SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Another Brian Kelly media confab, another staunch defense of his starting quarterback at Notre Dame.
Tommy Rees wasn’t pulled last weekend and led his team on a game-winning, fourth-quarter drive…but the Irish quarterback has been the subject of some scrutiny for the lackluster performance preceding it and his nine turnovers on the year.
Again Tuesday, Kelly reiterated consistency as the theme of the year for his sophomore signal-caller.
“You can put together an incredible highlight reel with Tommy Rees this year,” Kelly said. “And you could also put together a blooper film. So it’s really being able to gain that consistency of play after play after play. And a lot of that is learning and experience, and that’s where we’re at.
“That’s this year. We better not be talking about this stuff next year or there will be another quarterback playing. But he is learning. Some of the body of his work is really good and some of it needs great improvement. And he knows that. I know that, and we believe that he’s capable of being more consistent for a longer period of time.”
Kelly also hastened to point out that some of the errors are not entirely pinnable on Rees. On his lone interception at Pittsburgh, for example, Rees certainly did not get enough on a ball to Tyler Eifert near the goal-line.
But Eifert didn’t come back to the ball, either, allowing a defender to jump the route. And Kelly added another wrinkle Tuesday: Once Rees was flushed from the pocket on that play and the timing was off, he was supposed to check down to a swing pass. Except the running back who was the “swing relief” never got out into a pattern, Kelly said.
For the year, Rees is 93 of 140 (66.4 percent) for 988 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions, with three fumbles as well.
“There’s so many examples of things that occurred in each one of the games that have been good learning pieces for Tom along the way,” Kelly said. “Again, what I want to concentrate on is some of the fundamentals of the quarterback play with Tommy, keep drilling the fundamentals because the ball comes out quickly.
“He’s got incredibly quick release. He may not have the strongest arm in the world, but he can get the ball out quickly, and it doesn’t have to be a 70-yard pass to be a deep shot. So we just need to continue to work with the fundamentals with him, and he’s got some really good intangibles that help the position as well.”
Extra points: Kelly said freshmen George Atkinson III, Cam McDaniel and DaVaris Daniels are continuing to push to see game action. But it’s unlikely any first-year defenders will crack the lineup. “Defensively, you know, I think you see the guys that we’re playing right now,” Kelly said… The inside linebacker platoon of Dan Fox and Carlo Calabrese likely will continue. “It’s been really good,” Kelly said. “Both of them have really done some great things.” … Kelly zeroed in on Purdue’s front four as a stout challenge come Saturday. “When you look at their defensive line, their inside-out as big as we’ll play,” he said.
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