That Marcus Freeman would soon be looking for an offensive coordinator wasn’t a thought on anyone’s mind in South Bend a few days ago.
Down the road a year or two, sure, but right away? Tommy Rees’ departure came out of nowhere early Thursday, and by Friday the former Notre Dame quarterback had a new home.
It stings for Notre Dame, which has seen significant growth within its offense under Rees. It feels almost as if Rees put down the foundation for the Notre Dame offense to reach a level it hasn’t been at in a long while.
We don’t know who will replace Rees, although we have a few names to at least kick the tires on. However, Alabama is getting a rising star. From a Notre Dame perspective, here are five reasons the Alabama faithful should be thrilled with the Rees news.
5
Excellent Recruiter
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A quick look at Notre Dame in recent years shows the biggest thing keeping them from joining the table of college football elites is the play at quarterback. It’s been good, not great. Since Rees has taken over Notre Dame’s playcalling, Notre Dame has locked down commitments from Tyler Buchner, Kenny Minchey and C.J. Carr. The latter is a member of the Class of 2024. Who knows if Carr stays committed with Rees gone, but getting commitments from three top-100 quarterbacks in four years after what Notre Dame brought in during the almost decade-long period previous to this is quite an accomplishment.
4
Ignore the Numbers/Ranks
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It’s easy to quickly look at Notre Dame’s offensive stats from 2022 and leave unimpressed. Now part of this falls on him, but only to a very small degree. Rees was calling a short-handed offense the entire year. As it went on, he had the offense humming despite playing short-handed. Starting quarterback Buchner was hurt in the second half of the second game, and Drew Pyne, bless his little Rudy-type heart, wasn’t a viable solution. Yet with an extreme lack of developed talent at receiver, two true sophomores starting at his offensive tackle spots (that were both great by years end), and having to replace Kyren Williams in the backfield, Rees and Notre Dame schemed their way to success. Last year’s team was never built to score 40 points a game when fully healthy. It averaged 38.7 points per game over its final seven contests (6-1 record including a bowl win over South Carolina).
3
Endorsed by a Super Bowl winning coach
Sean McVay and Ben Skowronek (also a Notre Dame product) during Rams training camp in 2020. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
When Sean McVay was hired by the Los Angeles Rams and quickly got their offense popping, several NFL teams tried to replicate what they did and hired young, offensive minds to lead their teams. McVay, who won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams last year, had huge praise for Rees this past preseason when asked about why Kyren Williams as a fit for their offense.
“One thing I really like about his game — you could see the things that Tommy Rees and those guys at Notre Dame were asking of him was very translatable to the NFL. … It makes it an easier eval, and that’s one of the things we saw with him. We’ll find out when it gets live, but he’s shown he’s capable,” McVay said.
2
Outstanding Schemer
If you’re a nerd you love this stuff @NDFootball 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/tq0H93ksKm
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) November 10, 2022
I’ll let you know right away that Tommy Rees will call no fewer than six plays during his first fall in Tuscaloosa that will make a number of Alabama fans pull out their hair on Saturday and then call Paul Finebaum to complain on Monday. Despite that, he is tremendous at creating schemes and successful offenses regardless of talent. Part of that was out of necessity because of the shortcomings in talent Notre Dame had. Another part is Rees simply being very good at as a whole, even if he will leave you scratching your head on an individual play call on occasion.
1
Rees with Alabama's talent will be scary
Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Despite a slow start to the season offensively, Rees had Notre Dame’s offense humming by the end of it, even with Drew Pyne quarterbacking and no real playmakers on the outside. Now imagine an offense that has what should be an elite offensive line, elite speed and ability on the outside, outstanding backs, and regularly has some of the best quarterback play nationally.
Rees may not be the perfect candidate, his desire to be too cute at times and overthink the obvious decision is the biggest complaint from Notre Dame fans. However, the total package with Tommy Rees is a really stinking good one and will almost certainly get better with age. I fully expect Rees to not be in Saban’s shadow long, not because he will not do a mighty fine job, but because he’ll soon be landing a head coaching job of his own.
