Rees faces challenge following suspension

Tommy Rees is still in the running to be Notre Dame’s long-term answer
at quarterback, but he will be a long-distance spectator Sept. 1, when
the Irish open the 2012 season against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

He’ll then face a challenging climb up the depth chart, given that his
practice reps will be limited throughout fall training camp, which
kicks off Saturday.

ND head coach Brian Kelly announced Tuesday that he was suspending the
junior QB and senior linebacker Carlo Calabrese for the Navy game.



Neither will travel with the team to Dublin.

That means either junior Andrew Hendrix, sophomore Everett Golson or
freshman Gunner Kiel will make his first collegiate start on Sept. 1.
For Golson or Kiel, it would be the first action of any kind in a
collegiate game. Hendrix has attempted 37 passes at ND, all last
season.

The suspensions stem from the pair’s May 3 arrest after a party on
Notre Dame Avenue near campus.

“Our players understand that it’s a privilege to be associated with
the University of Notre Dame and its football program, but with that
comes great responsibility,” Kelly said. “Carlo and Tommy put
themselves in a situation that when, given a choice between two
distinct paths, they responded with a set of poor decisions.

“This conduct was inconsistent with my expectations for our football
program – especially our veteran, team leaders. Carlo and Tommy will
not travel with the team to Ireland and can attempt to climb the depth
chart following the conclusion of their respective suspensions.”

Rees has been ND’s starting signal-caller 16 of the past 17 Irish
games, dating back to November of 2010, but he descended into a
four-man open competition in the spring after committing 19 turnovers
during the 2011 season. That’s as many or more than 42 of the 120 FBS
teams amassed last season.

The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder from Lake Forest, Ill., did experience
stretches of consistency and threw for almost 3,000 yards last season,
but his 14 interceptions dragged his passing-efficiency rating
(133.37) into the middle of the national standings in that category,
at 54th.

Rees’ limited reps in August aren’t part of the punishment, but rather
the product of Kelly’s desire to best prepare the three options who
will suit up against the Midshipmen.

Hendrix’s charge this summer was to find a comfort zone outside of the
structure of the offense, in other words a better ability to freelance
and make positive yardage when a play broke down. Golson’s challenge
was just the opposite. His improv skills were the best among the
candidates, but he struggled to excel within the framework of the
offense.

Kiel, who enrolled early and got a spring practice under his belt, has
an NFL skill set, but he’s trying to distance himself from a high
school mind-set. His head is still swimming in the depth of the Kelly
offensive playbook.

Rees has climbed the depth chart before in adverse circumstances,
leapfrogging Nate Montana in early fall of 2010 to become No. 2 after
an uninspired spring as an early enrolled freshman. He then started —
and won — the final four games of that season after No. 1 QB Dayne
Crist suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Crist beat out Rees last August to start the 2011 season opener
against South Florida, but Rees ascended to the top of the depth chart
by halftime of that game, with Crist struggling. By the end of the
season, though, it was Hendrix who was charging hard for No. 1 status.

After his May 3 arrest, Rees, 20, was originally charged with four
misdemeanors — two counts of resisting arrest and one each of battery
and minor consumption of alcohol.

At a July 23 court appearance, Rees pleaded guilty to one count of
resisting arrest and the minor consumption charge. The other two
charges were dropped.

As part of the plea deal, Rees was sentenced to 330 days on probation.
He will also have to serve 50 hours of community service and write a
letter to police officers apologizing for his actions.

Calabrese, 21, was charged with misdemeanor intimidation. His next
court date is Aug. 10. Rees, meanwhile, is scheduled to appear at a
hearing Aug. 20 to discuss possibly paying restitution.

Calabrese, a 6-1, 245-pounder from Verona, N.J., was battling fellow
senior Dan Fox for the starting spot at weakside linebacker. Fox
started all 13 of ND’s games there last season but the pair worked
more as a tag team at the position.

Calabrese was the team’s No. 1 option at that position for most of the
2010 season.

Kelly will likely have to manipulate his depth chart, at least for the
Navy game. Walk-on Joe Schmidt becomes the primary backup, though
Kelly could shift middle linebacker backups Jarrett Grace or Kendall
Moore, or outside linebacker Anthony Rabasa to the weakside position
until Calabrese works his way back into Kelly’s good graces.

As far as the QB depth chart is concerned, Notre Dame has had some
disastrous seasons in recent years with first-year starters at that
position, most notably in the 3-9 lost season of 2007 with Jimmy
Clausen, Evan Sharpley and Demetrius Jones all making at least one
start.

But two of ND’s four national titles in the 50-year-old Kelly’s
lifetime have come with first-year starting QBs running the show —
1966, with sophomore Terry Hanratty, and 1977, with redshirt junior
Joe Montana, who missed all of 1976 with an injury.

Lynch update

Notre Dame defensive end transfer Aaron Lynch will wear No. 19 at his
new school, just as he did in his one and only season at ND last fall.

The question remains, though, when exactly will No. 19 see the field again?

Greg Auman of the Tampa Tribune reported Tuesday that USF coach Skip
Holtz said a hardship waiver for Lynch has not yet been sent to NCAA
but could be in next week.

The timing is curious, given the NCAA’s history of slowly expediting
those waiver decisions. Lynch, a freshman All-American in 2011, does
have three years of legibility remaining, even if he has to sit out
the 2012 season.

Former Notre Dame cornerback Spencer Boyd is now a former South
Florida safety.

Boyd, who spent a semester with the Irish as an early enrollee in the
spring of 2010, has dropped off the Bulls’ roster, Auman reported.

Boyd sat out the 2010 season to satisfy NCAA transfer requirement and
played sparingly in 2011 (three tackles for the season) before being
suspended by Holtz for the final three games of that season.

Holtz allowed Boyd back on the team in the spring, with the
stipulation the player pay his own way to summer school and satisfy
certain unspecified criteria.

Holtz declined comment Tuesday on why Boyd has been dropped a second time.