updated 7:33 p.m. ET March 21, 2007

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Some Notre Dame fans are lowering expectations because the Fighting Irish lost Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Darius Walker and five other offensive starters.

Coach Charlie Weis isn’t.

“It’s easy for everyone to say, ‘Well, this is a transition year; this is a rebuilding year,’ You can’t ever think like that,” Weis said Wednesday. “I can’t think like that as a coach, and they certainly won’t think like it as players. It’s not happening.”

Notre Dame opened spring practice Wednesday with Weis focused on finding a replacement for Quinn.

“I’m going to be heavily — almost exclusively — involved with the quarterback position,” he said. “Right now, one of the biggest jobs I have in addition to working with the offensive staff to establish an identity, based off of our personnel, is to make sure we’ve got a quarterback ready to play on Sept. 1. And we will have one ready to go.”

Four players are vying for the job: last year’s backup, Evan Sharpley; Zach Frazer; Demetrius Jones; and Jimmy Clausen, a freshman who is most highly touted player to arrive on campus since Ron Powlus in 1993.

There already has been some concerns among Irish fans because of media reports that Clausen might not be 100 percent healthy.

Tailback Armando Allen, who rooms with Clausen, told The Miami Herald in January that Clausen had bone spurs in his throwing elbow. Weis said on signing day Feb. 7 that Clausen’s arm was fine, and that he had simply told Clausen to rest his arm. Then this week, Clausen’s father told the Chicago Sun-Times his son’s arm was injured and won’t be fully healthy for spring practice.

Weis disputed that Wednesday.

“Contrary to recent reports, he’s full-go,” Weis said.

The Irish coach said he hopes to narrow the quarterback competition to two players by the time spring practice ends with the Blue-Gold Game on April 21. He said all four players have an equal chance of becoming the starter.

Travis Thomas, who switched from tailback to linebacker last season, will start the spring back at tailback with Walker leaving for the NFL.

“Travis Thomas is going on the field — wherever we can get him on the field the most to help the team win the most,” Weis said.

Slide show   Florida wins BCS title game Take visual tour of Gators' rout of Buckeyes

While finding starters is the concern on offense, installing a new scheme is the priority on defense. The Irish are switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 lineup in an effort to improve a defense that ranked 65th in the nation last season, giving up 340 yards a game.

Weis said the advantage of the 3-4 is it gives the Irish more flexibility and creates confusion among opponents. To try to bulk up the defense, the Irish are switching Chris Stewart, who is 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds, from offensive guard to nose tackle.

Next season will be the third for Weis at Notre Dame, which in the past years has been a key indicator of how Irish coaches will fare.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Pain on the skating rink, flying high on the hardwood, upsets on the football field, and more. more photos

Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won national championships in their third season and Knute Rockne went 9-0 in his third season. Terry Brennan (2-8), Joe Kuharich (5-5), Bob Davie (5-7) and Tyrone Willingham (6-6) all struggled in their third seasons.

Weis said he’s not worried about that.

“My goal this year, and next year, and the year after that, will be to win every game,” he said. “And that’s my goal this year. And I’ll never have it go any different than that.”

MORE FROM NOTRE DAME CENTRAL

Notre Dame Central Section Front

Inside the Irish blog: Latest news and analysis Notre Dame's woes go beyond Weis Weis turning focus to finale at Stanford JT's Rant: Maybe no one can win at Notre Dame Weis will help Tate decide whether to return to ND CFT: Weis won’t make West Coast recruiting trip Notre Dame AD says Clausen sucker punched Irish blog: Tate a finalist for Biletnikoff Award Irish blog: O'Brien Award snubs Clausen   Video: NFL to stay away from Belichick disciples? Notre Dame Central Section Front   Add Notre Dame Central headlines to your news reader: