Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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seniors and you could see their leadership today,��� Kiffin said to lead off his postgame press conference. ���I thought it showed a lot when one guy went down, Manti and the other senior came out and picked him up. They���re a very tight team.��� Redemption For Rees Sept. 8 Few teammates garnered more respect than junior quarterback Tommy Rees. The former starter lost his job after a shaky sophomore year that hit rock bottom when he was arrested for underage drinking and resisting arrest in May. Rees regained his focus and pulled the Irish through several sticky situations in the fall. Notre Dame Stadium greeted the junior with a chorus of boos when he first took the field in the closing minutes of the home opener against Purdue. Rees responded by completing 3 of 6 passes for 35 yards in a two-minute drill, including a desperation heave to fifth-year senior wide receiver John Goodman to keep the drive alive. He eventually marched the Irish into range for a game-winning field goal in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter. ���Does he have all the elite skills? No, but he���s a gamer,��� Kelly said following the game. ���He���ll do anything. Those guys in that locker room will go to the wall for him. They���ll do anything because he���s a great teammate.��� Rees continued to bail out his team in tight games against Michigan and Brigham Young while rookie quarterback Everett Golson learned to deal with the pressure of playing in front of a home crowd. He became Notre Dame���s closer in a dangerous quarterback juggling act that Kelly perfected during the first half of the season. That final drive against Purdue was a precursor to the one-of-a-kind role Rees played in getting the Irish rolling early. After each cavalry performance, he retreated to the sideline where he helped mold the guy who was taking his job. Al-���lei���-luia Sept. 22 Hours before Notre Dame kicked off against Michigan under the lights Sept.��22, the Irish went through a final walkthrough inside Notre Dame Stadium. The team���s leader, Te���o, stood alone on the sideline fighting back tears. Some 2,000 miles away his girlfriend���s family closed the lid of her coffin, providing a small bit of closure in a trying two weeks for the soon-to-be Heisman candidate. Later that night Te���o leapt into an Irish student section dotted with colorful leis. He had just finished his second game-changing performance in two weeks. He helped Notre Dame to a 13-6 win over the Wolverines with eight tackles and two interceptions. He forced two more interceptions by putting pressure on senior quarterback Denard Robinson, a dynamic athlete who had vexed the Irish defense in two straight performances. This time Robinson and his Michigan teammates went scoreless for three quarters and became the second team in a row to fail to score a touchdown against Notre Dame. That night changed Te���o from a standout linebacker to a transcendent figure for the Irish���s return to college