Notre Dame Football 2011: The Brian Kelly Era...Ascends?

• karen lotz

  

  He threw 3 INTs at SC. Michael Floyd, Robert Hughes, and the defense bailed him out. Rees also had as much time as Crist did to learn the offense, except he was able to learn it without having to play.
• Tobias Fünke

  

  Well Joe Montana was good, by all accounts.
  
  Don't call it an "it" factor, it's touch, accuracy and the experience of playing in the spread in high school. That's the difference between Crist and Rees.
• Crimson streak

  

  My money is still on Hendrix as the qb. I think we have seen the last of crist.
• deter1

  

  And add Mauk or Kiel to the mix next spring. That will really make things interesting. There is bound to be some fallout somewhere. I see at least 1 if not 2 transfers in the future.
• rock_knutne

  Tobias Fünke;672491 wrote:Well Joe Montana was good, by all accounts.
  
  Don't call it an "it" factor, it's touch, accuracy and the experience of playing in the spread in high school. That's the difference between Crist and Rees.

  
  Well I am saying he has the "it" factor! Bottom line is the kid wins.
• rock_knutne

  karen lotz;672485 wrote:He threw 3 INTs at SC. Michael Floyd, Robert Hughes, and the defense bailed him out. Rees also had as much time as Crist did to learn the offense, except he was able to learn it without having to play.

  
  Mitch Mustain didn't play any better in that shitty weather. Doesn't matter, he still won the game.
• Tobias Fünke

  

  He didn't, every member of the football team won the game. Why don't we have this "it"/"winner" annotation with punters or tight ends? Isn't a tight end calm, collected, and whatever? Football isn't wrestling, it's a team sport. Why quarterbacks and basketball guards get the "it" factor and others don't is just silly. It's sports talk radio and the like needing something to talk about, or how to put into words their borderline idolatry with a particular player, as if they need to convince themselves.
• Crimson streak

  

  Agreed^^^ I don't think Rees is a qb that can win you a game by himself and take over. I see that in both Hendrix and golson. The "it" factor is just a bunch of bs
• rock_knutne

  Tobias Fünke;672655 wrote:He didn't, every member of the football team won the game. Why don't we have this "it"/"winner" annotation with punters or tight ends? Isn't a tight end calm, collected, and whatever? Football isn't wrestling, it's a team sport. Why quarterbacks and basketball guards get the "it" factor and others don't is just silly. It's sports talk radio and the like needing something to talk about, or how to put into words their borderline idolatry with a particular player, as if they need to convince themselves.

  Crimson streak;672700 wrote:Agreed^^^ I don't think Rees is a qb that can win you a game by himself and take over. I see that in both Hendrix and golson. The "it" factor is just a bunch of bs

  We can agree to disagree. IMO, Rees has the intangibles you look for in a QB, does that mean someone is better and can beat him out of the starting job, sure, but he's clearly the frontrunner on his performance from last year.
  
  BTW, I never said he could carry the team by himself but he sure as hell hasn't given me any reasons to believe that he's going to blow a game either.........and FYI, the WMU game is bad example.
• Crimson streak

  

  The thing is this team needs a qb to carry them at some point and I'm just not confident that Rees can do that. I loved what he did to finish the season but the defense gets a lot of the credit for that. I wouldn't be mad about Rees starting the season at qb but I just believe Hendrix or golson would be the better option.
• karen lotz

  

  deter1;672639 wrote:And add Mauk or Kiel to the mix next spring. That will really make things interesting. There is bound to be some fallout somewhere. I see at least 1 if not 2 transfers in the future.

  
  
  I think either way Crist is done after 2011. Either he starts/shares time with Golson and then moves on to the NFL or he is the back up and realizes his time is done and doesn't apply for 5th year.
• karen lotz

  

  rock_knutne;672718 wrote:...but he's clearly the frontrunner on his performance from last year.

