Tommy Rees - Offensive Coordinator

[Blazers46]

Notre Dame-Cal predictions: Can the Irish find a way to win No. 1?

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Marcus Freeman set his vision for Notre Dame football, it started with a vintage approach to a program that enjoys basking in its past. The Irish will do so again this weekend, marking the 45th anniversary of the original Green Jersey game by bringing back the alternate...

theathletic.com

"Buchner, for all his mobility, was barely asked to move outside the pocket. Just three of his 50 pass attempts this season were outside the pocket."

This just reinforces my belief that Tommy had 0 clue what to do with Buchner and his skill set. Coaching disaster from him. And that with a good OC, Buchner can be a great QB.

Tommy is the Anti-Golson. Mobile Qbs and throwing outside the pocket is a PTSD trigger for Tommy. He spent all of 2012 showing all ND needed was a below-average pocket passer and has dedicated his life now to making sure ND has below-average pocket passers.

 

[StPaul_Irish]

Reez

Tommy Reez

FIFY

 

[Irish#1]

Playcalling was fine today but they either need to get Angeli ready or hunt mismatches on the outside and throw 50/50s downfield against good teams. They won’t get away with throwing basically every pass in the flats all year. That’s gonna be the first thing taken away going forward.

Agree. Called to Pyne’s strengths, but you need deep threats to throw the long ball.

 

[ulukinatme]

Agree. Called to Pyne’s strengths, but you need deep threats to throw the long ball.

With AD out I don't think we have a deep threat. Lenzy is a track star, not as much a WR. Styles is a great possession receiver, but not beating guys deep. You can hit Mayer in the seam, but he's only going to get about 20 yards before contact before he needs to get the ball...otherwise the pass rush probably gets to the QB. Tyree may be the best bet, great speed and hands.

 

[Irish4life]

Since we're making this a place to put potential OC candidates post Tommy....how about Robert Anae? Did a pretty remarkable job at UVA, and Cuse's offense with him is unironically pretty great. He's done wonders for Garret Shrader. (And look at UVA without him....)

 

[Free Manera]

With AD out I don't think we have a deep threat. Lenzy is a track star, not as much a WR. Styles is a great possession receiver, but not beating guys deep. You can hit Mayer in the seam, but he's only going to get about 20 yards before contact before he needs to get the ball...otherwise the pass rush probably gets to the QB. Tyree may be the best bet, great speed and hands.

Still need to threaten it though. Put Merriweather on the damn field or line up Mayer on the outside and see if you get a 1v1.

We have seen this movie before when ND has a limited QB and they try to throw underneath all game against good teams.

 

[Irish du Nord]

Good news is, him and the lingering scent of Krian Belly will be gone come January.

Warren Ruggiero you are cleared for landing.

With Hartman out at least he’s prepared for life without a starting QB at ND

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Pyne is an adult not doing his job. man we baby these players sometimes. We’re talking about not hitting wide open throws, not catching a snap. Not being able to throw a 2 yard pass.

Let's all be honest: if this board saw another OC anywhere in America doing the same thing yesterday, it would be glorified to the hilt. Lighting fires under people, passion, all that rubbish. Tommy Rees did it to Drew Pyne, and therefore, the Sister Mary Margarets come out.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

 

[Irishdrunk]

Finally some screens!! LOL. Rees is so awful. I gather Freeman finally started dictating to Boy Rees what to do. His days are numbered. Hopefully next year will be better.

I think to not throw down field against a clearly less talented team is malpractice. How is Pyne and the passing game going to get better without taking some risks??? Ugh.

 

[Irishdrunk]

Still need to threaten it though. Put Merriweather on the damn field or line up Mayer on the outside and see if you get a 1v1.

We have seen this movie before when ND has a limited QB and they try to throw underneath all game against good teams.

Exactly! Merriweather will transfer next season. You can't push off high 4 star receivers like this and get away with it. Rees is really nuts.

 

[NDMatt91]

Exactly! Merriweather will transfer next season. You can't push off high 4 star receivers like this and get away with it. Rees is really nuts.

All the more reason to get rid of him at the end of the season and get a OC who will get Tobias on the field.

 

[thekid33]

I am not firing (or keeping, for that matter) a coach because of what one player (or recruit) might do in response.

That being said, if it's obvious that a coach needs to go for the program to achieve greatness then you do what needs to be done - regardless of whether or not that coach played for the team.

Tommy has 9 remaining games to make his case.

 

[irishandy]

I give Rees a B- for yesterday, he called a better game vs Cal. than he did against Marshall. Our running game improved, but we need a WR to step up. I'd like to see Rees take a chance on a deep ball, a trick play.

I would be surprised if Rees is still around after this year and I doubt Tobias would transfer.

 

[ulukinatme]

Let's all be honest: if this board saw another OC anywhere in America doing the same thing yesterday, it would be glorified to the hilt. Lighting fires under people, passion, all that rubbish. Tommy Rees did it to Drew Pyne, and therefore, the Sister Mary Margarets come out.

Absolutely, that's football, sometimes a coach has to get in an ear to reset a player. Posted it in the postgame thread, but Drew asked Tommy at the beginning of the week to be hard on him. He responds to that kind of coaching. When he told the reporters in the post game that he saw the video it got a lot of laughs.

 

[ulukinatme]

Exactly! Merriweather will transfer next season. You can't push off high 4 star receivers like this and get away with it. Rees is really nuts.

Merriweather is my favorite offensive recruit from the last class, but he's got to do his job too and learn. Hopefully this happens sooner rather than later, because I think he could and should be better than Lenzy by the end of the year. Drew gets clobbered on this broken play.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Wait until Merriweather is a senior and everyone can't wait to get him off of the field for the shiny new toy that just came in as a recruit.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[IrishLax]

I was told before the game that we were likely to throw it 40+ times against Cal. Rationale was mainly the OL not being able to run the ball on Marshall and thinking that getting the ball out of Pyne's hands quickly was the best way to manufacture offense.

They came out and did:
-3 straight pass plays, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, fumble from pyne

So a 79% pass rate and 5 drives that resulted in zero first downs.

I give Tommy credit for adjusting and committing to the run and calling a good game from that point onward. But he's obviously very uncomfortable without a QB that can chuck it all over the yard. He wants to call a game like the 1H of the Fiesta Bowl but that doesn't fit the personnel because he's fucked up QB recruiting/development.

 

[Irish4life]

I was told before the game that we were likely to throw it 40+ times against Cal. Rationale was mainly the OL not being able to run the ball on Marshall and thinking that getting the ball out of Pyne's hands quickly was the best way to manufacture offense.

They came out and did:
-3 straight pass plays, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, fumble from pyne

So a 79% pass rate and 5 drives that resulted in zero first downs.

I give Tommy credit for adjusting and committing to the run and calling a good game from that point onward. But he's obviously very uncomfortable without a QB that can chuck it all over the yard. He wants to call a game like the 1H of the Fiesta Bowl but that doesn't fit the personnel because he's fucked up QB recruiting/development.

The pass rate is actually fine....Pyne just needed to hit the layups. He didn't. But you're definitely right that he's fucked up the QB position.

 

[SoIll]

I don’t even know if it’s development. Not saying he’s great at it, but it’s definitely more so recruiting and evaluations IMO.

 

[BeatSC]

How would you feel if your million dollar gig was on the line with Pyne? That will not allow you to do too much. He would need Pyne to hit all open receivers and minimize the Ints. Pyne is interception prone imo if he starts to pass downfield more often. He lucked out on the bobbled ball over the middle to Lenzy. He needs to take off more often like Palmer did to us. He picked up two nice first downs but at some point on the read option when it’s wide open he’s got to pull it down to keep the D honest. I don’t want him to suck but I would like to see Angeli who is bigger, more mobile and has a better arm get in there. Pyne is amongst our worst QBs in the last 20 years. I’m putting Evan Sharpley near or at the top of that list. Demetrius Jones was awful and only given one half to show out. Who else can the rest of you remember?

 

[NDMatt91]

How would you feel if your million dollar gig was on the line with Pyne? That will not allow you to do too much. He would need Pyne to hit all open receivers and minimize the Ints. Pyne is interception prone imo if he starts to pass downfield more often. He lucked out on the bobbled ball over the middle to Lenzy. He needs to take off more often like Palmer did to us. He picked up two nice first downs but at some point on the read option when it’s wide open he’s got to pull it down to keep the D honest. I don’t want him to suck but I would like to see Angeli who is bigger, more mobile and has a better arm get in there. Pyne is amongst our worst QBs in the last 20 years. I’m putting Evan Sharpley near or at the top of that list. Demetrius Jones was awful and only given one half to show out. Who else can the rest of you remember?

To be fair, Rees has no one but himself to blame for his job potentially being on the line with Pyne. He's responsible for the QB room. Far too often he either blew evaluations or was lazy and settled on QB's with limited upside. He's just not a particularly great talent evaluator and recruiter.

Pretty much all of Pyne's big offers came before his Junior season, and I've heard people say that he peaked halfway through his HS career. Other than Oklahoma, it doesn't appear any other big time schools pushed for him after his Sophomore year. Lemming told Zorich that Rees settled on Pyne and didn't go after other QB's that were better, including Bryce Young. Young had a 3.3 GPA and attended a Catholic HS and Rees never offered him. Although it's unlikely he would've committed to ND had they offered, the fact that Rees never offered him is inexcusable, although unfortunately not surprising.

 

[IrishLion]

I was told before the game that we were likely to throw it 40+ times against Cal. Rationale was mainly the OL not being able to run the ball on Marshall and thinking that getting the ball out of Pyne's hands quickly was the best way to manufacture offense.

They came out and did:
-3 straight pass plays, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, 1 run, punt
-2 pass, fumble from pyne

So a 79% pass rate and 5 drives that resulted in zero first downs.

I give Tommy credit for adjusting and committing to the run and calling a good game from that point onward. But he's obviously very uncomfortable without a QB that can chuck it all over the yard. He wants to call a game like the 1H of the Fiesta Bowl but that doesn't fit the personnel because he's fucked up QB recruiting/development.

Plot twist: Freeman had to lean on Tommy to adjust, which ironically opened up two of the more successful pass plays that Tommy had installed, including the check-with-me to Estime's angle route.

Apparently there's video evidence of Freeman telling Tommy "it's time to run the f*cking ball" or something along those lines during the broadcast, and Freeman's answer in the post-game presser about communicating with Tommy was pretty interesting and refreshingly honest.

Tommy wants to throw the ball more than run it. Freeman wants to run it more than throw it. Freeman expressed his desire to run more, and was telling Tommy as such over the headsets pre-play quite often. Tommy pushed back at a certain point about having a valid check to send in... then Drew hit Estime for 30+ yards on the best play in football*.

Things have not started out as well as everyone would have liked, and the honeymoon period ended quickly, but if you believe the offseason rumblings about Freeman and Rees butting heads in terms of playcalling, and now see how they're communicating and working through differing offensive philosophies WHILE dealing with all the shit that's gone wrong... the glass-half-full outlook makes it seem like Freeman might be a pretty damn good leader of men. To be learning on the fly, to be capable of putting his own ego aside, while dealing with Tommy's ego with some healthy communication and give-and-take, these are good signs for the man as a CEO, imo.

Of course, the jury will be out when he actually has to recognize when it's time to fire someone, and the rails could still fall off the whole damn thing in spectacular fashion. Beating Cal isn't a cure all.

But if you look hard enough, there are some positive signs for Freeman and the way he plans on leading his program.


*If not the best play in football, then at least the best play in NCAA14

 

[ulukinatme]

Hindsight is 2020. On paper the QB classes looked pretty good aside from Angeli. We don't know how much BK influenced who we took, they may have all been "RKGs" to him. I would look at who we've targeted since BK left. Rees and Freeman thought they had Moore locked up till he jilted us. Carr seems 100% bought in. We're targeting some other big '24 QBs too. Recruiting is up, bottom line. We're going after bigger fish and having some success. The targets are changing. Pyne played pretty well after the initial jitters were gone. He only missed on two passes after he put the first TD drive together. One was the targeting play, the other was the Lenzy bobble. We can win some more games with him if we continue to build on what happened Saturday.

 

[ulukinatme]

Plot twist: Freeman had to lean on Tommy to adjust, which ironically opened up two of the more successful pass plays that Tommy had installed, including the check-with-me to Estime's angle route.

Apparently there's video evidence of Freeman telling Tommy "it's time to run the f*cking ball" or something along those lines during the broadcast, and Freeman's answer in the post-game presser about communicating with Tommy was pretty interesting and refreshingly honest.

Tommy wants to throw the ball more than run it. Freeman wants to run it more than throw it. Freeman expressed his desire to run more, and was telling Tommy as such over the headsets pre-play quite often. Tommy pushed back at a certain point about having a valid check to send in... then Drew hit Estime for 30+ yards on the best play in football*.

Things have not started out as well as everyone would have liked, and the honeymoon period ended quickly, but if you believe the offseason rumblings about Freeman and Rees butting heads in terms of playcalling, and now see how they're communicating and working through differing offensive philosophies WHILE dealing with all the shit that's gone wrong... the glass-half-full outlook makes it seem like Freeman might be a pretty damn good leader of men. To be learning on the fly, to be capable of putting his own ego aside, while dealing with Tommy's ego with some healthy communication and give-and-take, these are good signs for the man as a CEO, imo.

Of course, the jury will be out when he actually has to recognize when it's time to fire someone, and the rails could still fall off the whole damn thing in spectacular fashion. Beating Cal isn't a cure all.

But if you look hard enough, there are some positive signs for Freeman and the way he plans on leading his program.

Yeah, the Estime check comments during the post game were great. We nearly backed out after Freeman was calling to run the ball, but they saw that Cover 0 and knew from practice the pass was there, so they checked it like they were supposed to. Seemed like a tense situation for a minute though

 

[stlnd01]

Hindsight is 2020. On paper the QB classes looked pretty good aside from Angeli. We don't know how much BK influenced who we took, they may have all been "RKGs" to him. I would look at who we've targeted since BK left. Rees and Freeman thought they had Moore locked up till he jilted us. Carr seems 100% bought in. We're targeting some other big '24 QBs too. Recruiting is up, bottom line. We're going after bigger fish and having some success. The targets are changing. Pyne played pretty well after the initial jitters were gone. He only missed on two passes after he put the first TD drive together. One was the targeting play, the other was the Lenzy bobble. We can win some more games with him if we continue to build on what happened Saturday.

IDK that Pyne or Brendan Clark ever really looked like more than three-star placeholders. Taking those guys back to back, and losing Phil, is the root of a lot of our problems right now.

I hope you're right that we can win some games with Pyne - I think if our O Line plays like it did Saturday we can - and our QB situation this year is what it is at this point. But next year we need a QB with a higher ceiling. At least a healthy Buchner. Probably him and a 5Y to compete for the job, with Carr as a reclassified understudy.

 

[NDdomer2]

the fact freeman even has an idea of what he wants as an offensive identity is a massive improvement if you recall him getting that question the day he was introduced.

 

[IrishLax]

Plot twist: Freeman had to lean on Tommy to adjust, which ironically opened up two of the more successful pass plays that Tommy had installed, including the check-with-me to Estime's angle route.

Apparently there's video evidence of Freeman telling Tommy "it's time to run the f*cking ball" or something along those lines during the broadcast, and Freeman's answer in the post-game presser about communicating with Tommy was pretty interesting and refreshingly honest.

Tommy wants to throw the ball more than run it. Freeman wants to run it more than throw it. Freeman expressed his desire to run more, and was telling Tommy as such over the headsets pre-play quite often. Tommy pushed back at a certain point about having a valid check to send in... then Drew hit Estime for 30+ yards on the best play in football*.

Things have not started out as well as everyone would have liked, and the honeymoon period ended quickly, but if you believe the offseason rumblings about Freeman and Rees butting heads in terms of playcalling, and now see how they're communicating and working through differing offensive philosophies WHILE dealing with all the shit that's gone wrong... the glass-half-full outlook makes it seem like Freeman might be a pretty damn good leader of men. To be learning on the fly, to be capable of putting his own ego aside, while dealing with Tommy's ego with some healthy communication and give-and-take, these are good signs for the man as a CEO, imo.

Of course, the jury will be out when he actually has to recognize when it's time to fire someone, and the rails could still fall off the whole damn thing in spectacular fashion. Beating Cal isn't a cure all.

But if you look hard enough, there are some positive signs for Freeman and the way he plans on leading his program.


*If not the best play in football, then at least the best play in NCAA14

Crazy if true.

 

[Irish#1]

Plot twist: Freeman had to lean on Tommy to adjust, which ironically opened up two of the more successful pass plays that Tommy had installed, including the check-with-me to Estime's angle route.

Apparently there's video evidence of Freeman telling Tommy "it's time to run the f*cking ball" or something along those lines during the broadcast, and Freeman's answer in the post-game presser about communicating with Tommy was pretty interesting and refreshingly honest.

Tommy wants to throw the ball more than run it. Freeman wants to run it more than throw it. Freeman expressed his desire to run more, and was telling Tommy as such over the headsets pre-play quite often. Tommy pushed back at a certain point about having a valid check to send in... then Drew hit Estime for 30+ yards on the best play in football*.

Things have not started out as well as everyone would have liked, and the honeymoon period ended quickly, but if you believe the offseason rumblings about Freeman and Rees butting heads in terms of playcalling, and now see how they're communicating and working through differing offensive philosophies WHILE dealing with all the shit that's gone wrong... the glass-half-full outlook makes it seem like Freeman might be a pretty damn good leader of men. To be learning on the fly, to be capable of putting his own ego aside, while dealing with Tommy's ego with some healthy communication and give-and-take, these are good signs for the man as a CEO, imo.

Of course, the jury will be out when he actually has to recognize when it's time to fire someone, and the rails could still fall off the whole damn thing in spectacular fashion. Beating Cal isn't a cure all.

But if you look hard enough, there are some positive signs for Freeman and the way he plans on leading his program.


*If not the best play in football, then at least the best play in NCAA14

Not sure if you read the same article I did, but to expound just a little, Freeman basically said he needed to trust his coaches and let them call what they want, referring to the Estime play.

 

[ulukinatme]

Crazy if true.

Here's the bit, starts at 1:58. Freman is very candid, and it was a good moment of clarity. Estime talked about the check during his post game interview too.