SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- When the Irish finally broke the eight-year hex the Trojans had cast over them, it wasn’t because of their freshman quarterback. In a season that saw Tommy Rees become one of the biggest surprises on the roster, on a rain-soaked night in Los Angeles, Rees threw three interceptions and nearly gave the game away to the Irish’s rival before scoring late to pull out a 20-16 victory.
“The USC game obviously wasn’t one of my better games,” Rees said this week.
The statement was delivered matter-of-factly. That the Irish won the game probably made him feel better, but it’s doubtful that anything the sophomore quarterback has seen in his first two seasons on campus have raised his pulse.
“He’s kind of a low-key guy,” wide receiver Michael Floyd said of his partner-in-crime.
But Rees’ emergence as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback has been anything but low-key. While he doesn’t fit the mold of an elite college quarterback, Rees’ performance tonight might finally force Irish fans to begrudgingly accept the sophomore’s ascension to his starting spot, even if his own depth chart is filled with players with better suited for Brian Kelly‘s spread offense.
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When Brady Quinn walked onto campus at Notre Dame, he immediately looked the part of a starting quarterback. Golden boy looks, a sculpted physique, living through Quinn’s growing pains was made easier knowing that the raw material was there. Jimmy Clausen‘s arrival under the Golden Dome was even easier to stomach. Sure, the 2007 season was filled with more aches and pains than any before in the program’s history, but Clausen was the LeBron James of high school football, a wunderkind whose family hand-selected Charlie Weis as their personal quarterbacking guru. When Dayne Crist signed on the dotted line, Irish fans had all but believed they had struck gold for the third time. South Bend was becoming a boom town, with Crist’s athleticism, NFL-caliber size, and arm strength now being nurtured by Weis as Clausen starred under center.
Line up Quinn, Clausen and Crist and you’ve got three quarterbacks who look the part. Add Rees into that conversation and you half expect him to be asking the trio for an autograph.
“When you look at Tommy, you see the paperboy,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t necessarily strike you as an imposing figure.”
If you think comparing Rees to the two quarterback’s atop Notre Dame’s passing record books is unfair, size him up against the current depth chart. Crist will forever outshine Tommy getting off the bus. So will Andrew Hendrix, who gave more ammunition to those calling him the quarterback of the future with his escapades against Air Force. Freshman Everett Golson, who has only seen the field in the spring game, brings an athleticism to the position that even Hendrix can’t touch -- he was set to play point guard and quarterback for North Carolina before he beat Butch Davis out of Chapel Hill. Even fifth-string quarterback turned wide receiver Luke Massa has a more complete skill-set for the position, though he’s now relegated to running routes, not reading them.
Tommy Rees may look better suited to throw a frisbee than a football. But as he approaches the tenth start of his career tonight, a win over USC and another steady performance by Rees should help Irish fans come to grips with a baffling conclusion: The kid is pretty good.
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Pat Dillingham. Matt LoVecchio. Common names that come up from even educated Notre Dame fans when trying to put into perspective the early success Rees has had during his short time in South Bend. On first glance, maybe the comparisons work -- heady, not-overly-athletic, white quarterbacks. But a quick look back shows how inappropriate those comparisons are.
Dillingham’s touchdown pass to Arnaz Battle to beat Michigan State will rightfully go down in Irish lore, but his career will not. The walk-on quarterback threw just that one touchdown pass against seven interceptions in his 87 career attempts.
LoVecchio’s career is a bit less cut and dry. After Gary Godsey floundered in the Irish’s loss to Michigan State in 2000, Notre Dame put the offense in LoVecchio’s hands, and he guided them to seven straight wins, including a victory over Carson Palmer and USC. The seven game run was amazing in that LoVecchio handled the football with extraordinary care, committing only one turnover (an interception against Navy) as he led the Irish to the Fiesta Bowl.
Of course, after that Fiesta Bowl things came crashing down. In a brutal mismatch, Oregon State plastered the Irish, and LoVecchio threw two interceptions, fumbled away another ball and finished just 13 of 33 for 138 yards while being sacked six times. The next season, LoVecchio struggled from the get go, gave way to Carlyle Holiday, and transferred to Indiana after the season. At no time did he every come close to playing to the level he did in those first seven games.
Comparing LoVecchio to Rees shows the obvious difference between Bob Davie and Brian Kelly’s offense. Outside of the bowl debacle, Davie only asked LoVecchio to throw the ball more than 20 times once, and while LoVecchio threw three touchdown passes against Air Force, he only completed 10 of 25 attempts. When Rees came in for an injured Dayne Crist, he never threw less than 20 times, with Rees having his highest completion percentages in the two games he attempted only twenty throws.
If you’re looking for the biggest difference between Rees and LoVecchio, you’ll find it in their second years. When asked to do more, LoVecchio struggled to play consistent football and lost a quarterbacking battle to a guy better suited for his head coach’s system. While Rees will never be able to do everything Kelly wants in his offense, the sophomore quarterback has only improved throughout the season, with his best work coming of late.
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To borrow a phrase from the coach who originally recruited Rees, the arrow is pointing up for the sophomore.
“Since the final drive against Pitt, Tommy Rees has played at a completely different level,” Mike Mayock told me. “This is a game where he could make his statement.”
Rees’ numbers since that drive have been staggeringly efficient. He’s completed 56 of 81 throws for eight touchdowns. He’s thrown no interceptions and had no fumbles. Just crisp, efficient football, something the quarterback has seemed on the cusp of doing all season.
With that run, an unlikely character has started to emerge in the Irish record books:
- Tommy Rees leads Notre Dame in career completion percentage.
- Tommy Rees is fifth in school history in Efficiency Rating.
- Tommy Rees’ 66% accuracy this season has only been bested by Clausen’s 68% in 2009.
- Tommy Rees just broken into the school’s top ten in touchdown passes.
- Tommy Rees is third in passing yards per game.
- Tommy Rees has 11 straight games with a touchdown passes, the third longest streak in school history.
That unlikely character is doing all of this as a sophomore, at a time where no quarterback in his recruiting class is having anywhere near the success of the lightly touted Rees.
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While the stats above are nice, Rees also has the chance to do something no Irish quarterback has done in 20 years. That’s beat USC in back to back games. The last time that happened, Rick Mirer leapt from the Notre Dame sidelines to the second overall pick in the NFL Draft.
We can feel safe saying that Rees’ collegiate career won’t end with him being taken at the top of the NFL Draft’s first round. At this point, we can also safely say that Rees’ career won’t fit into the mold of Dillingham or LoVecchio.
Under the lights against USC, we’ll get a better hint of where Rees’ road will lead him. The unlikely pilot of the Irish offense has a chance for a career-defining win in just his sophomore year. From there, he could end up near the top of the Irish record books or as a memorable footnote in the school’s rich history. While everyone’s in a hurry to figure it out, sometimes the truth takes some time to reveal itself.