It seems that we have been hearing virtually since BK got here that his offense is something that the QBs can’t seem to grasp. This is Rees’ 3rd season with it, it’s season #2 for Hendrix and Golson, #1 for Kiel.

This ongoing mantra is starting to sound suspiciously like an excuse. Whatever became of the concept of adapting your offense to the talents of the people you’ve got? This is not rocket science – it is the art of moving the damn ball down the field by having your guys knock the other guys out of the way while one of them carries the ball either after having it given to him by the QB or having having received a pass from the QB.

Simplify the offense.

Although EG has been on campus for a year and this is his second spring he spent all of last year running the scout team. He traveled to games but had no or minimal reps with the big boy offense. This spring is, for all intents, his first exposure. Remember, sportswriters all mention how BK lights up when he talks to EG. He is bringing him along. If EG felt he was being demeaned he would leave. The kid knows he has a shot, BK knows he has a shot but he has to get him there.

I read somewhere that AH, in a post game interview, when asked about the interception said he needs to trust what he sees and not what he thinks his arm can do. My guess is the kid has always been able squeze the ball to a receiver. He needs to learn he can’t do it at this level.

All and all the game is foder for 4 months of conversation, nothing more.

If Kelly really wants to solve the signaling for EG he ought to give them musical references. He’s reputed to be a gifted musician…..maybe the red army can evolve to a jazz band. (attempt at humor)

TR is the same TR, and although the others weren’t necessarily better, I’ve opined before that if Tommy isn’t clearly superior, then it’s time to give someone else a chance. His interception was horrible, I thought his fade passes to the end zone were weak, he couldn’t run, and he had a few good moments as always (30 yard pass to Daniels was perfect). As such, one of the other two has to be given a chance.

Hendrix impressed me more than most of the opinions here. He read the blitz and FIRED a strike to Eifert. He hda a few other nice passes and certainly has toughness. His interception was awful, but quite frankly, whether AH or Golson, we’re going to have to endure plenty of interceptions during growing pains next year. A lot of the comments here suggest Hendrix has had loads of playing time. He’s barely been on the field. And outside of continuous time vs. Stanford, where he looked like he had lots of potential despite his interception, he’s been thrown in randomly with no opportunity to establish any rhythm whatsoever. Kelly put him in an awful situation against Florida State where made musch more sense. I’m not writing him off based on this performance.

Golson certainly looked the best in this game (again, 10 minutes – certainly no time to make a complete assessment), but dismissing lousy clock management, delay of game penalties and wasting timeouts is naive. Those are the types of penalties that kill drives and leave teams in awkward situations at ends of halves. He ran well and is certainly exciting.

ND clearly needs to feature the run game this upcoming season, along with use of the multiple talented tight ends (Koyak and Welch looked very good). We don’t need a great passing game, just one good enough to keep defenses honest while the new quarterback develops. Daniels struck me as in line with the coaches’s comments over the spring – the kid can make some plays but needs to do it consistently. It was disappointing to see him slow down on an out down the sideline that could have been a TD.

On defense, Ishaq looks like he’s improving dramatically. He always keened to be near the action. His angles need work and he needs to lock down tackles when he has them, but it certainly looks like he can develop into something special. Day also stood out as a pleasant surprise. The CBs looked better than I expected, although I don’t recall one pass where any of them turned to look for or see the football. We’ve seen that too many times in the past. Hopefully we’ll see improvement there.

Overall I’m cuatiously optimistic. Unlike most, with our schedule, 8-9 wims will be successful in my book, as long as a NEW quarterback is developed for 2013

You do have great posts for the most part and you do have to admit some people get carried away. I was civil and liken this baord to the local bar. For the most part I was the silent guy who finally decided to speak up. If I offended anyone then take this as my mea culpa, but for the last few days I’ve read mean posts about Aaron Lynch (and supportive) and mean posts about Kelly (as well as supportive)

Do you not aggree it is better to see players leave for the reasons that they are unlike some programs who DON’T kick players for criminal acts. I live in Georgia where UGA has suspended all four DB’s for violations of somesort and the UGA fanbase is mad because UGA seems to be the only team that does that whhile players like Percy (failed drug tests) Harvin never seemed to miss a down – I don’t, as a ND fan, have to worry about that. My SEC friends jumped on me about Floyd but I shrugged it off.

