Is Goodman getting a look at quarterback?

Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel caught up with Notre Dame wide receiver and Fort Wayne native John Goodman about the potential of a position change to quarterback. For the most part, Goodman was a team player about the move and said all the right things:

From the News-Sentinel:

“If they move me there, I’ll definitely give it my all to compete for the position,” Goodman said Monday while home on Christmas break with his family in Fort Wayne. “I don’t want to go to quarterback for the whole spring and not have any reps at receiver, and then go back to receiver. That’s what I’m afraid of. If I move to quarterback, I want to compete for it. I want a fair chance for it. If that’s the case, I’m confident I can win the position.”

Goodman was the emergency quarterback for last season’s Irish squad and also ran a few zone-read running plays at quarterback during the season. But I couldn’t agree more with Goodman’s stance on a position change under Kelly.

With Golden Tate leaving early, Robby Parris graduating and Mike Floyd and Duval Kamara the two main returning receivers, Goodman’s development at wide receiver is far more important than having him take a shot at just providing depth at quarterback. Kelly’s offense runs multiple receiver sets and you’ve got to think that Goodman will be fighting Shaq Evans for the number-three wide out job this spring.

While Spring practice likely has Kelly searching for quarterbacks and Goodman’s background as a signal-caller may be intriguing, there’s no reason to panic and switch the Fort Wayne native to quarterback, unless the staff legitimately thinks that Goodman could play the role of mobile Cincinnati quarterback Zach Collaros.

That said, there are also examples of skill players making large contributions on the field while playing the role of number-two quarterback. The best example is Kansas Jayhawk Kerry Meier. Meier has averaged over 1,000 yards receiving the past two seasons and 8 touchdowns while also serving as the backup quarterback to Todd Reesing.

The smart thing for Kelly to do is get Crist as many reps -- mental or physical -- as possible, and fill in with warm bodies like Nate Montana, incoming freshman Tommy Rees, Goodman, and whatever walk-on quarterbacks are available. For the Irish to be successful, they’ll need Goodman to learn his position at wide receiver and cross-train as a quarterback. That might be putting a lot on Goodman’s shoulders, but from the sounds of it, Goodman is willing to do whatever it takes.