THE UNKNOWN
Beyond Tate and Floyd, who’s in the wide receiver rotation?

Weis likes to play four, so that means senior Robby Parris, junior Kamara, sophomores John Goodman and Deion Walker and freshman Shaquelle Evans will essentially be competing for two spots. A nice problem to have.

The best guess at this time? Goodman and Evans.

How much trouble are the Irish in if Clausen goes down?

Crist is not ready to be a starter right now. Then again, by October, who knows? He does have the arm strength, the leadership skills, the respect of his teammates, the footwork to star now. The only thing holding him back is command of the offense and perhaps pressing too hard.

Behind Crist is either new cult hero Nate Montana (2-for-2 for 51 yards in the Blue-Gold Game) or Goodman, who shined in his audition last week. Neither, though, is ready to run the Weis offense at the coach’s preferred level of sophistication. They’d have to play in a watered-down version if it came to that.

Can the special teams be special?

Kicker Brandon Walker nailed his only field goal attempt of the day Saturday, a 48-yarder, and punter Eric Maust and went out and pitched a five-hit shutout of Big East baseball bully West Virginia Saturday night, but Weis needs more consistency from both of them.

The return games won’t be settled until fall. There are freshmen Weis wants to audition, and he’s trying to gauge how heavily to use starters Floyd, Tate, Allen and Walls in that mix.

If the supposedly new and improved offensive line was opening holes against the Irish defense, could the reality be that the ND defensive front will be in trouble against a run-dominant team come fall?

It won’t take long to find out. Season-opening opponent Nevada was the No. 3 rushing team in the nation last year.

Notre Dame, however, is a team that not only made a dramatic shift in speed, but in philosophy as well. The defensive staff is much more committed to the Jon Tenuta influence of relentless blitzing, attacking and movement.

There’s high risk involved, true. But the Irish finally have the kind of athletes and the depth of talent to outrun some of those inherent mistakes.

“We’re obviously going to be bringing a lot of heat,” Weis said with a confident grin.

Will the Weis upstairs/downstairs debate be revisited?

Don’t be surprised if it is.

Weis declared on the first day of spring practice that he would not be calling offensive plays from the press box in the fall, as he did in the Hawaii Bowl, but rather on the sideline.

However, he did reserve the right to change his mind. And a combination of health concerns and strategic advantages might bend his thinking.

In either case, Weis has positioned himself to have his best season as a college head coach. He reshuffled his staff, redistributed responsibilities, but most importantly, he’s gotten out of his own way.

He has opened his mind to new ways of doing things, listened to his assistants more, let go of trying so hard to shape perception, and instead let an emerging new reality do that for him.

“I’ve never said we’re good enough,” Weis said Saturday after the Blue-Gold Game. “We have a lot of room for improvement. I think it was a very good spring. We have a long way to go to be a real good football team, but at least potentially you could see the elements are in place to be a real good football team. We have a lot of work to do.”

More news

Joe Raymond / AP

Who will be the starting QB?

After Notre Dame's Blue and Gold game, it appears to be a three-way race for the starting QB position. Keith Arnold breaks down this race and each area of the offense as he projects the opening day starting lineup.

A Blue and Gold glimpse

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