I can participate like anyone else and I will. As I’ve mentioned before, you are not innocent (what about dickasman or whatever that screen name is) of being hostile. I’ll keep it civil – you try also.

Thanks for the spelling lesson

Regardless, I agree with much of what jonathongorny says. I too have coached and have seen that positive reinforcement sometimes gets better results than having a kid terrified to make a mistake. All coaches have their own style and that is not to say you cannot be successful if you are a screamer, like Kelly. He and others have shown that this style can be very successful. Just because it is successful does not mean one has to agree with the approach or refrain from critiquing it. And when your favorite team has a coach that is purple with rage, and you get to see that photo on ESPN’s Gameday show on a regular basis, I see no problem with people expressing their displeasure – even if he wins a National Championship. Which brings up another observation. People criticize other schools that have issues with players and coaches while pointing to ND as an example of virtue and how coaches and student athletes should behave. I seem to remember more than a few famous names and stars at ND having trouble with the law and bad behavior. And in my day, it was common knowledge that certain economics classes at ND were not much tougher than the parks and recreation classes other schools offered. ND is not as different from other schools as some people like to believe. On a whole, though, I do think it is far better than many of the college powerhouses.

Your post starts out ripping others for expressing their opinions, then you go on to give an earful of your “opinions.

This board doesn’t exist without opinions and disagreement. As long as it’s civil. what’s the prob? Most here still like Kelly. But it’s all right to question moves here and there. His handling of the QBs during his tenure has been anything but perfect.

Last: It’s “counseling”.

Its 3rd and 1, the Irish need a first down, Golsen is confused, no matter how much physical talent he has can stop that! OH NO A DELAY OF GAME! Now the same head-bobbers who are screaming at Kelly to start Golsen are yelling AT Kelly AND Golsen!

What I saw from the BLUE AND GOLD game was this – BETTER NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL THAN I’VE SEEN SINCE 1995. If you can’t see improvement, check your glasses.

What I love about ND is that while Lynch’s departure stinks it was his decision not because he was suspended or busted for drugs. If he loves his girlfriend – great! At least we didn’t read where he beat her up! Which headline do we want? Maybe we should’ve told Tee Shepard to not go to class or major in parks & rec like they do at USC, Alabama, LSU?

I belileve this is going to be a fascinating year, I hope for a NC but I think we are going to see something new, a beast being born.

I’d start Golsen, but I’ll admit I wasn’t on the sidelines or in the locker room. Go Coach Kelly, Go Irish and GO IRISH NATION! GOLD AND BLUE, THROUGH AND THROUGH! SEPTEMBER IS TOO FAR AWAY! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I recently saw a replay on the Big Ten Network of part of the Michigan v. ND game last year. The long gain at the end of that game came on a play that I did not realize had earlier resulted in an interception of a Robinson pass in the first half. Prophetically, Herbstreit, on the replay of the interception, showed the running back alone on the sideline and said that if Denard had thrown to this player, it could have gone for a touchdown. I suspect the Michigan coaches saw that too and when the play was needed again, told Robinson to look to his right for a wide open receiver rather than hoping he would find the receiver going through his normal progressions. ND’s defense seemed to be the same on both plays, with the sideline pattern again being ignored in favor of covering the crossing pattern to the middle of the field. Sometimes simple works.

As regards the BG game, it gave great hope for the season in my view. Given the schedule and the QBs at hand, it is hard to see Kelly achieving the National Championship in his 3rd year, as have all of the great ND coaches. Given that, it seems Golson should start. He was electric on the field. I’ll take his turnovers and upside over the turnovers and upsides of the other two. We have lived with TR and his turnovers, without which Kelly would be talking about the potential for three 9+ win seasons in a row instead of eight. Golson won’t get better until he is in real games.

As regards the turnovers of Golson, he had no interceptions, showed great touch, a rocket arm, pocket presence and an ability to be a genuine running threat. If you have never taken a snap under center, you can’t appreciate the fact that it is a two man play. Different centers snap the ball differently – you can have no exchange problems with one center while another alwasy seems to be more of a concern (it is both ball placement and how hard the ball comes into the hands of the QB from the center – I remember bad plays last year where both Rees and Crist had trouble with the snap). Add to that the fact that you are taking more snaps from the shotgun position than under center and it is not easy to see how mistakes happen. The centers had some mis-snaps yesterday and one center, according to Mayock, snaps with his left hand, which is a different ball placement from the more typical right hand snap. And remember that the starting center did not play. The point here being that too much emphasis is being placed on mistakes in the center-qb exchange when analyzing Golson. More reps as the starter should eliminate these problems in short order.

