Spring thoughts

Notre Dame football is wrapping up spring practice this week with an intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday. The number one question going into spring practice this year was: Who is going to be the starting quarterback next year?

Notre Dame has more depth at quarterback now than they've had in years (maybe ever, but I don't know for sure) thanks to the recruiting efforts of Charlie Weis. As of now, it appears that James Clausen and Demetrius Jones have emerged from the pack as the favorites for the starting job come fall. This assumption is speculative in nature, based on the rosters for the upcoming spring game. Jones and Clausen were put on the same team for the game, a team which has a significant amount of projected offensive starters, and a low amount of defensive starters, thus creating the situation of first team offense against first team defense when they have the ball.

Which brings us to the number two question surrounding the team going into the spring (at least in the minds of most fans-or this fan): How effective will new defensive coordinator Corwin Brown be at implementing the new defense? By all accounts, the answer seems to be very effective. The switch to the the 3-4 front not only seems to fit the personnel currently on the team better, but it also projects to be a schematic advantage, due to the ability to bring many different rushes from the same formation.

All that being said, it's going to be a very interesting fall. I guess the third question would be: Is there someone on the team who can make a field goal in a game? But the answer to that won't come until the Irish take the field against Ga Tech.