Boilermaker quarterback could burn Irish
By TIM CASEY
He's the reigning Big Ten Co-offensive Player of the Year. Along the way, he set Big Ten marks for touchdowns, yards passing, total offense, completions and attempts in a single season. He has already equaled the number of touchdown passes that Notre Dame's all-time leader, Ron Powlus, achieved in four years. One more thing: he's started 14 games in his career.
No wonder Irish head coach Bob Davie and his staff are concerned with Drew Brees.
"When you look at Purdue, you always start with their offense first because they do a tremendous job," said Davie at Tuesday's press conference. "It starts with the quarterback. The thing about Drew Brees to me is his competitiveness and how mobile he is; how many plays he makes throwing the ball on the run. He has got a good presence."
"When he scrambles outside of the pocket, he is really dangerous," said cornerback Clifford Jefferson. "He can scramble and find receivers wide open. That can really hurt us in a game if we let that happen."
From his first game as a starter a year ago, Brees has been on a tear. In last season's opener at USC, Brees threw the ball 52 times. Brees threw over 40 passes seven times last year, including an NCAA record 83 attempts against Wisconsin.
After leading Westlake High to a cumulative 28-0-1 record in his last two years, Brees was shunned by the major schools, including both Texas and Texas A&M. They feared an ACL injury he suffered as a junior may have an impact in college. Some coaches thought at 6-foot-1 that he was too small for major Division 1-A football. Brees chose Purdue over Kentucky, where Tim Couch served as his host.
"He was somewhat of a legendary high school quarterback in the state of Texas," said Davie. "As far as are situation here at Notre Dame I don't know if he was ever brought to our attention directly or if we evaluated him. But we're not alone in schools that didn't recruit him but wished they did."
A preseason Heisman favorite, Brees helped his cause in last week's 47-13 opening season victory at Central Florida. The junior completed over 60 percent of his attempts for 273 yards and four touchdown strikes.
Michigan State coach Nick Saban played against Purdue and Brees last year. In a featured article in Sports Illustrated on Brees, Saban compares him to a famous Irish alum.
"Brees reminds me of Joe Montana," Saban told SI. "He makes you feel that, play after play, you're about to do something big against him, and then he does something big against you. It's incredibly frustrating for a coach or a team."
Purdue's passing attack will test the young Notre Dame secondary. Thus far this year, the Irish defensive backs have allowed 386 total yards through the air.
"It's a good motivator, especially for those young defensive backs," said Davie after Wednesday's practice. "For these defensive backs, they look forward to this offense even more than the wishbone or something like it."
"ItŐs going to be a pretty hard game against someone who throws the ball 60 or 70 times a game," Jefferson said. "But it is a secondary's dream because of the opportunity to get interceptions and running them back."
All Sports Stories for Friday, September 10, 1999
