SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was pleased with what he saw from quarterback Dayne Crist as the Irish worked their way through a rainy and humid first practice Saturday.
Coming off two knee surgeries in as many seasons, Crist was sharp and much improved from spring football in March and April. Now the question: Can the senior win his job back and lead the Irish to a BCS bowl – Kelly’s stated goal in his second season?
Crist is competing with Tommy Rees, the starter and winner in Notre Dame’s final four games last year. He got the job after Crist’s season was ended by a ruptured patella tendon in his left knee on Oct. 30. Andrew Hendrix and freshman Everett Golson are also in the quarterback derby.
“After having two knee surgeries sometimes you get a little protective of your lower body and you slow down your footwork. … feeling your way through it. I didn’t sense that at all,” Kelly said, describing Crist’s first day.
Rather Crist was very aggressive with the way he moved and threw tight spirals. “It wasn’t what I saw in the spring. I thought he was tentative at times in the spring,” Kelly added. “I was very happy.”
Crist can take off from the pocket if needed, but he’s not the mobile runner some spread offenses can be built around. And Kelly said earlier that’s OK. He just needs to be able to get away from defenses and keep the play going.
Crist, at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, completed 59 percent of his passes last season with 15 TDs and seven interceptions. Rees completed 61 percent in 130 fewer attempts and threw for 12 TDs with eight interceptions. He took over when Crist was injured against Tulsa and then started the next four games which saw the Irish beat Utah, Army, Southern California and then Miami in the Sun Bowl to wrap up an 8-5 season.
Crist took the first reps with the first team Saturday before Rees led the first unit on the same series.
Kelly would like his starter to be in place after 19 practices, which would fall around the third week of August. That way the Irish will have ample time to prepare for the Sept. 3 opener against South Florida knowing who will be running the offense.
Crist, who had a torn ACL in his right knee in 2009 when he was a backup, said he’s fully recovered from his second knee surgery.
“I got my speed back,” he said.
He characterized his relationship with all the quarterbacks as friendly on and off the field.
“We understand it’s a competition, but at the same time we’re doing things to make each other better,” he said.
And he said he hasn’t been told directly how the whole quarterback derby will shake out.
“We really haven’t had a discussion at this point. We understand how the reps are split. … It’s really just going out there and controlling what you can do and really not letting the outside things affect you,” Crist said.
Rees was an early enrollee freshman a year ago – just like Golson this year – and all of a sudden at 18 years old, he was the starting quarterback at Notre Dame. It’s a job he wants to keep. He says the competition appears to be even at this early stage.
“Obviously I want to be the starter,” Rees said. “I’m going to do everything I can to put myself in the right position. If I work hard, be a leader out there and make the right decisions with the ball, I’ll let the rest take care of itself. …
“As far as Dayne and I, I know we’re going head-to-head. We’re splitting reps out there.”
Hendrix, who didn’t play last year as a freshman but spent most of his time on the scout team, comes from the rich tradition of Moeller High in Cincinnati. Golson passed for 11,634 yards and 151 TDs in his prep career at Myrtle Beach., S.C.
He’s electrifying enough that Kelly said Saturday he might be a candidate to return kicks this season for the Irish.
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