Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Warming Up In The Bullpen Last year, Tommy Rees was college football's version of "Fireman of the Year" while relieving Everett Golson and finishing four white-knuckle victories. Minus Golson, who is in academic purgatory for 2013, head coach Brian Kelly has three scholarship quarterbacks with Rees, Hendrix and freshman Malik Zaire, and a defined demarcation entering the season. "There's a clear pecking order here — one, two, three," Kelly said. "Andrew is clearly the No. 2 quarterback and ready to play. … Andrew can help us win." Zaire won't necessarily see a lot of reps in practice, if any, as the third option once the season begins, but he won't be with the scout team either like the transferred Gunner Kiel was in 2012 or Everett Golson in 2011. With the limited numbers, he can't afford to be. "We want to keep him with the starters," Kelly said. "That's important. He needs to get that first-hand knowledge of the offense and defense, see the college game." Because Hendrix has been in the offense four years and Zaire is trying to just learn elementary rudiments, the gap is appreciable. Hendrix's 203 career yards rushing are also the second most on the Notre Dame roster entering the season (behind junior running back George Atkinson III's 388). "He does things differently," Kelly said of Hendrix. "He would be a guy we would feature some more [quarterback] runs like we did with Everett Golson, but he could still throw it, he could still run the offense. We're not going to change into an entirely different offense, but we would certainly feature some more quarterbackinspired runs and reads, which are already within our system. "He's got enough of a résumé that you know — and everybody else that has watched Andrew play — what his background is: He's got a strong arm, he's athletic, he can run, he's just more comfortable in our system of offense and running our offense." Kelly also said he doesn't want to "force" getting Hendrix action just for the sake of having a change-up. It's about timing and having a feel for the game. Early in last year's Michigan game, Kelly was able to discern that Golson was way off, so a steadier Rees played the final three quarters in the 13-6 win. The same applies to this season, or any other campaign. "I don't have a prescribed time," Kelly said of using a No. 2 quarterback. "I try to get a feel for the game and try to win games. … If I think he can help us win, I'd put him in. I'm confident that Andrew can help us win this year. And if I think I could insert him at any time to give us that, I am not hesitant to do that. I'll go to the bullpen and ask him to help us." — Lou Somogyi Senior Andrew Hendrix enters the season with the role Rees had last year behind Everett Golson. Photo by Bill Panzica