Notre Dame Spring Game 2012: Reaction, Grades and Analysis

Even more than usual, all eyes were on the QB position for Notre Dame as they concluded spring practices with a little in-team scrimmage. 

This was for good reason. The Irish have four players competing for the starting quarterback job. And the QB position was clearly the Irish's biggest Achilles' heel last season. 

Notre Dame was doomed by inconsistent and turnover-plagued play from their QBs. Junior-to-be Tommy Rees took the majority of snaps at QB last season, and he is back to try and turn the corner and lock down the job for next season.

To do that, he is going to have to beat out Everett Golson, Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and prized 2012 recruit Gunner Kiel.

So in light of the spotlight being focused almost solely on the QBs, here are the grades for the four young men who threw passes in Saturday's scrimmage. 

QB Grades

Everett Golson: A

Golson was outstanding. He went 11-of-15 for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Most importantly, he did not throw an interception. 

Golson will only be a sophomore next season, but he looked like the veteran leader of this group. 

Tommy Rees: C-

Rees came into this game needing one result more than any other: he could not turn the ball over. He failed. He threw an interception on his way to completing seven of his 14 throws for 84 yards. 

Andrew Hendrix: C

Hendrix moved the ball, and even put some points on the board with one touchdown pass, but he was inefficient and turned the ball over. 

He finished 4-of-9 for 51 yards and chucked a pick among those five incompletions. 

Gunner Kiel: B+

The first three QBs rotated in the first half. Then Kiel took all the snaps in the running-clock, 16-minutes second half.

Kiel proved that he would fit right in by chucking up an interception, but he was also 5-of-9 for 57 yards. 

A rock-solid performance for a kid who should be getting ready to complete in his senior year of high school.

Reaction 

Rees' time as the starting QB at Notre Dame has passed. While he shows definite flashes, he is just far too mistake-prone, and there are too many other QBs chasing after him for his role as starter to continue. 

As it is now, this is Golson's job to lose, and he won't lose it if he continues to take care of the rock. 

Turnovers destroyed Notre Dame last year, and if there is one area in which they need to improve it is there. And that is why this spring game is a giant failure. 

They had six turnovers in this game! Three came by interception and three by fumble. George Atkinson III had two fumbles alone.

This was the one part of the game that needed to improve at spring practice, and it appears that Golson was the only guy that got that message.