Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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allowing the freedom for his players to be electric athletes. "With the quarterback position, everything is based on timing and rhythm. There is a fine line," LaFleur said. "You can't be too strict in your teachings to take that playmaker abil- ity out of the quarterback." LaFleur should know. At his most recent stop with the Washington Red- skins, he helped one of those former Baylor quarterbacks — Heisman Tro- phy winner Robert Griffin III — be- come the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He also experienced how those players fit into Kelly's offense when they worked together at Cen- tral Michigan in 2004 and 2005. LaF- leur spent a year working with Dan LeFevour, Kelly's first quarterback draft pick, before moving on to a dif- ferent job. Their shared history begins five years earlier, though, when Kelly first met LaFleur as the pesky, ath- letic quarterback playing for Divi- sion II Saginaw Valley State. LaFleur threw for 302 yards in a loss to Kelly's Grand Valley State team in 2002. A year earlier, he had two touchdown passes in a 33-30 loss that almost stopped the Lakers' first run to a na- tional championship game. Kelly ex- pects LaFleur to coach Golson and the rest of his charges to play the way he once did. "[I] loved the way he played the game and really respected the way that he competed, was a great compet- itor," he said. "… He will go back to his experience as a quarterback. That's what he did." Kelly considered a handful of candi- dates for LaFleur's job, but he picked his former assistant because he's more focused on teaching fundamentals New offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock (left) and quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur (right) were pro- moted and hired, respectively, due to their penchant for teaching fundamentals and their ability to develop players. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND