Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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touchdown in a spring game." He'll have to settle for a conversion … and the extra attention on top of the boatload he receives in normal circumstances. "I was supposed to throw the ball, but we haven't actually positioned me to read defenses yet, so I just ran," Nix said. "Got me a quick two and I was happy. … Official quarterback spot, I made it. I'm making strides to push Everett [Golson], the rest of the guys and get the starting spot, and hopefully Coach has enough trust in me to put me there one game." With the offense having scored only six legitimate points before early enrollee freshman quarterback Malik Zaire connected with sophomore wide receiver C.J. Prosise for a 35-yard touchdown strike with 9:10 remaining in the game, there were no earlier opportunities for Kelly to square things up with Nix. "As you know, we had a hard time scoring touchdowns in the spring game, and I didn't think that was going to come to reality," Kelly said. "We tried a couple of times right before the half to get the opportunity, and we couldn't get the ball close enough. We had to settle for some field goals." In an extremely rare serious moment, Nix said he appreciated Kelly pushing him in the classroom and hanging a carrot, no matter how ridiculous, out there. "I love when Coach involves me to push myself to do something, whether it's on the field or in the classroom," Nix said. "I guess I would have to run [had I lost the bet] or something like that. I didn't really listen to that side because I knew I would win the bet. Other than that, I'm just happy I got the ball." Kelly had other plans if the gamble Individual Statistics Offense Rushing No. Net Gain Avg. TD Long G. Atkinson 10 49 4.9 0 17 C. Brown 1 12 12.0 0 12 Mahone 8 11 1.4 0 4 Fiessinger 1 8 8.0 0 8 McDaniel 6 8 1.3 0 5 Passing C-A-I Yards TD Long Sacks Golson 6-13-1 98 0 26 3 Hendrix 5-10-0 59 0 29 3 Zaire 5-8-1 62 1 35 4 Rees 4-7-0 64 0 25 0 Fiessinger 0-3-0 0 0 0 0 Receiving No. Yards TD Long Daniels 3 48 0 26 3 38 0 17 TJ Jones Niklas 2 46 0 24 Mahone 2 40 0 29 Prosise 2 40 1 35 McDaniel 2 31 0 25 D. Smith 2 16 0 9 Anderson 2 4 0 4 Liebscher 1 12 0 12 Lee 1 8 0 8 Defense Name Tackles Sacks-Yds. 2.0-15 I. Williams 8 Grace 8 — Shumate 7 — J. Atkinson 6 — Stockton 6 2.0-9 Okwara 4 1.0-0 J. Jones 4 2.0-14 Schwenke 4 1.0-16 Springmann 2 1.0-14 Moore 1 1.0-2 TFL-Yds. 3.0-19 1.0-3 — — 2.5-9 1.0-9 2.5-15 1.5-16 1.0-14 1.0-2