Like all Notre Dame fans, I am very disappointed to hear the news about Everett Golson not being enrolled at Notre Dame. In a statement, he stated that he made poor choices academically and that he takes full responsibility for it and will enroll again in January 2014. Reading between the lines, it is not hard to figure out what happened. He had a lot of success so early and let it get to his head. He thought he could get away with not taking academics seriously and just play football. Rumor is that he cheated on exams.
With the progress he made in the late season last year, it was going to be exciting to watch him take the next step this season. Hopefully, Golson learned his lesson and comes out of this stronger than ever for Notre Dame.
Meanwhile, the team has to move forward for this season. While I am as disappointed as any Irish fan, I believe in Tommy Rees unlike many Irish fans. Here is a guy whose career record as a starter is 13-5. That is not too shabby and certainly not an easy task at Notre Dame. Yes, he lacks the arm strength and the mobility that Golson has. But his ability to read a defense before the snap really has the team believing in him.
Rees played a key role last year as he was asked to come off the bench in relief often in critical situations. Without Rees, the Irish never would have beaten Purdue, Michigan, and Stanford. He even started one game against BYU.
In this his senior year, Rees can lead this team back to the BCS. I have no doubt of that. The reality is that he is the Irish's best option right now. Gunner Kiel transferred, Malik Zaire is probably not ready, and Andrew Hendrix has been the biggest disappointment since Jimmy Clausen.
Unless Hendrix really shows something in camp, the 2013 Irish will be led by Rees. So the fans might as well get behind him.
Don't even say that without Rees "ND would NOT have won those games"... Golson could have easily gotten the job done and so could have Hendrix, but we will never know since Brian Kelly didnt show the trust he should have in his starting QB.
ReplyDeleteRees has a noodle for an arm and he stares down his receiver every play. I can understand your misguided trust in him... but lets be realistic here, Tommy Rees is a bet that nobody in there right mind would take. The only thing this kid is good for is teaching, and teaching alone isn't enough to earn him the scholarship that he received. Notre Dame is better off removing him from the team and keeping him around as a graduate assistant for the sole purpose of teaching Zaire.
ReplyDeleteI think Rees as a grad assistant is a great idea. But right now he is our starting quarterback, so I hope you support him.
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