There are a ton of good questions to get to so this will roll out in multiple parts. Many thanks for the thoughtful work. (And some nice examples of brevity.)
First, let’s take a look at everybody’s favorite player on a football team: The backup quarterback.
finishthefight1986: Do you think it will be worthwhile to provide Kizer with intermittent opportunities this year considering, as you have mentioned in another write-up, Zaire has issues with the intermediate routes?
bettis646: Will Kizer get meaningful reps in blowouts? By meaningful I don’t mean hand the dang ball to a running back until the clock expires.
This is a good question, and I wonder how Kelly will look at it. Yes, I think it’s important to get Kizer experience. Though not because Zaire sometimes struggles with intermediate routes. Establishing your backup quarterback on your terms is always better than on somebody else’s.
But last year, we talked about the same thing, and it’s pretty clear that Brian Kelly thought the game reps were better served in Golson’s hands, especially after a year away from the team. I’ve got to think he’ll view his time with Zaire the same way.
If Notre Dame is legitimately blowing someone out in the first six or seven weeks of the season, that’s a very good thing. So if that means a handful of snaps for Kizer, great. I’m all for it, and was on the record saying I thought Zaire should’ve gotten a series in the first half against Rice.
Worth noting — I actually think it’s helpful that Kizer is the holder this year. He gets a chance to get on the field and handle the football in pressure situations. No, it’s not quarterbacking. But it’s better than nothing.
liv4nd: All those injuries to the defense last year cost us 4 out of the 5 losses. Could 2014 be a blessing in disguise? Now we are set up with upperclassmen that are healthy and sophomores behind them with REAL experience. Thoughts?
This is certainly the way an optimist would view things, and I think it’s probably better to have played football than to have not played. But it’s interesting, someone posed a question like this to Mike Elston on Media Day, and he didn’t necessarily think that the guys who were out there got a ton out of being out there and getting handled.
I received a Twitter question from @01Dhish asking about Greer Martini and Nyles Morgan that essentially was the same thing, and those are the two players that Elston referenced when discussing the “is all experience good experience?” question. And both of those guys look at the film from last year like they’re looking at some embarrassing home video.
(For the record, I think —as does Elston—that both of those guys will be key players for the Irish in the future. In 2015? More likely to be complementary parts.)
I think the fact that Notre Dame has depth at multiple levels of the defense is a good thing. I also think that when someone goes down that the person behind them at least has a concept of what the Irish are trying to do on defense is a good thing, too. That hasn’t always been the case and the experience gained in November can’t hurt.
4horsemenrideagain: Why is BK being cagey about who will be calling the plays? Sre we to believe that BK still doesn’t know the answer to this question, and if BK really doesn’t know, isn’t this sort of scary at this late date?
I don’t think he’s really being all that cagey. I think he’s calling the plays, and he’s open to changing that decision down the line if he thinks it’ll help.
Kelly revealed that Mike Sanford will be upstairs, and I actually think that makes a ton of sense. Kelly has and will continue to be the QB coach on game day. So it’s not realistic to think that Sanford is going to be chatting it up with Zaire when the head coach has been doing that from day one.
I also think it’s really helpful from a schematic perspective to have Sanford upstairs. He’s is a great offensive thinker and he’ll have a direct line to Kelly about what he sees and what things look like from up top.
Lastly, I think most of us put too much emphasis on who calls the play. I think the process of scripting a game plan is far more important than who calls the play on Saturday. When the game plan is developed, all three guys will have a strong say in “setting the menu,” essentially putting calls onto the playsheet that they think will work best against that opponent.
Yesterday, Montana’s Bob Stitt got his first true close-up when the general college football world saw his Montana team beat four-time defending FCS national champ North Dakota State. For all the talk of “genius,” Stitt went for it—and failed—three times on 4th down, including one last in the first half that put points on the board for NDSU. He also ran a few jet sweeps in short yardage situations (among some other crazy play calls) that would’ve had Notre Dame fans losing their minds.
#Still happened. And weirdly enough, it looks a lot like how Brian Kelly calls a game.
