Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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aspirations. Nevertheless, not many programs could have offered a more experienced, battle-tested second option at quarterback than Rees. "I live in the present, and the present is that I've got Tommy Rees who is the starter for us, an established player," Kelly said during a June 12 golf outing in Grand Rapids, Mich., with past Notre Dame head coaches Ara Parseghian (1964-74) and Lou Holtz (1986-96). "We think Andrew Hendrix and Malik Zaire can contribute, but Tommy will be our starter." Bullpen Options If college football had a Fireman of the Year award like Major League Baseball, Rees would have been the hands-down winner in 2012 with his clutch efforts off the bench in four Notre Dame victories. Now that Rees is the starter, how capable is the Fighting Irish bullpen for this year's "In case of emergency, break glass" situations? Although Hendrix enrolled with Rees and was highly rated, possesses a stronger arm and is a greater threat as a runner, he has never been able to put it together and move ahead of his classmate. Hendrix has passed for 304 career yards and rushed for 203, but received minimal work in practice last fall. "At the end of fall camp I might be able to give you a little better answer with Andrew," Notre Dame offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Chuck Martin said this June. "As the third quarterback last year, he hasn't had any reps with us in a long time once last fall came. We need to get his mind set and get him focused back on being a guy that can go into the game, compete at a very high level and help us win games." According to Kelly, Zaire's mental acumen for the game ranks near the top he's seen from a freshman in his 23 years as a head coach. That's all relative, though, because he has many, many miles still to travel. "It's way too early to even guess with Malik," Martin said of the early enrollee. "He's a high school senior and knows about this much of our offense [displaying a pinch between his thumb and finger]. He wants an evaluation. I told him, 'I'll give you an evaluation when you've been here long enough to be comfortable to get an evaluation.' There are going to be situations that are going to come in a game that he's never even seen in practice." The ability to deal with setbacks and still excel is what elevated Kelly into a big-time coach. He believes the crossroads that Golson is now facing in his football career provides opportunity. "There are defining moments in everybody's life," Kelly said. "… Everett is going to take this and I think it's really going to be his defining moment. He's going to grow and live and learn from this mistake. I have a great deal of confidence that we're going to see a young man back here at Notre Dame — I'm hopeful of that. That's up to him and what the university has in front of them … "That's what these kids are about. They overcame a lot last year and they'll continue to do it this year regardless of who is at the quarterback position." ✦