Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/514677
THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI A t the conclusion of spring drills, former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz (1986-96) would usu- ally offer only one guarantee: From the end of spring through the start of Au- gust camp, the team would experience at least three crises or setbacks. Crisis No. 1 this spring occurred May 7 when quarterback Everett Gol- son, the starter in 2012 and 2014, an- nounced he would use his fifth and final season of eligibility elsewhere (eventu- ally landing at Florida State). This was not a blindside hit. It was hovering over the program since Malik Zaire's MVP performance in the Music City Bowl victory versus LSU elicited angst in the Golson camp that he would not fully be the man in 2015. The natural follow-up inquiry is how much this will devastate the overall op- eration now that Notre Dame is basi- cally starting anew again at QB. Or will it? Maybe this will be a galva- nizing force and a needed door opener for Zaire. Notre Dame is replete with amazing, successful stories of quarter- backs emerging just when their careers appeared to be on the scrap heap or when they seemed like perpetual back- ups. It is popular most everywhere to believe that the backup QB is a hidden gem, and this is especially true at Notre Dame because of its history: • Senior John Huarte would have never won the Heisman Trophy (nor probably even started) had new coach Ara Parseghian not arrived in 1964. • Where would third-team senior Joe Montana be had Gary Forystek not been injured, or if Rusty Lisch had not fal- tered, against Purdue in 1977? • In 1993, unheralded senior Kevin McDougal became the all-time pass- This Too Shall Pass … Brian Kelly's pattern of having his team at its best after a setback at quarterback began in 2010 with freshman signal-caller Tommy Rees. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA