A Split Decision Nationally On Notre Dame's Quarterbacks

This summer we have seen something unprecedented among Notre Dame quarterbacks, and perhaps even in college football history: Two different Fighting Irish QBs grace different national magazine covers that preview the 2016 football campaign.

Lindy’s Sports placed senior Malik Zaire on the cover of its regional edition, while Sporting News did the same with junior DeShone Kizer.

Zaire was the MVP in Notre Dame’s 2014 Music City Bowl win over LSU and opened 2015 with a sizzling 19-of-22 passing performance for 313 yards in a rout of Texas before suffering a season ending fracture of his ankle the following week. Kizer started the ensuing 11 games and finished with the seventh-best single season passing rating at Notre Dame (including bowl games) and the fourth-highest rushing total (520 yards) by a quarterback.

In 45 years of following the sport, we have no recollection in college football annals where two different quarterbacks from one football team had their own individual regional covers in national magazines. However, it appears that the publications are not operating under the cliché that “if you have two quarterbacks that are considered equal, then you have two second-team quarterbacks.”

Athon Sports College Football 2016 Preview ranks Notre Dame’s quarterback unit No. 4 in the country.

Lindy’s Sports College Football 2016 Preview didn’t rate quarterbacks separately, but put them under the “Backfield” umbrella, where it had the Fighting Irish No. 5, behind Clemson, Oklahoma, Baylor and Tennessee.

Lindy’s took one other interesting step. The Kizer/Zaire tandem was ranked No. 8 “individually” among QBs in the country. They couldn’t separate one from the other, which is something else we have no recollection of anywhere.

For the record, the seven individual QBs rated ahead of Kizer/Zaire were Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Oklahoma’ Baker Mayfield, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett, Washington State’s Luke Falk, Ole Miss’ Chad Kelly, Baylor’s Seth Russell and Houston’s Greg Ward. Another former Notre Dame signal-caller, Cincinnati’s Gunner Kiel, was No. 22 among its top 25.

Phil Steele’s College Football 2016 Preview purportedly was less sold, ranking Notre Dame’s QB group No. 18 overall, a huge disparity from Athlon at No. 4.

Meanwhile, in one of the oddest of odds — literally and figuratively — both Kizer and Zaire are at 22/1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy in 2016 by Silver State Sportsbooks. How could that not be a first in college football history?

Nevada Sports Books was a little less on the fence, putting Kizer at 20/1 to win the Heisman and Zaire 25/1. Such odds might be better placed on one winning the starting spot — and finishing the year in that role as well.

This falls somewhat in line with our own poll conducted right before the start of spring drills in March. BlueandGold.com asked, "Who starts at quarterback for Notre Dame in 2016?"

One week into spring drills, 667 different voters weighed in, and the results were astoundingly close.

• 328, or 49.2 percent, chose Zaire, who had only three starts to his name.

• 326, or 48.9 percent, selected Kizer.

• 13 opted to go against the grain and pick sophomore Brandon Wimbush, who head coach Brian Kelly plans to redshirt this season unless an emergency arises like last season that forced No. 3 option Kizer into the lineup.

As expected, Kelly did not name a starter at the conclusion of spring drills. The opinion here is that Kizer’s productive sophomore season — including three fourth-quarter comeback wins and a fourth where he steered an 88-yard touchdown drive to take the lead at Stanford with 30 seconds left — would be too difficult to overlook to not make him the starter at Texas Sept. 4.

As for Blue & Gold Illustrated and its 2016 Football Preview, we played it safe. Both Kizer and Zaire share the front cover.