Rockne's Roundtable

Seriously, I am not a huge Tommy Rees fan, and I know he cannot run the full breadth of the Brian Kelly offense, but what does the dude need to do to get some respect?

What he is is a gamer who can run a solid enough offense to keep us in games with the great defense we have. For all the mistakes Tommy made two years ago, to then being benched for a rookie, to then being called upon when Golson didn't have it in high pressure situations, to then going back to sitting on the bench.

Tommy Rees should have earned a ton of respect for a rational fanbase... and if he is needed, he will answer the bell to the best of his ability. Give the man the credit he is due!!

I'm not sure where Kiel would have been on the depth chart, but what I do know is that Tommy Rees has done something he hasn't -- win games at the college level. Until we know (and I doubt we ever will) where Kiel was projected to be on the depth chart, we really can't assume anything about being worse off, or no different, as a result of his leaving.

I don't see how we're in any more trouble if Golson gets hurt than we were last week. If Kiel was a clear number two, he probably wouldn't be leaving. He's probably leaving because it's clear to him that he won't be. One way or the other, if Golson gets hurt I'd much rather have a kid who is an upperclassman with tons of battle experience and who has shown his mettle than a raw, redshirt freshman who has no idea what he's doing. It's not even logical to think that Kiel would be any better this year than Golson was last year, while it is logical to presume he wouldn't be as good. After all, Golson was a clear number one after spring last year. He got by far the lion's share of the first team reps and got loads of real time experience. Kiel would be coming in never having played a down of college football. I'd rather have Rees under those circumstances.