Notre Dame Football: What Tommy Rees' Arrest Means for Fighting Irish

If you haven't heard already, Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees and linebacker Carlo Calabrese were each arrested at an off-campus party early this morning.

While Calabrese was released after posting his $150 bond, Rees remains at the St. Joseph County jail as he awaits word on four preliminary charges, which include minor consumption, public intoxication, resisting arrest and battery of a law enforcement official.

The legal process will likely take a lengthy amount of time, but Notre Dame's Office of Residence Life, the main judicial arm of the university, has the right to take action against both Rees and Calabrese immediately. 

Calabrese will most likely receive a slap on the wrist, but Rees will be handed a much more severe punishment.

And that punishment will have a reverberating effect throughout the football program. Rees, the incumbent starter, has started his last football game for the Fighting Irish. It would be silly to believe otherwise, considering the fact that the 19-year-old assaulted a police officer.

Rees should be more concerned with retaining his ability to even dress on Saturdays, let alone be named the starting quarterback.

So this places head coach Brian Kelly and offensive coordinator Chuck Martin in quite a predicament. Will Everett Golson or Andrew Hendrix be given the keys to the offense? And what about Gunner Kiel?

At this point, there's no telling what Kelly will do. He's still soaking in all of the information from the events that have transpired in the last 24 hours. He's deciding what course of action he will be taking with Calabrese and Rees, if Rees is even a member of the team after judgement has been handed down from the state government, as well as the Office of Residence Life on campus.

But in the back of Kelly's mind, the nagging question of who will be the leader of this offense is ever present. And after his sterling performance in the spring game, I have to believe that Everett Golson will be the No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart prior to the season-opener versus Navy in Dublin.

For too long, Kelly stuck with Rees despite Rees' lack of mobility and propensity for turning the ball over. It's time that Kelly anoint the right man for the job. It's Golson's job to lose now.

Golson was the first quarterback Kelly recruited to Notre Dame. Golson accumulated a 44-5 record as a starting quarterback at Myrtle Beach High School. Golson threw 151 passing touchdowns in high school.

Golson is the epitome of a spread quarterback.

Mr. Kelly, Tommy Rees is no longer an option. It's time that you hand over the keys to your offense to the rightful quarterback.