Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Jones tied for team-high numbers in receptions (50) and touchdown catches (four) in 2012, and was second in receiving yards (649). that returning starting quarterback Everett Golson was dismissed from school for an academic infraction and will miss the 2013 season. "I challenged TJ to step outside his comfort zone a little bit," Denbrock said of the program's leading returning wideout. "He has certainly earned the respect of his teammates to the point where he can get out in front of them when he needs to and maybe say something. It doesn't have to be an everyday thing, but I told him when he feels something needs to be said to say it." "When we're stretching in our stretch lines, he's facing the team now. His role has changed as he's matured and grown. He's continued his growth as far as his approach to the game and how he comes to work every day. He's been fantastic." Offensively, Notre Dame was far from that in the spring game. Though the glorified practice rarely is an accurate gauge, only one touchdown concerned not only fans. As players such as Golson tried to put a posi- tive spin on the performance, Jones had a different take. "It wasn't great. There were a lot of mistakes," said Jones, who had three catches for 38 yards. "There's definitely a lot of film to watch to see where we need to go for next year and what errors we need to correct to be as good as last year. "Up to this point I think we executed a lot better than we did today. I don't know what the difference was, whether it was the atmosphere or us having an off day as an offense, but we definitely didn't execute the way we have all spring." The night before the Blue-Gold Game, Kelly asked Jones — the same player the head coach berated 19 months earlier — to speak at a dinner for former Irish players. The request was perhaps a way to see how Jones would react to all eyes being on him. It also had plenty to do with the player's inspirational story that alumni were eager to hear from Jones' mouth. "I talked about our experiences at ND," photo by bill panzica Jones recalled. "I talked about how it's unique and how mine has been shaped by the people I've encountered here, my father going here and the people that were close to him that I now consider family and how it has raised me to be a better man. "It was a huge compliment [that Kelly selected him to speak]. It was a great honor. That was my first large speaking engagement, but once I got into the flow of my speech, it was cool. It was all freestyle off the top of my head." With Golson out of the picture, Rees likely has an edge as the replacement after having started 18 career games over the previous three seasons. Kelly and offensive coordinator Chuck Martin will have to implement a little freestyle into their game planning after essentially wasting precious time perfecting the read option. Fortunately, Rees and Jones were both early enrollees in 2010 and have formed quite a bond. "TJ and I came in together, so I've gotten 56 ✦ Blue & Gold Illustrated 2013 Football Preview 54-57.TJ Jones.indd 56 6/25/13 12:16 PM