Notre Dame: Quarterback Battle Bodes Well For Future

After the first week of practice, Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly says that the quarterback race is down to Senior Dayne Crist and Sophomore Tommy Rees.

This was the expected ending all along, despite the "open" competition between all four of the Irish quarterbacks when practice started.  True freshmen Everett Golson and sophomore Andrew Hendrix would have had to be amazing in their first week to come close to Crist or Rees, as neither has any game experience for the Irish.

Crists's nine starts last year and his senior class standing should help him win the starting job ultimately.  He's also bigger than Rees (6'4" 235 lbs vs 6'2" 215 lbs) with a stronger throwing arm (needed in the spread offense).

Tommy Rees Gets Coached Up By Kelly
Photo: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

However, Rees showed some toughness last year in overcoming some mistakes to lead the Irish to victories over teams like USC and Utah.  He also put roughly 12 lbs onto his previously wiry frame which should help him greatly.  Rees is also a coaches' son who might be best at understanding Kelly's complex system.

No matter who is the winner of this competition, the very fact that there are two qbs in strong contention puts Notre Dame in a much better position than last year.  In 2010, Dayne Crist was more or less the starter by default with a couple of freshman and Nate Montana (who showed virtually no grasp of the offense in his limited amount of playing time).

Couple that with the athletically talented Golson and Hendrix, and the Irish quarterback position looks well taken care of for the next few years.