Just two weeks until the Fighting Irish open up Spring training and all eyes will be on Dayne Crist who will be making his comeback from a severe knee injury last year.

Coach Brian Kelly has stated that Crist is ahead of schedule from the ACL surgery he had and he may even take part in non contact drills when practice begins.

If he does that is great news for the Irish who desperately need Crist fit and ready for the season ahead. Without him they have only rookie quarterbacks ready to start and of course, Golden Tate is no longer around to catch passes.

Crist can be an explosive quarterback with an arm as good as the departed Jimmy Clausen. His touch down pass last year to John Goodman in the Washington State game was a thing of beauty and he will be expecting to seek out Goodman again when he comes back on duty.

For Brian Kelly the next two weeks will begin a build up unlike any other in his coaching career. Though he was a star at Cincinnati, actually taking over a Notre Dame squad for the first time at Spring training will be accompanied by the kind of press scrutiny no college coach on earth is used to.

Here is hoping he has Crist ready off the Spring practice and ready to suit up when the real work begins this summer. Notre Dame certainly needs him and so does Brian Kelly.