Finally, we all saw last year how Michigan’s Robinson was able to use his talent and leadership to overcome his mistakes to beat ND (and a lot of other teams). Golson has the type of talent and leadership to do the same. Moreover, he has a terrific arm and knows when to use touch or throw a fastball. Plus, if he has an open field in front of him on a broken pass play, he looks to be able to go the distance the way Robinson has done. If we don’t use Golson now, he’s gone. Don’t expect him to wait around for Kiel to take the job next year. I hope he starts but expect it to be Hendrix. If it is Rees – well, Kelly said it best, I’ve seen that movie (twice) before.

I hope there is a method to his madness, as he’s been very successful at every level. And I don’t believe every coach has to be Pete Carroll-esque. There’s still room for some Lombardi/Ditka/Parcells. His most damning comments were about the turnovers which ruined their 2011 season, so I understand the frustration there.

But the negative reinforcement is wearing thin.

1. 3 times now I’ve seen him throw the SAME INTERCEPTION. Drop back, stare at a receiver, and FIRE!!, regardless of who else is near. Against FSU, Stanford and yesterday. I think he gets too amped up and lacks poise.

2. He is a gifted athlete and I think with his size, speed and love of the game he’d be potentially an All American safety.

3. My opinion: Right now, he should be #2 on the depth chart. By season end I’d like to see Kiel #2. And next year I’d love to see Andrew at safety.

No “bias”; just an opinion.

I work with teenagers and also coach HS sports in Chicago. Not to say that I understand ND’s top athletes or that I have any insight that Kelly and crew don’t, but I know and have studied the psychology of HS kids, and after watching Kely’s press conference and his comments about Golson, I fear he has or is going to lose Golson soon.

You cannot verbally, without end beat kids now and days. You can’t. Psychologically 21 is the new 18, 18 is 15 and so on. Today’s college athletes, for the most part, need support AND correction. Affirmation AND guidance. Kelly in his public statements, does little support or affirmation.

Golson took care of the ball (most important), made plays (see the cross-feild check down bullet he threw off one foot. And the botched snap by the center that he turned into a +), looked off defenders (Turnover Tommy should ask him how he does it), threw his receivers open (see first TD), and was far more accurate than the others.

But all Kelly can say is, “The stats don’t mean anything to me. What I didn’t like was that he’s got to get the plays in quicker.” Yeah, you’re subbing Qb’s in and out ever drive and they can’t get a rhythm or timing down, and that’s Golson’s fault? Come on man.

As a HS coach and a person that counsels HS kids, positive affirmation and support unlocks their abilities. Loving support provides confidence. Whipping makes kids play in fear and turns QB’s gun-shy (See Hendricks VS FSU). Those QB’s are terrified to slip up because they know Kelly is going to rip them a new one. You can’t treat kids that way anymore. You have to give them the support they need to make big time plays.

I hate to say it but a perfect example of this was Pete Carroll and Jim Harbuaugh. Carroll’s players loved him and were willing to fight every play for him. Carroll had some moral issues but he knew how to treat HS/college kids. Harbaugh was the same. So fiery and so intense in a supportive way. He yelled at refs not kids. His players loved him and he turned 3′s into 5′s.

What I see in Kelly is a coach way to interested in keeping his job and image. He throws kids under the bus and rarely gives credit where credit is due. Manti saw it last year, Lynch saw it, Nix, and so on. Celebrity 19 year olds don’t need to be knocked off their horses, they need reigned in and given a team vision. Think stallions. They are wild and mean and fast but if you can lasso them, reign them in, and teach them how to operate in your system, then you have a thoroughbred on your hands.

Kelly is more concerned about his image and his legacy and far less concerned about fostering kids and creating a winning program. He knows X’s and O’s (I think?) but what he’d benefit from is some classes in adolescent psychology. Coaching goes way beyond decisive schematic advantages.

Brian, you got great kids here, they all are the RKG’s, that’s why you recruited them. Now treat them with some dignity and support and unlock their God given ability to beat the hell out of Michigan.

#longpost

but

This is ND nation.

Need I say more?