For those fans who are desperately waiting to find out who Notre Dame’s starting quarterback will be against Navy in Ireland, Brian Kelly has a message for you.
“I think this is going to require all the 29 practice opportunities we have,” the Irish coach said Saturday. “I would not be holding your breath for an announcement anytime soon.”
Kelly said he’s still installing the offense — “we just put the quarterback sneak in today,” he said — so it’s too early to get a full evaluation on the race between Everett Golson and Andrew Hendrix.
That said, Kelly said he’s been encouraged by both the progress his quarterbacks have made so far in training camp.
“I don’t have a better idea as to who the starter is, but I can tell you that Andrew and Everett have begun to display the skills necessary — not just physical skills, but the mental skills necessary — to be the starter,” Kelly said.
For Golson, that means showing better poise in the pocket, and not looking to run at the first sign of pressure. For Hendrix, that means protecting himself out there and checking down to the best option on each play.
“Now, it’s honing those and building on what we did this past week,” Kelly said.
As for freshman Gunner Kiel, the nation’s top QB recruit has been working with the third team and has been getting significantly fewer reps than Golson and Hendrix. Like any freshman, even an early enrollee, there’s still a lot of learning to do. But Kelly had high praise for Kiel.
“He continues to do really good things,” Kelly said. “He’s got to catch up with the knowledge bae of the other two kids, but
physically he has all the skills. If I didn’t have those other two kids, I would not be afraid of playing Gunner Kiel. He’s got all the
intangibles you’re looking for.”
