Is Evan Sharpley Notre Dame’s Starter?

Dennis Dodd is busy stirring up some trouble over on CBS with his latest edition of Dodds and Ends. Dodd apparently has spoken with Zach Frazer’s dad who has told him that Evan Sharpley will be the starting quarterback for the Irish against Georgia Tech. While this certainly seems posssible, just why is David Frazer busy telling Dennis Dodd who the starting QB will be for the Irish? Didn’t both Zach and David repeatedly say that Frazer left Notre Dame on good terms? If so, why leak out information he may think is accurate? Anyway, here’s a few highlights from Dodd’s banter…

“From what we know Sharpley is going to be the guy,” David Frazer told me from his office in Harrisburg, Pa. “Jones will be put in for a few trick plays. Clausen won’t play this year.”

Wow. That lends credence to an unsubstantiated blog that surfaced earlier this summer. It stated that Clausen had surgery on his throwing elbow. No one has confirmed the surgery orClausen’s playing status.

That is some sleuth detecting by Dodd. Maybe he missed the ESPN report that came out last month where Brian Hardin, a Notre Dame spokesman, admitted Clausen did indeed have surgery and that he would be ready for the start of camp.

“The way Charlie described it, he doesn’t think he has the passing game this year,” David Frazer said. “He wants somebody to throw it five yards (downfield). They’re going to run it more.

“I think the problem is they thought they were going to get (five-star receiving recruit) Arrelious Benn. With (Jeff) Samardzija and Rhema McKnight gone, they really don’t have go-to receiver types.”

This actually makes sense based on most of the speculation this off-season. Notre Dame should have a strong running game with a stable of talented running backs and with two new receivers and a new quarterback it is safe to assume that the Irish offense will be a bit less pass happy.

Should Sharpley end up up starting, it will most likely mean that neither Demetrius Jones or Clausen are ready to take over the reigns since both have widely been considered prospects with much higher ceilings. Sharpley would be a steady hand who wouldn’t win a lot of games by himself, but also won’t lose games either.

With each report surfacing about the QB race I keep getting the feeling that its going to be Demetrius Jones under center when Georgia Tech rolls into town that first weekend of September. Either that, or Weis really is playing a cat and mouse game with the whole quarterback situation. Either way, this is just going to the beginning of a summer of speculation.