Youth served at Blue-Gold game

April 16, 2011|by Pete Byrne (pmbyrne@wsbt.com)

NOTRE DAME – The goal of the Blue Gold game, according to head coach Brian Kelly, was to simulate the gameday experience for the many young players on the Irish roster.

“I think with spring ball we know a lot more about who we can factor into depth, and who can play winning football for us,” Kelly said when asked about the young player on the squad. “Certainly there are a number of freshmen that we found out today that can do that. “

None of those freshman stood out more than Aaron Lynch. Lynch logged 7 total tackles, most of any player in the game, while going up against the starting offensive line. And he got to the quarterback several times.

“He's a good football player” Kelly said of Lynch.

“The one thing that he did today is he went against our first offensive linemen, he went against Trevor Robinson and Taylor Dever, and that would tamp down the expectations too. I'd also like to give him credit for what he did. But it's going to be a process with him. We've got to keep doing little things right with him in terms of where he's playing. But you saw, we moved him around. He played inside; he played outside. He's going to be a great addition.”

“That’s a big boy!” said teammate Andrew Hendrix, a sophomore quarterback. “That’s no high schooler on the field. I told him in the locker room, “I can’t wait to see you do that to other people’, because I had enough of it today!”

Hendrix was also impressive in his first action, settling down in the 2^nd half, completing 10 of 16 passes for 113 yards, and rushing for two touchdowns.

Freshman quarterback Everett Golson showed glimpses of the dynamic player the coaching staff recruited out of Myrtle Beach High School. Golson kept several plays alive with his feet, and threw the game’s only touchdown pass, a 15-yard strike to John Goodman.

“I just wanted to have fun and do what I was told,” said Golson, after his first action in an Irish uniform.

Other impressive performances came from sophomore linebackers Danny Spond (7 tackles, 1 TFL) and Prince Shembo (6 tackles) on defense. Several young receivers including Roby Toma (6 rec, 64 yds) and Alex Welch (4 rec, 34 yds) were solid in the passing game.

Then there was the element of live television. Kelly’s stated goal was to “give our young players an opportunity to compete in a game-like atmosphere”. The lengthy commercial delays certainly added to the reality.

Having coach Kelly mic’d for sound on the telecast may have, for the fans watching at home as well.

“It's not as frantic as some people think,” Kelly said of wearing a microphone. “There is a lot of coaching and teaching. Hopefully they had a three¿second delay (laughing).”

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