Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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SEASON KICKOFF: QUARTERBACKS who will be the Irish starter at quarterback in the Sept. 1 opener. "Don't hold your breath," he told the assembled Fourth Estate, regarding waiting for an announcement. He added that all 29 practices in August might be needed before he would render his judgment publicly. Through Aug. 21 — the first day of classes at Notre O ne week into training camp, Aug. 11, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly provided a public service message to the media trying to obtain a scoop on Dame — Kelly continued to remain true to his word by declaring that the race between sophomore Everett Gol- son and junior Andrew Hendrix to replace suspended junior Tommy Rees was still in process, even though he had indicated five days earlier that he was drawing nearer to a decision. "Our quarterbacks are still developing. We're still see- ing progress, in particular the two quarterbacks that are getting most of the reps," he said, staying with the script. "Everett Golson and Andrew Hendrix continue to get bet- ter every day. They're getting different circumstances and situations. They'll start to see a little bit more Navy today in their preparation and continue to improve." When asked if a separation had indeed developed yet, Kelly responded that it had not. "We're still pretty balanced with the reps," the head coach noted. "We had some more things that we wanted to see. We saw some areas of improvement that we needed. Both of those guys received very similar reps the last couple of days. We're still not there yet, but we're moving in the right direction." The opening day of school was significant because Sophomore Everett Golson appeared to be the front-runner at quarterback this August SCHOOL IN SESSION that's when Kelly announced a year earlier that senior Dayne Crist had edged out Rees for the starting role de- spite the latter helping lead a 4-0 finish in 2010. Crist held on to the job for all of one half, with Notre starter as of Aug. 21, the tealeaves clearly seemed to point in the direction of Golson. On the first day of practice, Aug. 4, past protocol saw Although Kelly had not made an announcement on his MAKING A MOVE Golson climbed the depth chart this offseason from cellar dweller to front- runner by eliminating mistakes and checking off several boxes on head coach Brian Kelly's list. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA 40 PRESEASON 2012 the pecking order generally go from most experienced to least. But with Rees serving a suspension for game one, it was the sophomore Golson who took the first snaps in skeletal drills, ahead of the more experienced junior Hendrix. It wasn't like Hendrix's 37 career passes were a signifi- cant edge on Golson, who had yet to appear in a college game. However, Kelly explained that based on Golson's BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Dame falling behind 16-0 at intermission to South Florida, before Rees nearly rallied the troops in the 23-20 defeat to the Bulls.