Tommy Rees needs to catch a break from the haters, media critics and the insane contingent of the Notre Dame fan base. I know, sanity and reason are not the strong points of your typical Domer but give Tommy Rees a break! Sure, he’s no All-American, but people need to ease up on him. He’s 20-6, and among ND QBs, he ranks first in career completion percentage, 3rd in touchdown passes and 5th in passing yards.
Yes, I know he was at 42% completion percentage in the three games before Saturday’s destruction of Air Force, but Rees has passed Ron Powlus in career TD passes, and he’ll get five more this season to tie Jimmy Clausen for second place; easily. He has no chance at catching Brady Quinn for first, but still. Tommy Rees has played at a level much higher than you would expect; 53% completion for the season isn’t that terrible.
If you read the Domer message boards, where he’s routinely eviscerated, you’ll see he’s hated for a lot of reasons: the body language, the facial expressions, being “Turnover Tommy.” Of course, these people are overlooking the main reason to dislike him, the whole “incident” involving too much liquid courage and the way he treated the police a couple years ago. Anyways, Tommy Rees has a winning percentage that is top ten in ND history; above Joe Montana and Rick Mirer.
Again, I’m not advocating Tommy Rees for Heisman, or even the Unitas or O’Brien. But remember, Rees was not anywhere near a Powlus, Clausen, or Dayne Crist level prospect when he was recruited to Notre Dame.
Tommy Rees is definitely the favorite player of Brian Kelly. Or at least it seems so, but the Lake Bluff native has earned his playing time. Remember he wasn’t even supposed to be the starter this year. He was supposed to be QB2 at best.
Even on a TD pass this season, Tommy Rees caught flak. In the win over Michigan State, who have the nation’s best defense, NBC Announcer Mike Mayock said on the broadcast that Rees had a better option with a different receiver. C’mon Mayock? Seriously?
Tommy Rees can’t catch a break.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a regular analyst on news talk radio stations across the world; with weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS