As we wind down the “Know Thyself, Know Thy Enemy” series, we come to the most hotly debated position on the Irish: Quarterback. While I’ve been rather consistent in my stance of “anybody but Tommy”, I haven’t yet stated who I would start as the QB.
Kieth Arnold over at Inside the Irish got me thinking about this even earlier than I planned to when asked to rank the top 25 Irish players on the roster. As I did that exercise, I decided to rank everyone on where I think they are skill-wise right now and not estimate future potential. When I did that, I had all 3 QB ranked within a few spots of each other, but one managed to come out on top.
Andrew Hendrix
Year: Sophomore (RS)
Height/Weight: 6’2″/220 lbs
I can already hear a few screams of “REALLY NOT GOLSON?!” in my head as I type this out. However, I just can’t give Golson the nod over Hendrix based off just a single spring game and a lot of hype.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe Golson is immensely talented and will find himself on the field this season. He will be an impact player and he will simply wow us on more than one occasion. However, he has still yet to see a single meaningful snap in a game.
Andrew Hendrix though, has. Although he is not without faults, his mistakes are correctable. The INTs that he had last season (and in the spring game) were the result of flat out misreading coverages and losing track of a linebacker. That is much easier to fix than consistently locking in on a single receiver and forcing a ball into triple coverage or having passes that are wildly inaccurate on a regular basis as we’ve seen Tommy do.
With great speed and a rocket arm, Hendrix has all the physical tools he needs to succeed. With a year under his belt, he will be much better prepared to lead the Irish in 2012 than any other QB on the roster. He fits Kelly’s system and is a true dual threat that will force the defense to honor both aspects of his game.
Golson’s time will come. 2012 is the year of the Hendrix experience.
Matt Barkley
School: Southern Cal
Year: Senior
Height/Weight: 6’2″/230 lbs
Unlike Notre Dame’s situation, finding the top opposing QB is a rather easy task. Just take a look at any pre-season Heisman list and you’ll find Matt Barkley’s name at the top and for good reason.
Barkley has thrown for over 9,000 yards, completed 64.3% of his passes, and thrown for 80 TDs with just 33 INTs. Even in his worst season as a freshman, Barkley had a 59.95% completion percentage, threw for over 2,700 yards and his TD to INT ratio was still above 1 at 15:14.
He’s really, really good at football.
However, he also holds the distinction of being the first Trojan QB to lose to the Irish since Carson Palmer in 2001. So at least we have that going for us? [Edit: As mentioned below, I completely forgot that Barkley was hurt in the 2010 loss to the Irish]
Once again, the Irish will end the season facing a top quarterback from the Pac-12 that is likely going to be the first pick in the NFL draft. And with weapons like Woods surrounding Barkley, it’s no surprise that many have Southern Cal as their favorites for the national title.
Previous Entries
Punter/Kicker
Defensive Line
Offensive Line
Safety
Wide Receiver
Cornerback
Running Back
Tight End
Linebacker
- Epilogue - January 3, 2022
- HLS Podcast Finale - January 2, 2022
- The Final Fiesta: Notre Dame vs Oklahoma State NCAA ’14 Sim - December 31, 2021
Irish runt
Unfortunately ND didn’t beat Barkley. They beat Mustain. Barkley was injured and dis not play in the game 2 years ago.
NDtex
I completely forgot about that. Thanks.
kyndfan
Here is where I could rant about Golson’s potential and the talent that he has displayed, but I won’t. Hendrix can potentially be a stud for us. He has the tools and some game experience already. I agree with your first assessment, anybody but Tommy.
It is a little hard to see all the condoms that have made the list in this series of articles. I have never wanted ND to beat those west coast cheating, lying, bastards so badly.
Hoping to see that stunned look on kiffins face once again.
Allan Ng
I constantly read many ND sites and love the stories and updates. This is my first response. I graduated in the Davie era and lived through TW and CW and now BK. Like someone said earlier, beating SC with Mustain at the helm does nothing for all of us. With Manti and Barkley staying, I thought it was a sign and was very excited and can’t wait for this years matchup. Please let this be the year …. So please Barkley and USC … stay healthy and win all your games and we’ll be the spoiler. When that happens, I promise to hang the score outside my house for a year!!!
ND75
We have different takes on Hendrix. I see his interceptions as “fatal flaws” which help erase his huge potential. The fatal flaw is that he locks into receivers “with minimal peripheral vision”on crossing patterns. Two of his interceptions at key times fell into this category. USC and Florida State. As you mentioned, he didn’t see (or read the linebacker) on thes plays. But in replays from the endzone, you can tell that he did not have the peripheral vision necessary to “feel” the potential pressure comint into play in a crossing pattern play.
While you might not like Rees because of his limited physical ability, he has exceptional “feel” for how and when receivers will be open (when the ball arrives). Rees’s fatal flaw is mobility and running ability.
Golsen has actually had two solid Spring games, in 2011 and 2012. My take is that he doesn’t have that “fatal flaw” that the other two have. His drawback is experience, which is really only a dozen or so plays behind Hendrix. He can make that up against Navy and Purdue.
Bottom line, all three quarterbacks have their advantages and dissadvantags. My guess is that Golsen has higher upside. It’s a shame though as all three QB’s seem like great guys.
NDtex
How in the world can you claim Hendrix “locks in” to receivers and Tommy has a good “feel”?! Were we watching two different seasons in 2011? The Tommy Rees I saw locked in to his receivers regularly, often forcing the ball into double and triple coverage.
Rees has more flaws than just his mobility: try arm strength and passing accuracy as well.
Hendrix on the other hand is just failing to read zone properly over the middle. That is far, far more easily correctable than a QB continuously willing to throw the ball to parts of the field that are ridiculously well covered.
Saying Golson has no “fatal flaw”–I’m not sure how you came to that conclusion. A couple of spring games is a world of difference from real playing time, and that isn’t a whole lot of time for flaws to come out a s well. He is much, much further behind Hendrix in experience than you believe as well. He was involved in 63 plays last year and that is nothing to sneeze at.
Also, what USC game are you talking about? Hendrix’s INTs came against Stanford and FSU.
griffdawg
Well, THIS conversation just got a lot more interesting…
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-notre-dame-football-kelly-suspends-rees-calabrese-for-season-opener-20120731,0,5604411.story