Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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down player as a junior. He's worked hard during the offseason to try to increase his stamina, taking multiple trips to train in Arizona and pushing himself with strength coach Paul Longo during the summer months. "It becomes on him to be that guy on the field every snap," Kelly said. "When your best player is on the field every snap, you're a better football team. He committed to that." Nix and the Irish won't know with certainty how effective his training regimen was until Aug. 31 when he takes the field against Temple. The senior approached the subject with cautious optimism on the eve of fall camp. "When we get the pads on, we'll see what happens," he said. 2. QB Tommy Rees Notre Dame will still rely on its defense to win games in 2013, but senior quarterback Tommy Rees can help transform the Irish offense into a group that finishes drives if he has a good season. The Irish scored touchdowns on only 48.3 percent of their red-zone trips a year ago — 111 Football Bowl Subdivision teams did better. Improving those numbers has been a focus in training camp, and Kelly said Rees is a big reason for his optimism there. To succeed he'll have to expunge the memories of a string of costly turnovers in that area during his sophomore season. Rees said spending last year on the sideline helped change his perspective. "It's kind of a different viewpoint, and I learned a lot about the big picture and how to look at a defense and how to kind of see where the plays unfold," he said. Rees has started 18 games and thrown for 4,413 yards, but he's never been secure in his starting position. If Rees can keep hold of the reins, the Irish will have a senior leader under center to provide direction for the first time since Brady Quinn in 2006. 3. S Matthias Farley In just his second year at the position, junior Matthias Farley finds himself with as much responsibility as any member of the Irish defense from his spot at the boundary safety. He had 49 tackles in an impressive debut season last fall. This year, he's in charge of teaching a skilled, but inexperienced, group of safeties while still learning the thinking man's position himself. "We've had brilliant safeties," defensive coordinator Bob Diaco said. "I would say the two most critical spots for intelligence and communication is No. 1 the safeties and No. 2 the inside linebacker." Farley has acquitted himself as equally as intelligent as past leaders like Harrison Smith, Jamoris Slaughter and Zeke Motta, but now he'll have to perform without their help. The margin of error is razor thin in the secondary. A defensive lineman's mistake might create a 15-yard gain. A safety's mistake more often than not ends in six points. Notre Dame's defense thrives on its ability to limit big plays, and it will count on Farley to lead those efforts in 2013.