeatedly beaten a good op- ponent in a Tier 2 Bowl (LSU). Chamgel: Easily prefer Memphis in the Cot- ton Bowl. Winning the Camping World Bowl doesn't really move the needle. Soc024: I'm sorry, but the Camping World Bowl is just a garbage game. That stadium in Orlando is a dump. It's usually a matchup of the third- or fourth-best ACC team vs. the third- or fourth-best Big 12 team. This would be a MAJOR letdown for a team with 10 wins going into it in my opinion. Mh2365: They are all exhibition games, but would like the Cotton Bowl. So the narrative changes from we haven't won a "major" bowl to, "yeah, but it was only Memphis." GroggyGrizzly: I am having a hard time dis- tinguishing between a bowl and a "major" bowl. As far as I can tell, all the soup got wa- tered down pretty good after the College Foot- ball Playoffs got started. Mpnd07: What would the narrative be if ND lost to Memphis vs. Texas? Yikes. Memphis would be in the Cotton Bowl for a reason, like UCF in an NY6 bowl. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com JOIN THE CONVERSATION! GET A 60-DAY FREE TRIAL WITH CODE IRISH60 Dayne Crist arrived as a five-star quarterback in 2008, but two knee surgeries helped derail his football career while lower-rated prospects took the throttle. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA