The competition between Dayne Crist and Tommy Rees has come down to mastering Brian Kelly's offense and limiting turnovers.

"It's more than just arm strength and leadership capability," Kelly said when asked what traits will determine who becomes Notre Dame's starting quarterback. "There are so many other factors involved within the structure of our offense. We feel very confident about the kind of defense we can play. Taking care of the football is premium. That's one of the boxes we have to check off."

It was no surprise that the quarterback competition was the theme of Notre Dame's media day. While Kelly said the competition remains too close to call, he still plans to name a starter 10 days before the season-opener against South Florida on Sept. 3.

With Crist and Rees separating themselves, sophomore Andrew Hendrix and freshman Everett Golson have seen their repetitions reduced.

"Crist and Rees have separated themselves by virtue of their knowledge and ability to manage the structure we have," Kelly said. "They can take the whole offense and run with it. We have two quarterbacks that we have great trust and confidence in that they can play championship football for us. Then we have two young guys who have not mastered the entire off structure but have excelled in small doses. If either one of them entered the game they wouldn't run the [entire] offense but there are some things they do very, very well. 

"If they entered the game we would move toward where their strengths are."