The big news of the spring was supposed to be DeShone Kizer ascending to the job of holder on field goals and PATs. Instead, Kizer is one snap away from being Notre Dame’s starting quarterback, his development kick-started with Everett Golson’s decision to transfer.
Kizer had a hard-luck spring. He was dealing with personal issues while also getting snubbed when it came to live reps, the coaching staff concentrating on the competition between Golson and Malik Zaire.
But Kizer is now making up for lost time, and likely also doing his best to hold off promising freshman Brandon Wimbush, who would be well served by a redshirt season if at all possible.
Ahead of the schedule many had for him, Kizer is one snap away from running Notre Dame’s offense. Now we’ll see if he’s ready for the challenge.
DESHONE KIZER
6'4.5", 230 lbs.
Sophomore, No. 14, QB
RECRUITING PROFILE
Kizer was a four-star prospect, though not near the top of that rating scale if we’re to poll the various recruiting services. But Kizer certainly entertained a slew of impressive offers, none better than one from Alabama, with LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas, Nebraska and Penn State all giving chase.
While Kizer camping in Columbus didn’t lead to an Ohio State offer, Notre Dame accepted Kizer’s commitment after he came to South Bend on the summer circuit. And while Urban Meyer kicked the tires on Kizer after he took over, Kizer was fully committed to Notre Dame.
PLAYING CAREER
Freshman Season (2014): Did not see action.
WHAT WE SAID LAST YEAR
There was no chance Kizer was playing, so it didn’t take much to nail this prediction.As we saw last year with Malik Zaire, Brian Kelly will protect Kizer’s fifth year. (After seeing Andrew Hendrix in the second half against USC, it might be by any means necessary.) So Kizer’s future isn’t in 2014. It probably isn’t 2015, either.
While right now it’s feeling a lot like Blake Barnett is the one that got away, Kizer is no slouch. Tom Lemming ranking him 40th overall in the country, and he certainly had some intriguing options to play college football. His athletic build translates very well to playing not just on Saturday, but Sunday.
While it puts the Irish in a pressure situation if an injury (or other off-the-field incident) occurs, having three quarterbacks should make it easier to avoid a transfer. And with LaFleur on campus to tutor both Zaire and Kizer, the Ohio-native who picks things up the best will likely take the reins of the program in 2016.
FUTURE POTENTIAL
Kizer has one thing that Brian Kelly and Mike Sanford can’t teach: NFL size—and at nearly 6-5 and 230 pounds, Kizer looks the part of a big time quarterback. We haven’t seen that performance yet, and the Blue-Gold game was far from Kizer’s best football.
While we assumed that Matt LaFleur’s job was to get young quarterbacks like Kizer and Zaire ready, that job now falls to Mike Sanford. And in Sanford, Kizer has a unique teacher, someone who can hopefully unleash the unique traits in Kizer’s game that separate him from Zaire and Wimbush, two guys that seem better suited for the dual-threat game.
CRYSTAL BALL
With Golson gone, the development calendar for the quarterback depth chart has just been accelerated. And for Kizer, that might actually be a good thing. The battle between Kizer and Wimbush is one that’ll likely dictate the future of the Irish football program, as the starting job feels firmly in the grasp of Zaire.
But if Notre Dame chooses to punt on recruiting a 2016 quarterback—and that currently looks like the case—this is shaking out to be a battle between Wimbush and Kizer to see who inherits the program from Zaire, potentially three seasons from now.
On paper, Wimbush is the flashier prospect and the odds-on-favorite. But if we’ve learned anything over the past decade watching Notre Dame football, a recruiting ranking and prep status means nothing once a quarterback gets on campus.
So while the preference is to keep a redshirt on Wimbush, it’s Kizer’s job to stay in the No. 2 slot, knowing that future battles will take place from now until after the Zaire era is over.
THE 2015 IRISH A-to-Z
Josh Adams, RB
Josh Barajas, OLB
Nicky Baratti, S
Alex Bars, OL
Asmar Bilal, OLB
Hunter Bivin, OL
Grant Blankenship, DE
Jonathan Bonner, DE
Miles Boykin, WR
Justin Brent, WR
Greg Bryant, RB
Devin Butler, CB
Jimmy Byrne, OL
Daniel Cage, DL
Amir Carlisle, RB
Nick Coleman, DB
Te’von Coney, LB
Shaun Crawford, DB
Scott Daly, LS
Sheldon Day, DL
Michael Deeb, LB
Micah Dew-Treadway, DL
Steve Elmer, RG
Matthias Farley, DB
Nicco Fertitta, DB
Tarean Folston, RB
Will Fuller, WR
Jarrett Grace, LB
Jalen Guyton, WR
Mark Harrell, OL
Jay Hayes, DL
Mike Heuerman, TE
Kolin Hill, DE
Tristen Hoge, C
Corey Holmes, WR
Chase Hounshell, TE
Torii Hunter, Jr. WR
Alizé Jones, TE
Jarron Jones, DL