Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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46 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2015 FOOTBALL PREVIEW QUARTERBACKS first, from a mental standpoint and from a fundamental and physical standpoint, obviously the sky is the limit with his abilities as a runner and what he can do outside of the pocket." While Zaire is the clear starter at quarterback, that wasn't necessar‑ ily always going to be the case, even after Golson left. In early June, Kelly admitted that he toyed with the idea of replacing Golson with a graduate transfer under center that would have been immediately eligible, but ultimately decided against it. "There were definitely conversations about it," Kelly said. "We had some guys that we had targeted that we had looked at. "But as we moved forward, we looked at some future players that we had and were recruiting, and we didn't want to crowd the space for them. That, ultimately, made our decision as to how we were go‑ ing to move forward with the quarterback position." Sanford will be the third different quarterback coach Zaire has encountered in his three seasons with the Irish. Matt LaFleur coached the group last season prior to accepting a job with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. In 2013, Chuck Martin had the position while also serving as offensive coordinator. He is now the head coach at Miami (Ohio). When Kelly added Sanford to the staff prior to spring ball, he emphasized that Sanford's No. 1 priority in his new gig is to develop the quarterbacks. There's time, he said, to learn the playbook and get acquainted with Notre Dame's offensive style, but grooming the signal‑callers for success is the foremost job description. "I really enjoyed getting to know the quarterback group," Sanford said. "That's one thing I take a lot of pride in. Coach Kelly mentioned in his press conference that my No. 1 job is to develop the quarter‑ backs. That's one thing I really took away from this past year at Boise State is sometimes if you get too big picture in your thinking, sometimes you forget about the most important thing and that's the premier position in all of sports is the quarterback." Sanford likely doesn't mind the lack of a quarterback drama over the summer. Although he cited a previous coaching stop — Stanford in 2012 — that made use of two quarterbacks, he remembered fight‑ ing for a starting job himself at Boise State in 2004 before eventually serving as the backup. He quipped that he didn't know whether he would start until the starting lineups were announced before the season opener, and that he wouldn't want to handle it like that as a coach. Notre Dame fans no doubt remember the disastrous handling of the quarterback competition in 2007 leading up to the season‑opening 33‑3 loss to Georgia Tech in which head coach Charlie Weis did not announce a starter (Demetrius Jones) until hours before the game. There's no chance of that happening at Notre Dame this year. It's all on Zaire — sink or swim. ✦ QUICK FACTS Position Coach: Mike Sanford (1st year at Notre Dame) Returning Starter: None Departing Starter: Everett Golson (23 career starts) Projected New Starter: Malik Zaire (1) Top Reserve: DeShone Kizer Waiting His Turn: Brandon Wimbush Newcomers: Wimbush Moved In: None Moved Out: None Other Departures: None FYI: Wimbush enters Notre Dame ranked as the No. 4 quarterback in the nation, according to Rivals … VanGorder is the son of Irish defensive coordinator Brian Van- Gorder … Zaire became the first left-handed quarterback in Irish history to start a game when he directed a 31-28 win over LSU in the Music City Bowl Dec. 30 … Notre Dame's 30 passing touchdowns in 2014 (29 by Golson and one by Zaire) matched the 2009 output and trailed only 2005 (32) and 2006 (37) among the last 11 seasons … Quarterback guru George Whitfield's tutoring of Golson was well publicized, but Zaire has also crossed paths with him in the past. In 2012, Zaire benefited from Whitfield's tutelage at the Elite 11 camp. New quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Mike Sanford is considered to be one of the brightest young minds in college football. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND BY THE NUMBERS 1 Combined returning start by Notre Dame's group of quarterbacks, the fewest since Dayne Crist, Tommy Rees and Nate Montana entered 2010, head coach Brian Kelly's first season at Notre Dame, with zero prior starts. 1 The number of times one player has started every single game in a season for the Irish at quarterback under Kelly. Rees started all 13 contests in 2013. The next closest, Everett Golson in 2014, started 12 of 13. 40-1 The odds, according to Bovada, that Malik Zaire will win the Heisman Trophy in 2015. His former teammate and expected Florida State starter Everett Golson is listed at 20-1. Year TD 2005 1 2006 2 2007 2 2008 0 2009 3 Year TD 2010 4 2011 1 2012 7 2013 1 2014 10 YEAR-BY-YEAR RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS BY ND QUARTERBACKS