Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly had been mum about who would be the Irish’s starting quarterback this fall in the week following Everett Golson‘s academic-related suspension.
The key word being “had.”
Kelly broke that silence on Wednesday while speaking at Grand Valley State’s annual Enrichment Dinner (Kelly coached GVSU from 1991-2003) when he confirmed that 2011 starter/2012 closer Tommy Rees would be the Irish’s starting quarterback.
Here’s Kelly’s quote via MLive.com:
“We always move forward,” Kelly said. “I don’t live in the past, and I don’t spend too much time in the future. I live in the present, and in the present, we have Tommy Rees. We have Tommy Rees, who is an established player, and he will be our starter. We think Andrew Hendrix and Malik Zaire can contribute, but Tommy will be our starter.”
Can’t say the announcement is much of a surprise. Rees has all the experience in Notre Dame’s QB group with 18 career starts. Of course, as Kelly mentioned, this could very well be a group played by committee, but Rees will be the first-team guy as it stands today.