Kelly Backs Rees As Notre Dame Starter

This time Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly didn't have to start his weekly press conference by answering who is his starting quarterback.

Or at least not until the very end.

product will start again Saturday when the Irish (0-2) seek their first victory of the season against No. 15 Michigan State (2-0) in South Bend.

Rees, who took over for starter Dayne Crist in the second half of the , looked like he would bail the Irish out of a nightmarish fourth quarter meltdown at Michigan last Saturday.

The sophomore moved Notre Dame down the field, connecting on a 29-yard scoring pass to Theo Riddick for what turned out to be a temporary 31-28 lead with 30 seconds left to play. The Wolverines used those 30 seconds to drive 80 yards in three plays capped by Denard Robinson's 16-yard scoring pass to Roy Roundtree with two seconds left for a 35-31 win in front of 114,000 screaming fans in Ann Arbor.

That late-scoring drive simply reinforced for Kelly what he has come to know about Rees. Especially after Rees lost the handle on the ball on the previous Irish possession inside the Michigan 20, which the Wolverines then converted into a go-ahead score of 28-24.

"He’s level,"Kelly said. "He doesn’t get up or get down. Here is a young guy who checks a play on first down out of a run play to a pass play. He has (receiver) Michael Floyd one-on one and the ball comes out of his hand. That’s devastating. He just comes back and leads us on a drive in 38 seconds and we score on the road. That’s the kind of kid he is."

When Kelly decided to bench Crist and go with Rees, there was some concern that the Irish offense would operate at less than its potential. However, Rees made good work of Floyd, connecting 13 times against the Wolverines during a 27-of-39 performance for 315 yards and three touchdowns.

"Tommy is not going to put himself in a situation where his eyes drop, and he’s going to flush and try to extend plays," Kelly said. "He extends plays because he knows the offense. He extends plays because he knows protections very well. That’s a dynamic when you are out there recruiting that you don’t know about until you get into your system."

all those intangibles came into play and are what have brought him to be starting this season.

"He just has a really good sense of playing quarterback," Kelly said. "If he had an individual workout, you would be like, 'Alright, he looks OK'. But when he plays the game, he’s patient in the pocket, he can move his feet, he can stay alive, he can do the things necessary, he’s also really smart."

Especially playing in Michigan's first-ever night football game before 114,000 fans waving yellow towels.

"Given the circumstances and the loudness of that stadium, I think he did a remarkable job," Kelly said.