Dayne Crist hasn’t thrown a meaningful pass, delivered a real handoff or even taken one snap in his Notre Dame career. But just by watching the Irish sophomore work in practice, and spending a few minutes talking football with him, it’s clear this could someday be a special player.
Crist offers that rare combination of brains, brawn, confidence and control that every great quarterback shares.
He’s cool yet commanding in the huddle. At 6-foot-4 and 233 pounds, he already might be the biggest quarterback ever to play at Notre Dame. And he threw for 3,448 yards with 33 touchdowns and only four interceptions in his last two years at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks – so good decisions are also part of the package.
Crist likely won't make a run at Clausen's spot, but he plans to be ready if needed.
Crist just wasn’t ready to dethrone Jimmy Clausen as the starter this spring, and that’s says something about Notre Dame’s depth at the quarterback position, though Crist isn’t ready to concede anything.
“I’ve got this great opportunity in front of me and it’s kind of in sight,” Crist said during spring ball. “Whether it be tomorrow, or in a week, or in a year, I’m not going to stop until I get what I want…and what I want is being out on the field and winning games for the University of Notre Dame.”
Charlie Weis appreciated Crist’s desire of wanting to knock off the two-year starter in Clausen, but the Irish coach also felt that Crist might have taken his obsession to start to the point of counter-productivity.
“I think he was worrying too much early in camp about just beating out Jimmy rather than about getting Dayne better,” Weis said. “And I think that’s the conversation Dayne and I had this past Tuesday was, ‘Let’s worry about getting Dayne better. Let’s not worry about who the starting quarterback is. Because, right now, it’s him, not you.’ ”?
Crist still has four years of eligibility remaining so his time is going to come, probably later than sooner, though it is not out of the question that Clausen could leave for the NFL after this season.
But in the meantime, Crist will bide his time, with a few game snaps coming this season, and a bunch more if something would happen to Clausen.
“This spring, put myself in the best position to play. It’s kind of hit or miss for me,” he said. “There’s nothing else that’s very tangible other than playing time. It’s the one thing I haven’t had yet and it’s what I want.”
In the limited times we were able to observe Crist this spring, the big fella always had terrific control of the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. But it was obvious the accuracy and touch in his passes are not yet up to Clausen’s.
Crist went 4-of-10 passing for 40 yards in the spring game with one scoring drive and a long completion of 15 yards to Robert Hughes. Not really much to make an evaluation on there.
The quarterback competition will spill over into the fall, Crist will see to it, but the starting job is clearly Clausen’s to lose, just don’t try and tell that to the backup.
“I don't think that Dayne wants to sit there and wait till Jimmy graduates to say it's time for me to play,” Weis said. “So I think Dayne is coming into the spring to try to make it tough on Jimmy. And I think that's exactly what he should be doing.”
What’s A Good Season?
Watching, learning and staying ready if needed.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Crist isn’t going to get many live snaps this season, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t improve as a quarterback. Weis will return to being more of a quarterbacks coach this season and that will help Crist’s development that much more.
It’s impossible to project statistical success for a backup quarterback. So a good season will likely be measured in the improvement Crist shows throughout fall camp and during the regular season. Some of that can be evaluated in the opportunities Crist will get this year. And with a few patsies on the schedule, he should get some fourth-quarter duty.
Until his first shot comes, Crist needs to just keep working, stay patient and realize there is still a lot to learn, and plenty of time to learn it from a coach that will be watching closely.
"You can’t sit there and have your feeling hurt when coach yells at you," Crist said of Weis. "He’s trying to make you better and if that’s what it takes to do it, bring it on. I want that. I want whatever is going to make me better."
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