  
  
  Not if Crist is healthy. Rees did an unbelievable job last year considering all of the circumstances of the situation he was thrown in to. Probably the only reason he got the opportunity was because he was an early enrollee. That paid extra dividends for the program because it saved a year of eligibility for Hendrix. I really don't see Rees beating out both a healthy Crist or Hendrix.
• rock_knutne

  karen lotz;672836 wrote:Not if Crist is healthy. Rees did an unbelievable job last year considering all of the circumstances of the situation he was thrown in to. Probably the only reason he got the opportunity was because he was an early enrollee. That paid extra dividends for the program because it saved a year of eligibility for Hendrix. I really don't see Rees beating out both a healthy Crist or Hendrix.

  
  Well I think he is, he showed a hell of a lot more consitency than Crist did. Maybe Crist, Hendrix or even Golson beats him out for the job, that's possible but coaches love a security blanket and Rees provides that for Kelly.
• rock_knutne

  Nate Montana transferring to Montana?
  
  http://www.fox59.com/sports/wxin-020911-notre-dame-montana-story,0,1446735.story
• Hamp89

  I agree with rock here to an extent. While I'm not sure Rees has "it", I was sure as hell pleased with his ability to stay calm and cool under pressure, in some pretty big games - and did it as a true frosh who didn't get many reps before being thrown in. I just never got that feeling from Crist, he always seemed nervous and unsure of himself and I think it showed in his play.
  
  You can definitely tell that Rees has a quiet confidence that you can't teach, I guess some might call that "it" - Danielson talked about it a little bit during the Sun Bowl as well. Yeah he had 3 picks vs. USC, however is was impressive that it never really rattled him and he was able to bounce back and make some pretty nice plays. He had a 103 qb rating in that game against a team with some impressive defensive talent. He'll never go in the tank and has a short memory, which is something invaluable in a qb.
  
  All that being said, I still think the qb race is completely up in the air and I'm not sure Crist fits in.
• Tobias Fünke

  

  I will still maintain that Rees' playing in the spread in HS gave him a clear advantage over Crist in terms of the learning curve. Crist needed to know where the ball was going, or at the very most have just one or two reads. Rees obviously can dish the ball out to whomever. But I believe the OL is the group that stepped up late in the season, not taking anything away from Rees, he performed remarkably, but the OL faced a nasty DL in Los Angeles and an even nastier DL in El Paso. I mean Miami lead the nation in plays for loss and yet had ZERO against Notre Dame. Pretty freakin' remarkable. Weis wishes he could have that sort of OL coaching.
  
  I happen to think that Rees is going to make things interesting this spring, very interesting.
  
  When the hell does spring practice even start?
• karen lotz

  

  The Blue Gold game is on April 16th. Not sure when practice starts, probably shortly before the 1st?
• Tobias Fünke

  

  I wonder what kind of conversations will start to pop up when Lynch looks even with our DE's or even a little sharper. I think our DE's, DT's, and ILB's are the strength of our defense, but I htink Lynch is too good to not see the field a ton this season. God I'm so freakin' excited for it. February blows.
• karen lotz

  

  Apparenlty there are some people saying LB Joe Schmidt is Irish. He was offered a spot as a preferred walk on and had a scholie offer from Stanford. One would have to assume that Montana will end up transferring if he hasn't already and a scholarship would open up for Schmidt.
• Tobias Fünke

  

  I would prefer that he earned it on the field. It would be a Willingham-esque move to hand out a scholarship like this; save it for 2012's talented class.
• karen lotz

  

  Tobias Fünke;675847 wrote:I would prefer that he earned it on the field. It would be a Willingham-esque move to hand out a scholarship like this; save it for 2012's talented class.

  
  
  Well I think the main reason he wasn't offered was because they weren't sure how the numbers were going to shake out. If he was considering accepting the preferred walk on opportunity, its safe to assume he would have committed the second he was offered and that would take a spot away from Niklas or one of the other later commits.
• vball10set

  http://www.irishsportsdaily.com/recruiting/notre-dame-football-recruiting/4161-mcdaniel-wins-prestigious-award
• karen lotz

  

  Luke Massa has been officially moved to WR. That should leave Kelly with 4 QBs with Montana's likely transfer.
• Tobias Fünke

  

  Well if you're going to be hidden in a depth chart, WR is more fun in practice haha
• karen lotz

  

  hansensouthbend Eric Hansen
  
  
  
  University of Montana ahtletic director confirms #NotreDame quarterback Nate Montana is transferring to University of Montana.
  

  Well that settles that then.