Notre Dame vs. Stanford: Does Andrew Hendrix Have a Future in South Bend?

On Saturday, luck was not on the Irish's side. Instead, the senior QB was coincidentally fighting for the Cardinal and looking to put away the visitors from South Bend.

As the second half rolled around, the Irish were down by 21. Coach Kelly decided to bench his starting QB Tommy Rees and opted for sophomore QB Andrew Hendrix to finish the game, hoping for a spark in the offense to help the Irish onto a stunning upset. Hendrix provided that spark, but it was too little too late for the young quarterback from Cincinnati. The sophomore put up just over 190 yards passing in less than two quarters, completed just under 50 percent of his throws and had one touchdown.

The offense jumped to life again like they had been brought back from the dead, scoring 14 points and surging back to compete with Luck and the Cardinal. Although an upset victory wasn't in the cards for Notre Dame, perhaps finding a new leader for the next two seasons will be enough to please Fighting Irish fans.

Hendrix and his leadership capabilities were more than tested against one of the most solid squads in the nation, helping an almost forgotten team create something out of nothing. Kelly and his staff have to be impressed by this kid and his performance, especially since they haven't even given him 30 pass attempts on the season.

As Kelly moves into his third season next year, finding that QB who can start to shape his legacy at Notre Dame will be more than important. Every big-time coach finds a QB somewhat early in their tenure at a storied university who they can mold into champion. For example, Mac Brown had Vince Young, Gene Chizik had Cam Newton and Urban Meyer had Tim Tebow.

Andrew Hendrix has the potential to be that quarterback for Brian Kelly, and if the young coach doesn't realize that after the performance Hendrix had in Palo Alto, he doesn't deserve to be in South Bend much longer.

I imagine we're going to be hearing a lot more about the young Ohioan QB over the next two years, possibly bringing back a Notre Dame squad that has almost been forgotten as a powerhouse in college football. Watch for Hendrix to start making headlines in South Bend soon enough.