DeShone Kizer Not Resting On 2015 Laurels In QB Competition
If one judged a quarterback strictly by numbers, maybe the easiest position to name a starter this spring at Notre Dame would be quarterback.
Statistically as a passer and rusher, no Fighting Irish quarterback had a better sophomore campaign than DeShone Kizer — and few rivaled him in any campaign.
While helping keep Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff conversation right into the final week of the regular season with a 10-1 ledger, the Toledo, Ohio, native finished with 3,404 yards of total offense, passing for 2,884 yards and rushing for 520. The previous standard from a Fighting Irish sophomore was 3,099 (3,172 passing and minus-73 rushing) by Jimmy Clausen during a 7-6 campaign in 2008.
When including bowl stats, Kizer’s 149.95 pass efficiency rating is the seventh best in a season at Notre Dame by a quarterback who attempted at least 100 passes. The only six ahead of him were:
• Clausen’s 161.4 in 2009 that made him a second-round draft pick after his junior year.
• Bob Williams’ 161.4 during the 1949 national title season that put him into the College Football Hall of Fame.
• Brady Quinn’s 158.4 in 2005 that placed him No. 5 in the Heisman Trophy voting as a junior.
• Heisman winner John Huarte’s 155.1 in 1964 in which Notre Dame was awarded a share of a national title by being awarded the MacArthur Bowl.
• Kevin McDougal’s 151.3 during the 11-1 season in 1993 in which the Irish finished a debatable No. 2 to Florida State, a team it had defeated.
• Rick Mirer’s 150.5 in 1991, when the Irish concluded the 9-3 regular season with a win over No. 3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
Meanwhile, Kizer’s 520 rushing yards were the fourth most ever by a Notre Dame quarterback, behind Tony Rice’s 934 in 1989 (including the bowl), Rice’s 775 in 1988 (including the bowl) and Carlyle Holiday’s 666 in 2001. The 6-4¼, 230-pound Kizer also scored 10 touchdowns, the most in a season by an Irish QB.
Such data would lend one to believe that Kizer’s starting role is one of the few locks during a competitive spring in which more than half of the starters on offense and defense from 2015 must be replaced. Yet a year ago at this time, Kizer was the forgotten man in the quarterback race between Everett Golson and Malik Zaire, with Kizer seeing only mop-up work in the spring game, where he completed 1 of 5 passes and seriously contemplated whether he had a future in football.
Zaire had been named the Music City Bowl MVP in the victory over LSU in his first career start, and he debuted in 2015 with a sizzling 19-of-22 passing performance for 313 yards in a 38-3 thrashing of Texas. A season-ending injury to Zaire the next week at Virginia thrust Kizer into the spotlight, especially after leading a fourth-quarter comeback win against the Cavaliers, yet he has established zero sense of entitlement.
“I never expect the job to be guaranteed,” Kizer said earlier this week on his reaction to head coach Brian Kelly keeping the QB competition open through the spring, and perhaps even into the season. “For some reason with me, I’ve never been in a position where I was going to continue to walk into a season and just automatically have a job. In everything I’ve ever done, all the way back to fourth grade basketball … it’s always going to be a situation where there always is going to be someone there to push you, and that’s the just the way the coaches I’ve surrounded myself with like to coach. I love that because now I have to go out there and earn the position.
“I want to build off of what we did last year, and being a starter is part of that, but at the same time I’m expecting that every season from here on out … I have to compete for the position.”
The question is whether such intense competition between Kizer and Zaire — with sophomore Brandon Wimbush possessing perhaps the strongest arm and fleetest feet among the trio — will create a divisive or fractured element within the overall operation.
In a survey conducted on BlueandGold.com that polled fans on who they think or want to be the starter, as of two days before the start of spring drills on March 16, Zaire had 326 votes to Kizer’s 324 (with Wimbush getting 13 “write-ins”).
“Part of being a quarterback is just knowing how to lead and understanding the guys around you,” Kizer said. “Malik has a good relationship with a lot of the guys, and Brandon has really taken over his class, but at the end of the day you have to be able to take the relationships you have and the knowledge that you have of each person on the team and lead through that.
“Mine might be minor with some guys and major with others, but as long as I can accept where I am and my friendships and continue to learn about the guys around me, I should be able to lead them in the same nature I did last year.”
Kizer’s credibility was enhanced while leading fourth-quarter comeback wins against Virginia, USC and Temple, plus driving the Irish 88 yards and scoring the temporary go-ahead TD himself with 30 second left (providing a 36-35 edge) in the regular-season finale at Stanford. Still, Zaire’s powerful confidence and Wimbush’s ascent, well ahead of Kizer at the same point in their careers, supply diverse elements to the overall operation.
“We were able to come at different angles at things, which I think is a cool dynamic for a team,” Kizer said. “Malik is able to connect with some guys that I’m not able to connect with consistently, and he is able to take some of his friendships he has off the field and apply them on the field that I don’t have off the field. It’s something that eventually will make us a better team. We’ll be able to communicate from different angles and be able to touch different guys.”
The most valued experience for Kizer actually might have been the 44-28 Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State, the defending national champs who set the most players (14) to this year’s NFL Combine. It wasn’t Kizer’s sharpest game, and he has a sense of why.
“I believe that was an opportunity for me to evaluate myself playing against a true national championship style defense, and to be going against a national championship style offense,” Kizer said. “I was in the pocket and could feel guys all over me. It was a different kind of feeling I didn’t have all season.
“That same feeling now I may be able to learn from and understand in big games against teams like that … you’re going to have to make plays in situations you’re not completely comfortable in. They had great players across the board, we knew that going into it, but you can’t imitate the feeling that you have when the Fiesta Bowl is on the line.”
The Irish offense has to break in three new starters along the line and also lost its top three receivers from 2015, most notably All-American and game-breaker Will Fuller. However, Kizer, who spent spring break in San Diego working with esteemed quarterbacks mentor George Whitfield, is not expecting a drop-off.
The last two times Notre Dame lost a first-round draft pick at wide receiver — Tim Brown in 1987 and Michael Floyd in 2011 — it responded with 12-0 and 12-1 campaigns (winning one national title and playing for another) while becoming much better balanced. Kizer is anticipating similar excellence with the current receiving corps.
“Last year, it was No. 7 [Fuller],” Kizer said. “This year, I believe we’re going to have to spread it truly across the board because there is so much talent. A guy who might be a slot can be a backside big receiver within the next couple of plays.
“We’re in a position I’ve never been in. We have guys that can play multiple positions. …We have guys who are 6-6, 38-inch verticals, guys who run 4.41. Anytime you can get the ball in their hands, they’re going to make plays for you and extend after the catch.”
When asked what his reaction would be if he doesn’t end up becoming the starter throwing the ball to the fledgling corps, Kizer diplomatically responded, “I’m going to make sure I can do everything I can to try to get that job.
“This is part of my life now. I like to look at myself as the Notre Dame quarterback. I’m just excited to develop. I’ve learned quite a bit in my short time here.”
Tomorrow: Malik Zaire