Timing is everything

SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame junior wide receiver David Grimes caught the ball seconds before being hammered to the turf by a Michigan State defender last week.

To the untrained eye, it appeared that Grimes had bailed out freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen. That he had been unable to get open and that he made an outstanding catch.

But in the eye of a quarterback, if a receiver makes a catch, there was enough room.

“It’s a timing thing with me and the quarterbacks,” Grimes said. “There are a lot of factors into that.”

Considering the state of Notre Dame’s offense this year, any sort of gain should be praised. But most of what the Irish do in their passing game are smaller routes – hitches, slants, hooks. The Irish haven’t opened it up like the first two years under coach Charlie Weis.

So this makes precise route-running, where a quarterback is at the mercy of his receivers, more important.

“Part of being successful in the passing game is making sure that you are moving along to the timing-type pass that we’re talking (about),” Weis said. “I think you have to get more where the ball’s out on timing to a certain spot to give yourself a chance to get into a rhythm.”

Weis said Jimmy Clausen is improving in that area.

As for the receivers, they feel their route-running and ability to gain separation from a defensive back has been good but could be improved.

That comes with familiarity between quarterback and receivers. It was an issue in the preseason because Notre Dame had different starting quarterbacks and Jimmy Clausen, the current starter, was recovering from injury.

“With time, we’ll get better,” sophomore wide receiver Robby Parris said. “But that’s how it is with everybody. But I think we’re doing well as a corps.”

Familiarity is key because of Notre Dame’s youth. Jimmy Clausen is still less than a year removed from playing with high school receivers and players who ran slower than his current teammates.

So forging the knowledge Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija had with each other takes time.

“Once you get comfortable with all the different receivers and the speeds, I think it helps tremendously,” Hofstra junior quarterback Bryan Savage said. “I know where to throw the ball, and I know that this person is going to run a little bit slower, so I need to wait more before I throw the ball.

“So, yeah, it helps out.”

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