Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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and Notre Dame's offensive exis- tence in 2011, and the coach preached throughout spring that the man who eliminates the most mistakes will and his staff have the next three months to pore over what they've learned in March and April and dis- sect what they saw in the annual Blue-Gold Game. When Kelly does settle into watch the game's film, it will look a lot like a typical summer blockbuster sequel. Turnovers were the bane of Kelly S pring is over. The shoulder pads and helmets are tucked away until August, and now Irish head coach Brian Kelly BY DAN MURPHY fenders on a third-and-long, and his ball was picked off by sophomore safety Matthias Farley. He responded well, finishing the first half by or- chestrating a two-minute-drill touch- down drive that ended with running back Cierre Wood getting into the end zone from eight yards out. Rees also showed great touch earlier in the second quarter when he dropped a 29-yard pass over sophomore Da- Varis Daniels' outside shoulder and into his waiting arms. "Obviously that interception kind Turnover troubles picked up right where they left off for Brian Kelly and the Irish in this year's Blue-Gold Game Rees, who finished 7-of-14 pass- SPRING SEQUEL win the four-way quarterback derby. As expected, that saga will continue through training camp. No one sepa- rated himself in the spring finale, as each of the four contenders played a role in handing the ball to the defense at least once. The Irish committed six turnovers in total, which spurred the defense on to a 42-31 win in front of the 31,582 fans who stopped by for a sneak peek of the 2012 season. "We saw some errors that unfortu- nately are all too familiar," Kelly said following the game. "I think there were some strides made, but clearly we're not there yet. We've got a lot of work to do with all of the quar- terbacks to get them to the level that we want." Returning starter Tommy Rees, junior Andrew Hendrix and sopho- more Everett Golson rotated each se- ries in the first half, and each mixed some visible improvement with ee- rily similar reminders of last year's shortcomings. On his second series, Rees tried to find a seam against eight pass de- Sophomore Everett Golson had the best day, sta- tistically, of any of the quarterbacks, completing 11 of 15 throws for 120 yards with two touch- downs and rushing for 25 yards on six carries. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND www.BLUEANDGOLD.com of put a damper on things," Rees said, "but I'm happy with how the spring ended, and if I could have that one throw back I would feel pretty good coming out this game." offense was 3 for 3 in the red zone under Golson, while his counter- parts were just 1 for 4 inside the 20. Most of Golson's troubles came before the ball got into his hands. The young quarterback burned two timeouts because he couldn't get the offense set during a field goal drive. The one turnover that happened on his watch occurred because he and center Mike Golic Jr. weren't on the same page. The snap came just as senior Theo Riddick was coming through the backfield in motion and bounced off his shoulder and on to the turf. "The stats really don't mean any- thing to me," Kelly said. "What I didn't like is he has to get the plays in quicker. He has to recognize the signaling. If I'm not out there getting guys set and making sure he knows what to play we're going to have flags thrown all over the place." Kelly described Golson and fellow ing for 84 yards, said he'll approach the summer months as if he is the team's starting quarterback, but he'll have competition nipping at his heels from Hendrix and Golson. Hendrix, who connected on 4 of 9 sophomore George Atkinson III — the two most productive players on the stat sheet — as exciting, electric and a heart attack waiting to hap- pen. Atkinson broke several long runs and finished with 124 rushing yards, but he also fumbled the ball twice. "Every time he's in there, there's passes for 51 yards, was the first to find the end zone when he linked up with senior tight end Tyler Eif- ert on a 25-yard pitch and catch. Eifert spent much of his time on the field split out as a wide receiver. On the touchdown play, the corner- back covering him blitzed. Hendrix read the play correctly and dished the ball to his All-American tight end, who walked into the end zone untouched. Old habits eventually caught up to Hendrix as well. He tried to throw a bullet through linebacker Ishaq Wil- liams, rather than loft it over him, and Williams made an interception that looked identical to the one Hen- drix threw against Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl. Golson, who didn't see the field a possibility to break a game-chang- ing play," Golson said of his back- field partner. "At the same time, like myself, it's also kind of a hassle be- cause you never really know what you're going to get with us. Both of us just need to clean ourselves up." The running backs — Wood, Rid- dick and Atkinson — were among the spring game highlights. Riddick looked well adjusted to his hybrid role in the backfield and the slot. He led all receivers with eight catches for 63 yards, including a 19-yard reception for a touchdown that showcased the type of mismatch the coaches hope he can create next fall. Riddick lined up just outside the left tackle in man-to-man coverage with an inside linebacker, who he out- raced to the goal line to give Golson an easy target. The fourth Irish option at quar- last year, had the best day on paper of any of the quarterbacks. He fin- ished 11-of-15 passing for 120 yards with two touchdowns. He also ran the ball six times for 25 yards. The terback, early enrollee Gunner Kiel, took every snap for the offense in a very abbreviated second half. Due to a longer than expected first half, the final two quarters were shortened to eight minutes of running clock each. Kiel's first pass in a Notre Dame MAY 2012 33