Utah Utes football: Freshman Tommy Rees the new Notre Dame QB

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Tommy Rees remembers stepping onto an NFL field with his dad when he was 4 or 5 years old and knowing immediately he'd found the love of his life.

Football has always been part of who he is. His father, Bill, spent 15 years as a scout and player personnel director in the NFL, and another 15 years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at UCLA. Bill Rees is currently Northwestern's assistant director of football operations.

Now Tommy Rees is ready to step into a spotlight all his own. At 18, as a freshman who left high school early to enroll at Notre Dame, he'll be the starting quarterback for the Irish when they face No. 15 Utah on Saturday.

Starter Dayne Crist is lost for the season after surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his left knee. Rees, who filled in when Crist was hurt Oct. 30 against Tulsa, will get his first start Saturday in front of 81,000 fans. After that come games in Yankee Stadium and the Coliseum in Los Angeles against Army and USC, respectively.

Three notable venues for a young quarterback to navigate.

"I've been around the game since I was born," said Tommy Rees, whose brother Danny is a punter and holder at UCLA. "It's something that's been the focal point of my life pretty much the whole time growing up around football. I'm just familiar with everything — how coaches work and how defenses play and all that. It's the game I love and I love being around it."

Rees was recruited by the previous coaching regime under Charlie Weis and left Lake Forest (Ill.) High School and his prep basketball team early to enroll at Notre Dame last January. Lake Forest is the home of the Chicago Bears, for whom Bill Rees once worked.

"In hindsight, it's obviously paying off tremendously for me. The toughest thing was just kind of leaving home, leaving your friends and family," Rees said. "But I have a such a great support staff back there it helps, and the guys here welcomed me with open arms."

When Rees got to Notre Dame, there was a new coaching staff in place and he found himself learning Brian Kelly's spread offense.

"Tommy needed to develop physically. That was the first thing that hit me in terms of just his body type. Could he stand up to taking some hits?" Kelly said of the 6-2, 210-pound Rees.