After going down for the season with a ruptured patella tendon against Tulsa the day before Halloween last year, the Notre Dame quarterback gained his composure and started preparing for the 2011 season right away. Crist felt he was at his best mentally in the final games of his first season in Brian Kelly’s spread system.
“That makes perfect sense, as you gain more experience, you become more comfortable,” said Crist.
But he wasn’t satisfied, “I didn’t want to continue with where I was at, I wanted to start at a better place.”
So he got in the film room and watched all of the games he played in 2010. And then he watched them again and again and again.
“I knew those games like the back of my hand, really,” he said.
It’s paid off as Crist returned to the field this spring. Now he believes he and Tommy Rees, who replaced him when he went down last year, are ready to take the next steps in Kelly’s offense. Both quarterbacks have seen things and made decisions they wouldn’t have been able to last spring.
“That’s more common than you would think,” Crist said. “You’re seeing how much better you’ve gotten in such a short period of time and that’s a positive…We just want to continue to make that same progress and amplify that. We’re not happy with where we’re at, but we’re continuing to get better.”
Having a better grasp of the offense has allowed both quarterbacks to make better decisions without thinking, which has led to them playing more freely. With spring practice winding down, the urgency is getting notched up.
“It’s amazing how fast it goes,” Crist said. “At this point, I think we’ve done some real good things. There’s some things we still need to work on, but now as we’re getting close to the end of spring ball, we understand there’s got to be a sense of urgency.”
Crist has already accomplished his two main goals of the spring, reducing those mental errors and simply being able to compete for a spot that was once his alone.
“I feel real lucky that I’m able to compete at the level I’m able to now, especially coming off the surgery,” he said.
Crist said he doesn’t even notice the knee anymore despite sporting a bulky brace and post-practice treatments have become less and less rigorous.
“I feel very fortunate, very blessed that I’m at where I’m at right now,” said Crist, who added that regaining the strength in his leg is basically the only step remaining in his rehab.
The senior-to-be said the reps between himself, Rees, Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson have come in different formats, but have been pretty equal this spring. It’s obvious Crist and Rees are competing for the starting spot while Hendrix and Golson are battling to be the situational quarterback. Crist isn’t bugging Kelly and offensive coordinator Charley Molnar for daily updates on the race.
“In everyone’s mind, they’d like to know where they stand, but it’s not the time and place for it right now,” he said. “You’ve just got to compete and finish the job you started. That’s really the way I’m looking at it, just finishing this spring and not looking up. Just finding the next step on the mountain before I’m looking up to the top.
“We’re taking it one day at a time and just competing. I always go back and evaluate how I did on a certain day. There’s days that I was better than others. I’m just trying to make sure we’re as close to perfect as possible every day.”
