Joe Brady did wonders for the career of Joe Burrow--Heisman trophy and a NC.
Rees was in over his head in our last two games. Our passing game was terrible and is in dire need of improvement.
Rees is in need of help--quick!
Whatever Rees' positive attributes as a coach are, the fact that Kelly picked an inexperienced guy with limited exposure outside of Kelly's offensive system to run it says it all.
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Rees was not in "over his head" so much as he was limited in what he had on the field. Why Lenzy, Keys and Johnson didn't play is a mystery to all of us except for Kelly's insistence they "check off all the boxes" before being allowed to see the field.
And contrary to popular myth, Book does have the arm strength to heave the long ball, but he was very inaccurate most of the time doing so. Add into the fact he doesn't spot open receivers well (my brother was at the game and said receivers were open all game long) and you have what we have.
I have faith that Rees, with his father's pedigree, his time with the Chargers and the fact that he started many games as a QB, knows what he's doing. He's not the best he will be, of course, but I think he will surprise a lot of naysayers here before it's all said and done.
Lenzy battled a hamstring injury all year. Keys also battled injuries and was beaten out by Avery Davis (who is bigger, stronger, faster and has made more plays than Keys ever has), and Johnson had academic issues. When that happens with a freshman they are told to focus more on academics and less on football. It is what it is and what makes ND special.
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he can’t do it
And correct about Book, couldn't drop the ball over a receiver's shoulder. Did a lot of things really well, but every time he tried over the last three years it was usually about five yards from where it should have been (and usually too far, actually). Don't think Tommy doesn't see these things in practice and know Book wasn't very good at that. That, along with our best speed guys getting injured (Lenzy and Austin), really took away any deep threat at all. That we did so well this year with such a run-heavy offense while hardly being able to threaten deep is really remarkable.
Unfortunately, Rees doesn't yet.
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Tho Book is far better than Rees was.
We didn't have a true #1 WR, nor was there any great speed at that position. Without those two factors, then there was no existence of a deep threat at all. This is one of the biggest reasons why Ian Book's deep ball never developed, simply because there was nobody to throw to, and he simply didn't have a strong enough arm to hurl those tossup balls.
When it came to speed receivers, Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys, and Kevin Austin were basically unavailable for almost all of the season, and when they did see the field, they weren't nearly at full strength. Avery Davis was probably our fastest guy out there, and even then, his speed is definitely a couple of notches below the 4.4 range that you would want out of a speed guy.
Javon McKinley did come on strongly towards the end of the season, but he was almost invisible during the last two games against the best competition. He could never break away from the defensive backs, and Patrick Surtain all but engulfed him during the Rose Bowl. The jump he made wasn't nearly as pronounced as what Boykin and Claypool did in their final years here.
All in all? I think Tommy Rees and Ian Book did about as good of a job as anyone could have under these circumstances, especially against the heavyweights. The playcalling was based off a strong ground game, along with exploiting the short and medium range passing lanes, throwing to strong handed, big receivers.
I will say this, that Tommy Rees does a pretty good job of finding mismatches, and playing to our strengths, instead of trying to fit round pegs in square holes. He wasn't making foolish mistakes that Brian Kelly did with the QB's, such as thinking Malik Zaire could be a precision passer, or that Dayne Crist could be a zone read runner.
I think he'll be able to bring out some pretty good things with Tyler Buchner this coming season, and with some really good, speedy talent coming up (Johnson, Watts, Colzie, Styles, Thomas), and hopefully, the veteran guys being healthy,
ruiting or QB development.
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