Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/276022
IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS I t only took until the second ques- tion of Irish head coach Brian Kel- ly's opening press conference of spring practice before he was asked about the proposed 10-second rule that would prevent teams from snap- ping the ball in the first 10 seconds of the play clock or else face a delay of game penalty. The proposal — which has since been shelved — had pitted college head coaches into two camps: side A, which claimed the implementation was in the best interest of player safety, and side B, which said no data had been shown that hurry-up offenses are dangerous for players. "You'd have to show me data. If this is about player safety, I haven't seen any data that really goes to the heart of that," Kelly said. "If there was compel- ling data, then I could probably intel- ligently answer or vote for it one way or another." Although Kelly's spread offense has rarely used the hurry-up look during his first four seasons at Notre Dame, it's more due to personnel at quarter- back than anything. For most of 2010, 2011 and 2013, the starter under center was Tommy Rees, who was not an ideal fit to run an offense that resem- bled the pace of Oregon or Baylor. In 2012, then-sophomore and first-year starter Everett Golson was still being broken into the offense. The 2014 campaign, however, could be a different story. Golson returns after a one-year hiatus, and many expect to see Notre Dame employ the hurry-up Speeding It Up Junior-to-be Chris Brown is part of a promising group of young pass catchers that could help the Irish run a faster-paced offense and — more importantly — score more points in 2014. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA