Andre is definitely having a hell of a year, but did you see what USC did to him? Although, USC has proven to have a pretty good defense, with the exception to what ASU did to them. Clemson also made him look human. Other than that, he's averaged at least 5 ypa, but he was less than 3 against the tougher competition. Terry, I think AJ would fit in very well with ND's team, and replacing Rees would probably make that team better.
Every ND fan here agrees that Rees is replaceable, as he has been and was in the past. BUT, given our QB quandary, without him, we are a .500 team. In terms of being a capable #2 or 3 who circumstances have dictated he play at #1, he has done an outstanding job all 4 years and is much appreciated by those who understand the consequences of not having him available.
Amen Sid, Tommy deserves a place in ND History as one of the toughest QB's we've ever had. If we had had last nights running game all year it would have been a different story for Tommy, being able to work off of a legitimate play action would have been huge. Tommy made some great throws yesterday in some difficult weather...that throw to Daniels for the 1st TD was a beauty, it was well thrown and right on the money, Dvarius never had to break stride and the throw to TJ was where only TJ could catch it. That pick in the endzone either needed to be thrown earlier (as per Kelly) or he had to throw to the back pylon where only Nikklas could get at it (per Maycock). Only thing I wonder about last night, is even as successful as our running game was, it was mostly between the tackles. After that outside run that Folston made for a TD, we were pretty much stuffed on any outside running play. I wonder what it was they were doing that they could stop us outside but not inside. Didn't matter whether we ran it right or left.
A P.S. to my above post: We would be fortunate to always have a backup with Rees' ability to step in when needed, even for a full season. I think we all would agree on that. Terry, I also agree that this generation of intelligent football fans (which includes everyone here) sees Tommy as one of the toughest competitors ever to play QB for ND.
If fate hadn't interceeded, Tommy would have been riding the bench his first 2 years behind Crist and his last 2 years behind EG. Instead he ended up throwing for 59 TDs. I expect to see him coaching at a high level in the future. He'll probably be an effective O coordinator.
Everybody keeps speculating that Tommy will be a coach, I wonder what Tommy wants to do for the rest of his life. He's not as skilled as Major Applewhite was as a collegian and everybody always assumed Major would be a coach and he has, but he's not been a rising star as a coach ...at least not yet.
The thing about Alabama is this. There's no denying you are great. Every year, the NFL draft comes along and you see all of these 1st and 2nd round draft picks at a variety of positions. The multitude of top flight NFL talent Alabama has amassed is profane. The last time we've seen something like that was Miami when they were top shelf. The difference being, Miami had (at least early on) some great QBs drafted as well. Alabama seems to have a lot of system QBs. I'm not saying that McCarron only has the ability to be a system QB, but rather that is something that overshadows his accomplishments on the field.
You mean all those great Miami QB's like Geno Torretta, Steve Walsh who went on to great careers? Other than Vinnie Testaverde who of the great Miami QB's did anything in the NFL? Jim Kelly doesn't count because he was before Miami be came da U.
Oh bull. 1st of all, Kelly was there from 1979 to 1982. He was in the class that started the turnaround that became 'The U.' They were 9-2 and beat Notre Dame his Junior year. His senior season was cut short by an injury and the team finished with 4 losses. THE NEXT YEAR, Bernie Kosar led Miami to a National Title. Kelly wasn't before, he was the start of it. Anyway, Kelly-Kosar-Testaverde. That's 3 really good QBs don't ya think? As they moved further on into becoming 'Da U' they had a whole series of system quarterbacks and I do believe I acknowledged that.