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NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED For the first time this year a freshman H ELP WANTED: Now hiring qualified young candidates to lead college of- fenses around the country. Must be willing to work nights and weekends, especially in the fall. No salary, but the benefits are second to none. The right man for the job will have a strong understanding of situ- ational football, the ability to drop a pass inside a trash barrel from 40 yards away and the agility to run circles around an average defensive lineman. No past experi- ence required. MURPHY'S LAW DAN MURPHY There used to be a time when playing a freshman at quarterback was a liability. Newcomers are prone to mistakes amid the head-spinning speed of the game. Defenses relished the chance to add to that chaos, go- ing out of their way to increase the confu- sion and salivating at the thought of burying a young signal-caller. Notre Dame will have its chance on Sat- urday against USC's first-time starter Max Wittek, a redshirt freshman. Losing senior Matt Barkley should have been a death- blow to the wobbling Trojans. The pre- season Heisman frontrunner holds a slight advantage over Wittek with 47 more starts, 12,232 more passing yards and 115 more touchdown passes. Yet the mouths of Notre Dame defenders remain foamless. They don't have to look far to be reminded that this is the year of the rookie quarterback. Four of the top 10 teams in the country are currently piloted by a quarterback in his first year of eligibility. A fifth, No. 4 Florida, starts true sophomore Jeff Driskel, who got a five-game head start last season on his class of 2015 companions. Only two of the top 10 teams play with a senior under center. quarterback might win the sport's most revered individual prize. Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel is the top candidate for the Heisman Trophy. Manziel almost commit- ted to Oregon, where he would have bat- tled with classmate Marcus Mariota. The Ducks have the No. 2 scoring offense in the nation with Mariota behind the wheel. He had the country's top pass efficiency rating until last week, when his team was knocked off by No. 8 Stanford and a Car- dinal offense revitalized by redshirt fresh- man Kevin Hogan. And, of course, there is sophomore Ev- erett Golson. Notre Dame's starter is 70 aerial yards away from passing Ron Powlus for the most productive rookie season ever for an Irish quarterback. Golson's trajec- tory has been as steadily upward as Notre Dame's movement in the national polls. He improvised enough to keep the Irish unbeaten while learning on the job. Improv and improve is the recipe for all rookie suc- cess this season, according to Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly. "You have to have a skill set that allows you to play the game while you're learning," he said. "Every one of those freshman quar- terbacks, if you go talk to their quarterback coach or head coach, they'll tell you they're still learning. They have a unique skill set — whether it's a high IQ, a great arm, in- tuitiveness in how they play the game — they've got to have something there." For most of football's diaper dandies the ability to make something from noth- ing has been the crutch they lean on while climbing the learning curve. (Although, one could make a pretty good case that Golson's "skill set" includes junior backup Tommy Rees.) The four aforementioned rookie quarterbacks have turned the type of chaos defenses used to dream about into game-breaking plays this season. Everett Golson needs only 70 passing yards against USC to surpass Ron Powlus for the most productive rookie season ever for an Irish quarterback. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Manziel transformed a fumble in the red zone into a touchdown on his way to upset- ting No. 1 Alabama. Mariota caught a hook shot of a pass from one of his teammates and dove in for his first receiving touch- down against Arizona State. Hogan threw a comeback-inspiring 40-yard touchdown pass against Oregon State in his first start while in the process of nearly being sacked. Golson's game-tying two-point conversion dive against Pittsburgh was designed to be a pass. ✦ PAGE 21 Kelly's favorite quip in September and October was telling the press that Golson was still baking in the oven. Today's world doesn't have the time for 350 degrees and a meat thermometer. This generation of microwaved quarter- backs seems to be just fine doling out in- stant gratification. Is Wittek ready to join the ranks and help the Trojans stun Notre Dame? ✦ E-mail Dan at dmurphy@blueandgold.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @BGI_DanMurphy.