Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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victory. He seemed to be on the cusp of supplanting Rees late in the sea- son, but a costly interception late in the Champs Sports Bowl loss took a little bloom off his previously less blemished rose. • There was early enrollee Ever- starts than any of the other three candidates. ett Golson, a marvelous musician and possibly the future maestro of Kelly's fast-paced spread as a passer and runner. Although Golson was only 6-0, 180 pounds, the first hand- picked quarterback recruit by Kelly at Notre Dame was projected as cision to scale back the offense this spring, which puts everyone on a little bit more equal footing to com- pete for the No. 1 spot. "It's important that all four of them Consequently, Kelly made the de- get an opportunity to, No. 1, under- stand the offense and run it effec- tively instead of just defaulting back on a knowledge base," Kelly said. "And then, No. 2, to have the oppor- tunity to get first-team reps." "IN AN IDEAL WORLD, YOU'VE GOT ONE GUY AND HE STANDS OUT FRONT AND HE'S THE LEADER OF YOUR TEAM. I'D LOVE TO HAVE ONE GUY, AND HE'S THE GUY, AND WHEN HE COMES OFF THE FIELD, I EMBRACE HIM EVERY TIME WITH A BIG TOUCHDOWN HUG." HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY an archetype fit in the spread who would have special packages imple- mented for him in 2011 to groom him as the future. It never came to frui- tion, as Golson worked only with the scout team as a freshman. • With Crist now at Kansas, the From left to right (in red jerseys), Everett Golson, Tommy Rees, Gunner Kiel and Andrew Hendrix took to the field on March 21 to begin another quarterback derby under head coach Brian Kelly. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND where Crist enrolled for his fifth season after graduating from Notre Dame last December. • There was Tommy Rees, the pop- new man on campus as an early en- rollee — just like Rees in 2010 and Golson in 2011 — is Gunner Kiel, who has a name from central cast- ing and a five-star background that makes him the latest "Next Big Thing" at Notre Dame. So many candidates, but some- times less can be more, especially when attempting to find the "Chosen One" to lead your football program. "In an ideal world, you've got one do you keep the entire offense evolv- ing — especially by the third year of your regime — while scaling back? Isn't that like someone who is in the third year of studying a language course suddenly going back to the more rudimentary principles of year one? Isn't it dumbing down? No, said Kelly, who noted that the However, there is a Catch-22. How Irish offense averaged 413 yards per game last season, but it was nullified by 29 turnovers, including a national- high eight in the red zone. In the first two games last season, ular "underdog makes good" story, the unheralded three-star prospect who helped the Irish to a 4-0 finish in his starts as an unruffled freshman when replacing the injured Crist in 2010. "Don't mess with a winning streak," Rees backers noted. Today, he's perceived by Irish followers more as a solid insurance policy but lacking the physical tools as a verti- cal passer and running threat to take Notre Dame to a BCS bowl level. • There was sophomore pre-med guy and he stands out front and he's the leader of your team," Kelly re- flected. "I'd love to have one guy, and he's the guy, and when he comes off the field, I embrace him every time with a big touchdown hug." Just like last year, finding that "one" probably is not going to occur in 15 spring practices. "I'm assuming that the competi- tion is going to go well into August," a reporter said to Kelly the day be- fore spring drills opened. "Yeah," Kelly succinctly replied. major Andrew Hendrix, the standout in the 2011 spring Blue-Gold Game, completing a game-high 10 of 16 passes for 113 yards while rushing for 15- and 10-yard scores in the sec- ond half to lead his team to a 17-14 www.BLUEANDGOLD.com among all four quarterbacks enter- ing the spring would be blatantly inaccurate. "If we started on page 50 of the STARTING FROM SQUARE ONE To say that "everything's even" playbook, Tommy would be ahead of everybody," Kelly said of 16- game starter Rees, which is 16 more Notre Dame racked up 508 yards against South Florida and 513 versus Michigan — but it was 0-2 because it committed five turnovers apiece against the Bulls and Wolverines while forcing only three total. Five of Notre Dame's 10 turnovers in those first two losses were in the red zone. "We clearly believe that we've got enough plays, that we've got enough answers," Kelly said. "Growing and evolving for us will clearly be about taking care of the football. We be- lieve we have the ability to run it and throw it. "I don't think anybody, when they saw our offense running effectively, looked at it and goes, 'Wow, this is an offense that needs more work.' It is certainly an offense that can be effective at the BCS level and help us win a championship. It can't be, from what we saw, in terms of turning the ball over." Cutting interceptions to single dig- its would be a start. The Irish threw 17 interceptions last season, 14 by Rees, not unusual for a sophomore. APRIL 2012 29