Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest: Is Brian Kelly Going to Start Tommy Rees in 2012?

The future of the Notre Dame quarterback position remains a relative unknown. One school of thought is that Tommy Rees is simply a stopgap until Andrew Hendrix or Everett Golson, the more athletic quarterbacks on the roster, grasp Brian Kelly's offense enough to take the reigns.

Hendrix has seen playing time in two of the past three games, bringing some mobility to the position and forcing defenses to stay honest on zone-read plays rather than overplaying the hand-off. Golson will likely redshirt, so the three quarterbacks will all be a year apart heading into 2012, with Rees the veteran as a rising junior.

Rees has started 11 of the past 12 games, winning nine. He has decent size and very good intangibles, but does not have ideal arm strength or mobility. He'll always have his detractors, but he's played well in the clutch and has cut down on turnovers as the season has progressed.

While the team still needs to finish strong like they did in 2010 to build some momentum for the offseason and complete another strong recruiting class, the focus of many Irish fans turned to 2012 after the loss to USC eliminated Notre Dame from BCS contention.

Golson struggled to hang on to the ball during spring practice and has been running the scout team for much of the fall, so it will likely be 2013 before he sees significant minutes. Hendrix will be a factor, as long as his passing improves to the point where he is not simply a specialist.

The sentiment here is that the quarterback rotation will mirror that of Brian Kelly's Cincinnati team in 2009. Rees will have the Tony Pike role of the classic passer, while Hendrix will also play, with a much larger set of plays than he has had this season. Pike missed a few games in 2009, but the offense did not miss a beat when Zach Collaros played the entire game. That will be the expectation for Hendrix in 2012.

Rees will always be the type of quarterback who fans think they can do better than, but his results are too good to replace him. After seeing Jimmy Clausen and Dayne Crist repeatedly come up short in close games, Rees' comeback wins at USC and Pittsburgh, as well as a flawless late drive that should have beaten Michigan, should inspire confidence in Irish fans.

Will Rees start all 12 games next season? Kelly nor anyone else has any idea at this point. What we do know is that barring injury, it should be Rees taking the first snap against Navy in Dublin when Notre Dame opens the 2012 season.