Rockne's Roundtable

Who in the world would ever get back on the Rees train?

Darrin Walls came back for a 5th year and did not enroll in a graduate program. He was a 2nd semester senior when he played his 5th year.

Purdue will be tougher than most people are giving them credit for. Don't look past them coming off a trip to Ireland a week before

I always enjoy both the articles and the commentary and exchanges that follow. Had to kind of chuckle about the "bowel prep" comment, though

I hardly think the Navy game will provide ample competition to determine who will lead the team against tougher opponents the remainder of the season. I also don't think Kelly will have the patience with the two QB's as he had with Rees. Rees did fill a void when he was needed and I sense Kelly has more confidence in his field leadership strictly because the other QB's were never given game experience. Then when EG performs well in the BG game, Kelly down plays it and probably takes away some of the self confidence the kid gained in the game. I don't doubt Kelly's coaching abilities at all, but the way the QB situation has been handled from day one really puzzles me. Hopefully his plan will mature this year and we all will be happily wrong.

All rees did is complicate our offense . Time to move on.

kking,

That's originally how I felt, and to some degree still do. I just think this is gong to complicate things down the road if Golson and Hendrix don't get it done. Kelly knows Rees can reasonably manage a game and might have to turn to him once again. And if Kelly wanted to avoid a quarterback controversy, it's going to be tough to do if he starts Rees again later. I don't have a crystal ball, but I think everyone should want the quarterbacks to be able to settle this once and for all in fall camp by their play, not because one guy — the one with the most experience — is put on the back burner for a month. Don't get me wrong, Rees deserves the suspension. I just don't think this actually simplifies things.

But, I'm glad you enjoyed the column. We all have our opinions. I've enjoyed reading the comments.

He's been pretty patient if you ask me

Rees' 19 turnovers last season lead me to believe he has been. I'll give you the Crist point though. Not buying the sideline point. He yelled but he kept Rees in

Wes,

I'm going to have to disagree with your article as well. I think Rees simplified things and gave Kelly an even bigger reason to go with Golson. We all know that Golson is the favorite to take the job and he has the perfect blend of pass first QB with running threat ability that Kelly desires for his offense. The tough part for Kelly entering the season is putting the ball in the hands of your young QB when you have had back to back 8-5 seasons at ND and realizing you have limited room for error at the moment because fans are impatient at a rebuilding process.

With Golson though imo he's going to make mistakes as all first-year young QB's do. He may even put up 15-20 turnovers as Rees did last season but he will also give us a much better shot at winning games in spite of these miscues because you can't just drop everyone deep or you can't just load up the box and stop the run. His multi-threat abilities opens up the offense and he will be able to get us out of 3rd and longs with his ability to scramble, he will open up the running game with his ability to run the read option offense, he will open up the passing game because of his ability to keep a play alive and go deep more frequently. I and would surmise most fans don't think he's going to come right in and not make mistakes because that would be naive.

It would be one thing if Rees was a true game-manager. We should have a pretty damn good rushing attack this season along with a stout front 7 and if you can control the trenches then you should be in most games. However Rees has not shown himself to be the game manager that some thought he could be. He is still making the same boneheaded throws in the Spring game this year. He's not learned from his mistakes and that is just not acceptable considering his other limitations playing the position. I think he's an asset to have around because he is a football junkie and he understands the game but his decision making leaves a lot to be desired.