Rockne's Roundtable

PURPLE RAIN ------- HENDRIX!!!!!!!!!!!

Rees looks good when the opponent's defense plays us as a normal offense. Now that defenses have learned that we are not a normal offense due to Rees' immobility and mid-range arm, dropping 8 in coverage stops us cold. And the loss of Jonas Gray clinches the fact we are a one dimensional team. So we must use a QB (Hendrix) that can force defenses to play us straight. That is easily our best chance to win the bowl game.

As I wrote in an earlier post, if leadership and experience is all you have, it doesn't take you very far; while superior talent has no limit to allow you to continue to improve.

I'm not sure I understand why Rees is even in the conversation. Nice kid, good backup, but he's demonstrated his shortcomings from a talent basis consistently to everyone but Kelly for 2 years. I still don't understand why Kelly has been so stubborn in playing Rees all year, as a once promising season has dissolved into mediocrity. If anyone other than Hendrix starts the bowl game, it should be Crist who has quietly stood by while an inferior QB has played in his stead. Such a shame to waste his talent, which will more than likely be used by another program successfully next year. Is Kelly that secure in his job that he could throw away this season? That said, it should be Hendrix starting.

I think that Rees will start and that Hendrix will be planned into a rotation scheme as the vaulted "change of pace" and that BK will go with the "hot hand", if there is one. Best case scenario is that they both play well and worst case that neither do. I also believe that a factor to be dealt with in the preparations for the bowl game is the receivers getting prepped for the change in velocity from the two QBs. I thought that on several occasions against Stanford that the ball got on the receivers before they were ready when Hendrix was throwing. I felt like the ball traveled through the last 36" quicker and lead to incompletions. Just a thought.

BigKenn, hafta admit, I loved Appalonia Kotero, as much as the next guy, back in '84, & Darling Nikki is awesome, I don't get the Purple Rain reference in regards to Hendrix. Wait, maybe you were making a Jimmy Hendrix reference, and were referring to Purple Haze? my bad.

I seem to recall that Hendrix threw a few pretty poor passes in his first attempts against Stanford,some that left me scratching my head, but obviously he settled in and began making plays.

I just have to bow to the intimacies of practice reps and tape and let Kelly do his job, as much as I would like to have an opinion. If we replicated Hendrix's stats over 14 games, how would we have faired?

I am biased in favor of Rees because I admire his calm and hate seeing him bashed often for his limitations (don't we all have them) and not often praised enough for his skills. I am not blind, however, to the flash and dash Hendrix showed. He's obviously skilled enough to warrant a scholarship, and that says about all we need to know should Kelly choose to go in a different direction.

Kelly will start Rees simply because it makes sense to start
the QB who got you to the bowl game. Rees earned it no matter
what we think or how little potential he has for the future. However, I think he will be on a very short leash and AH will be out there as soon as Kelly thinks it's time for a change and/or a situation that dictates a running QB.

Ham & Risksorter,
"But, it comes back to that old saw: "we don't know what exactly what it is that we don't know."" This is our problem .... that we really don't know evrything involved with these kids. And I include Golson in the conversation. All three have their attributes that make them attractive. I think what Rees brought to th etable that gave him an edge was his "unflappable" approach to the job at hand. All three are obviously smart they got into ND. You could see the doubt in Crist's eyes when BK jumped on him. You just didn't see that with Rees. (BTW I feel really bad for Crist and I don't think he got a fair shake at the starter's role. But you have to admire his attitude throughout this season. What a man!! So proud of him. i have told my sons that I wouldn't be surprised for him to end up at Stanford next season running a pro-style offense.)
Back to the bowl game and 2012, we just don't know what Hendrix or Golson would be able to accomplish with BK's offense. We have seen that Rees understands it and is steady in his management of it. He just can't physically do some aspects of the offense. That is why I would not be surprised by his demotion at any time. Kelly knows it is all about winning.

Terrence C,

What I liked about your post so much was the way you had an even-handed, level approach with both QBs. Sometimes it almost comes across that Tommy Rees was the creator of Original Sin, but he helped salvage the season in 2010, which in turn built some momentum in recruiting.

We're all aware of his limits, but he did what he could, and it's so easy to forget he was only a sophomore. I shudder to think what message boards would have said about QBs such as Theismann, Clements, Montana and Rice after their sophomore years, or even junior seasons. I'm not putting Rees in their category, but am saying that he's helped this program a lot more than appreciated.

I would be a little surprised if he doesn't start the bowl, in the scenario that Ham mentioned. Welcome aboard.

Irishnumberone,

Thank you, and that is a good point on your point. The only thing is I don't know how much it inhibited the ability to run the read option, hyperextension or not. He was also going to need a lot of refinement on his deep ball.

It is a fair point to raise, but for the most part I think the line, and the backs, did a fabulous job for the most part this year in keeping him upright and with plenty of time to pass when needed, thereby not forcing him to need his legs as much.

If there was a more pronounced problem with his knee, then I would think that would have been all the more reason to insert Hendrix into situations to perhaps take some of the onus off him. Again, though, I don't know all that goes behind closed doors, so I am not aware of everything that went into such decisions.