Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUE-GOLD GAME NOTES MIXED RESULTS but the 83rd Annual Blue-Gold Game on April 21 did expose a few things Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly would rather have kept under wraps heading into the summer, as well as some nice surprises. That statistics don't tell the com- Spring games are rarely revealing, FOR QUARTERBACKS BY WES MORGAN plete story in the defense's 42-31 victory over the offense, consider- ing a modified-scoring system was used to reward the defense in a va- riety of ways. And unlike last year, when quarterbacks Tommy Rees and Dayne Crist were off limits in red jer- seys while they battled for the start- ing job, all four Fighting Irish signal- callers were live. Kelly hoped that by putting his quarterbacks in the line of fire he'd be able to better gauge their prog- ress. What he and the 31,582 fans in attendance — the fifth-largest spring crowd in school history — witnessed was a reheated version of last season. With limiting turnovers the first bullet point on the board this spring, the quarterbacks were re- sponsible for four of the team's six in the scrimmage. (There were just three total turnovers in the 2011 Blue-Gold Game.) "We have a high bar set for them," junior season in 2012 after starting 16 career games since his freshman year, was 7-of-14 passing for 84 yards with an interception. Classmate An- drew Hendrix, whom many believe to be Rees' biggest competition for the starting role next fall, completed 4 of 9 pass attempts for 51 yards with a touchdown and a pick. Everett Gol- son, a rising sophomore, was 11-of-15 passing for 120 yards with two touchdowns, but lost a fumble. Early enrollee Gunner Kiel, who played most of an abbreviated second half against second- and third-string de- fenders, completed 5 of 10 passes for 57 yards with one interception. The first-half snaps were not Kelly said of his quarterbacks. "So, yeah, I saw some [good] things out there that they hadn't done in the past, but yet two interceptions in par- ticular where we've seen that movie before. So we've got to move past that." Tommy Rees, who will enter his www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Junior quarterback Tommy Rees settled in better after throwing an early interception and took 26 snaps in the first half when the top three quarterbacks rotated each series. equally distributed — Golson had 31, Rees had 26 and Hendrix took only 15. Golson was certainly the most ex- citing to watch and is the best fit for the spread offense, but he was guilty of a couple delay of game infractions. "[Statistics] don't mean as much to PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND me as managing the offense," Kelly said of Golson. "We're making prog- ress there, but we're nowhere where we need to be." The offensive line's play was one GRADE "A" FOR O-LINE quarterbacks. As a result, the competition at other positions was easier to judge. "[Brian Kelly] is opening up [possibilities] for everyone," senior running back/slot Theo Riddick said. • The offensive playbook was pared down this spring in order to equalize the playing field for the four MISCELLANEOUS NOTES "For example, just because Cierre [Wood] was the starting running back last year doesn't mean he's going to be the starting running back this year. [Same thing applies to] the wide receivers. "In doing so, it brings the whole competition to another level. I believe it definitely has helped not just the QBs, but the whole team." • There were two penalties for 25 yards when the quarterbacks were off limits in the 2011 spring game. This year, there were eight penalties for 82 yards, including two roughing the passer flags and a personal foul by senior linebacker Manti Te'o on a late hit delivered to Everett Golson out of bounds. Both the offense and defense were guilty of four flags, with the defense surrendering 51 penalty yards. • Junior nose guard Kona Schwenke and fifth-year senior receiver John Goodman were named game- day captains after the Fighting Irish staff voted them the most improved players of the spring. • Riddick was back as the returner for all three punts, though both punt and kickoff returns were not allowed. • Senior kicker Nick Tausch connected on a 22-yard field goal, and sophomore Kyle Brindza, the team's kickoff specialist in 2011, missed a 30-yarder wide left. • The lower bowl of Notre Dame Stadium has undergone a bit of a facelift with new concrete having been poured throughout. MAY 2012 35