Preview 2001: The Quarterbacks
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
August 28, 2001

Notre Dame, Ind (UHND.com) - The most controversial position at Notre Dame this season will be the quarterback position.  For the first time since the late 80's, Notre Dame has a quarterback controversy.  Many fans and more importantly, the coaches, look at Matt LoVecchio's 8-1 record as a starter and think he is the obvious choice to start for the Irish when they open in Lincoln against Nebraska.  Others look at Carlyle Holiday and his raw untapped talent and see him as the next Michael Vick.  For now though, LoVecchio is the starter.  Will he be at the end of the year remains to be however.

Notre Dame returns all five players who were listed as quarterbacks at sometime last year.  Two of them however, Arnaz Battle and Gary Godsey who were listed as the #1 and 2 quarterbacks at this time last year, have switched positions.  Battle moved to wide receiver where we is expected to be the 3rd receiver along with Javin Hunter and David Givens and Godsey moved back to tight end last season where he will battle with John Owens and Matt Root for the starting tight end spot.

The other three are a talented group of now sophomores, although two of them, Jared Clark and Carlyle Holiday, red-shirted last year and still have four years of eligibility remaining.  The other is the aforementioned Matt LoVecchio who took over for Gary Godsey in the Michigan State game and never looked back.  He completed 73 of 125 passes for 980 yards with 11 touchdowns and one interception.  LoVeecchio also netted 300 yards rushing (he had 413 before subtracting 113 for sacks). 

While LoVecchio is the not the running quarterback that Arnaz Battle was or Carlyle Holiday is, he definitely has the mobility and escapabilty to flourish in Notre Dame's offense.  He is sort of like a John Elway, who was by no means a running quarterback, but he was able to avoid a rush and gain yards on the ground when he had to.

For now, I agree with Davie's plan of starting LoVecchio against Nebraska.  LoVecchio's experience can be a valuable tool for the Irish in trying to knockoff Nebraska.  However, i think that Davie has to give both Holiday and Clark a series or two in the game to give them experience and see what they can do.  Davie's reasoning behind going with LoVecchio last year was his maturity and composure.  This year it is his experience.  He has to get Holiday and Clark experience though or Notre Dame will be in the same situation it was last year should LoVecchio go down with an injury.  Davie also needs to see what Holiday and Clark do in real game situations. 

The funny thing about quarterback at Notre Dame this year is that outsiders are all praising LoVecchio for his accomplishments and predicting a big year for the sophomore yet many Irish fans are predicting that he won't finish the season as the starter.  Instead, many Irish fans would rather see Carlyle Holiday as the starter since it is widely believed that he is comparable to Michael Vick.

Things must be good for Notre Dame though since there is a large number of people who feel that Holiday can be an improvement from someone who went 7-1 as a starter last season.  LoVecchio did this by being extremely careful with the football.  He only threw one interception in 9 games of action.  Those who want to see Holiday start think that LoVecchio was too cautious and that the offense would be better with someone like Holiday who might take risks.  I tend to think that LoVecchio will take more risks this year since he will no longer be getting accustomed to college football.

The transition that LoVecchio made from high school to college football was remarkable.  Now, if he can continue to progress and improve this season, Notre Dame could be in for a real treat.  However, with more risks will come more mistakes.  How LoVecchio handles those mistakes will be a major factor in whether Holiday or Clark can take over as the starter.

The bottom line here is that Notre Dame is stacked at quarterback. Any three of the quarterbacks on Notre Dame's roster can be a starter at any Division 1 school.  In Matt LoVecchio the Irish have maturity and experience, in Holiday they have a potential game breaker, and in Clark they have another potential star.  It is going to be very hard to keep all three happy however and a position change or a transfer is a definite possibility after the season.  For now though, Notre Dame is loaded with talent at quarterback.