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Link: Hit & Hustle: Thoughts on Notre Dame WR Tobias Merriweather
is hurt. This is the same Bauman who blocked nothing but air to the point of his injury. Why they weren't given a chance earlier is a mystery? It's convenient to refer back to Johnson, but ND has a track record of limiting reps of freshmen WR's and TE's.
Please also keep in mind it's not like practice is in a vacuum. There are reports of Tobias performing extremely well in practice. We also can see the other WR's loafing, missing blocks and dropping passes. Can he be that much worse? Additionally, as long as this goes on, it becomes a recruiting tool against ND. "Sure ND says you'll play early, but let's see if they are walking the walk."
Finally, and this is my biggest gripe with Rees and before him Kelly, they both are more locked into their fucking system than the personnel. Get the ball in the hands of the playmakers. if the current WR's were lighting up the scoreboard, limited reps for Tobias would be understandable. But, come on, this ND offense has 3 good halves of football through 4 games, and that's largely based on Mayer, Estime and Tyree. Great OC's take advantage of the talent they have. Kelly and now Rees stubbornly only want players to excel in their systems, and that's a HUGE mistake for the program. I will absolutely guarantee ND would be 3-1 and possibly undefeated if Rees just let his athletes be athletes.
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Freshman starting all across major college football…just not at Notre Dame…what a message that (doesn’t) send
Tommy Rees only knows what he learned under Brian Kelly, and doesn't want to leave his comfort zone.
Quarterbacks will unfortunately be dink 'n dunk players until he gets his head out of WWBKD mode.
To put it this way... If he doesn't let CJ Carr use the full extent of his throwing talents (can make all of the throws, short, medium, and long, with excellent accuracy and good zip), then he's all but crippling his own team.
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