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University of Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson has left the school. News of the Everett Golson departure is all over Twitter. It’s been confirmed by Notre Dame spokespeople. This situation is summed up best by South Bend sports talk radio host Craig Williams of 95.7 The Fan.
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It’s a four way battle to start at quarterback in Notre Dame, perhaps the most high profile position in all of college sports. But after upon further inspection, it’s most likely a two way competition this college football season.
Last year’s starter Tommy Rees had the inside track to regain the position this year, but the charges he’s facing: underage drinking, resisting arrest and battery, means he’s likely fallen down the depth chart.
Discipline problems like these are hard to ignore, and that will open up the door for the more inexperienced signal callers.
Isn’t it time to get ‘experienced’ with Hendrix? Andrew Hendrix played some last year, throwing 18 of 37 for 247 yards, 1 TD, 2 picks. He also played in the Champs Sports Bowl loss to Florida State, going 3 of 8. Is he the QB of the future?
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It’s a four way battle to start at quarterback in Notre Dame, perhaps the most high profile position in all of college sports. But after upon further inspection, it’s most likely a two way competition this college football season.
Last year’s starter Tommy Rees had the inside track to regain the position this year, but all the charges he’s facing means he’s fallen down the depth chart.
Discipline problems like these are hard to ignore, and that will open up the door for the more inexperienced signal callers.
Everett Golson is perhaps the QB of the future, and the future could be this fall.
Golson was the talk of the spring game, as he turned in the best performance of the four quarterbacks, going 11-for-15 passing for 120 yards and two touchdowns.
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The number one topic is of course the four-way starting quarterback battle. Unlike other spring games, Notre Dame lets them pretty much go live at QB, which is a lot cooler than the signal caller wearing a red, no-contact jersey. Here’s the statistical breakdown.
Everett Golson 31 snaps, 11-15 passing, 120 yards, two TDs, 0 picks. 6 carries for 25 yards. Tommy Rees 7-14-1, 84 yards, 0 TDs, 1 rush for 1 yard in 26 snaps. Andrew Hendrix 4-9-1, 51 yards, 1 TD, 2 rushes for 13 yards in 15 snaps.
–Much ballyhooed blue-chip recruit Gunner Kiel came in during the second half and went 5-10-1, 57 yards, 3 carries for 15 yards. The story of last season was essentially too many turnovers, especially so from the quarterback position, and especially at the most inopportune times.
“We had two interceptions in particular, where we’ve seen that movie before,” Brian Kelly told the media after the game. The fans saw both Kiel and Rees get picked off soon after entering the game. Rees’ interception came on his fifth attempt, Kiel his second.
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Halfway through his second season at the pressure-packed helm of Notre Dame football, Brian Kelly has experienced horrible tragedy and made almost every mistake imaginable.
From the death of Declan Sullivan to horrible public admission that the players he recruited were on a different level than those he inherited, Kelly has done a lot in creating the minefield he has to navigate daily.
After finishing last season with a four-game winning streak and a lopsided bowl victory over one-time-rival Miami in the Sun Bowl, a lot was expected of the 2011 Fighting Irish.
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Here it is- THE BIG ONE! Of all my 77 in 77s, this is my piece de resistance. The team I cover the most, Chicago’s home college football team, the program covered in the media unlike any other. Yes, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the most storied and well-documented team in the history of the game. This preview will be longer than the others, so let’s get right to it.
Storyline #1 QB controversy: Crist has risen, announced two days ago. (For more on that go here)
Coach Brian Kelly on the situation: “Dayne (Crist) overcame a serious knee injury just to be able to start the season (in 2010). He had another serious knee injury. He got himself ready for the spring and fought through the uncertainty of that as well. Then, the work in the summer and preseason , and it puts it in perspective. He is a much better quarterback. He’s the kind of guy I want to coach.”
Go here for a podcast previewing the 2011 Notre Dame season
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If there was one weak link in Notre Dame last season, it was without question the ground game. If you look at the national rankings, on offense: 67th in scoring, 92nd in rushing, 34th in passing, 61st in total yardage.
Defense: 23rd in scoring , 50th in rushing, 54th in passing, 50th in total yards. 2010 was also the first year since 1971 that the Fighting Irish failed to produce a 100 yard rusher in any single game. And the fourth consecutive year without a 1,000 rusher.
Redshirt sophomore Cierre Wood hopes to change all that. He took over the job in week 6 when Armando Allen suffered a career ending injury. It was a tough way for Allen to go out. He was an underrated back. He’s on more all-time ND record lists than you would believe, and his place on those lists is much higher than you’d expect.
Wood filled in quite admirably though, posting over 600 yards on 5.1 ypc.
Go here for our season preview of the 2011 ND offense (passing game)
Go here for our season preview of the 2011 ND Defense
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“The quarterback spot? I really don’t know. I’m taking all suggestions. I can make a case passionately for any of the four. We can’t go into the season not knowing what we’re doing. We can’t do musical chairs.”
Those are the words of Irish football coach Brian Kelly last month when he spoke at an IMG sales luncheon in Chicago for clients of Notre Dame’s football radio network and at a dinner following the 25th annual Notre Dame Club of Chicago golf outing.
That quote pretty much says it all when it comes to what the main story lines will be for both the offense and the overall team when training camp opens next month. In other words, it’s all about Dayne Crist vs. Tommy Rees vs. Andrew Hendrix vs. Everett Golson. More on that here and here.
Go here for our season preview of the 2011 ND Defense
Go here for our season preview of the 2011 ND offense (running game)
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The post-spring college football wrap-up poll on ESPN.com lists the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 17th for 2011, with the following comments from Mark Schlabach:
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During one of his banner seasons leading the Cincinnati Bearcats, current Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly played two QBs. This fall in South Bend, it could happen again. Maybe.
Dayne Crist is the projected starter, with Tommy Rees number two as of today, but the depth chart isn’t set in stone, or anything like that, as of now.
“We’ll have to obviously cut back and hone in on who the starter and back-up in that order is,” Kelly said after the Blue/Gold spring game.
“but we have knowledge now. Now we can move forward in making some of those tougher decisions relative to who is one, and who is two.”
For part one of our analysis, focusing on Everett Golson and Tommy Rees.
Today, we focus on Dayne Crist and Andrew Hendrix.
By Paul M. Banks
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During one of his banner seasons leading the Cincinnati Bearcats, current Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly played two QBs. This fall in South Bend, it could happen again. Maybe.
Dayne Crist is the projected starter, with Tommy Rees number two as of today, but the depth chart isn’t set in stone, or anything like that, as of now.
“We’ll have to obviously cut back and hone in on who the starter and back-up in that order is,” Kelly said after the Blue/Gold spring game.
“but we have knowledge now. Now we can move forward in making some of those tougher decisions relative to who is one, and who is two.”
By Paul M. Banks
For part 2 of this analysis, focusing on Crist and Hendrix, go here
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The South Bend, Indiana weather didn’t exactly cooperate with Notre Dame today. Wind, rain and cold greeted the 82nd-Annual Blue-Gold Game, won by the Gold 17-14. The spring college football intra-squad game was broadcast live nationally on Versus.
It drew 27,863 to Notre Dame Stadium. Not bad for the abysmal weather conditions. ND typically draws at least 20,000 and this wasn’t too far off from cracking the top five crowds in blue-game history.
Here are some of the on-the-field highlights:
By Paul M. Banks
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