Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 43 balling and do what I've got to do — that's being the best in the country every time I've got to be out there. "I know I'm a championship quarterback, and that's something we're working on. Every day is another process for me in my growth and development, and I know I have to be in the best shape at all times to help this team win football games." While he admits he might be back to "square one" in the QB competition because of his in- jury setback last year and needs to improve the mental aspects of his game, Zaire will not concede a starting role, especially after the devastation he felt when his 2015 season pre- maturely ended. "I'm confident in my abilities and I know that I'm the most hardest working quarterback, I think, in the country," Zaire said. "For me to be traveling all these places that I did to get ready [in 2015] and for me to put so much ef- fort, and blood, sweat and tears into this team and not be able to get the prize at the end of the day, it was kind of hard for me to deal with at the moment." Zaire's leadership and passion for the game have been lauded by Kelly, especially with how engaged he remained daily with the team during his rehab. "This is what I do," said Zaire, shrugging off comments about his dedication. "This game means a lot to me and this team means a lot to me, and this is what I want to do for a long time. … I don't compete with people; I com- pete with myself to get better. I'm looking at being the best I can be all the time and looking to be the best quarterback in the country. "… Coach decides what he decides, and I stay focused believing I can get better and grow with my teammates. I know that my work ethic and my belief in the guys around me and my belief in what I want to do and what I want to accomplish will all fall into place." For Zaire, the spring has been mainly about catching up to an offense that was tailored to Kizer's strengths in 2015. "I have my own repertoire of different plays that I can go out there and do," Zaire said. "… I think that it would go a lot smoother if I was able to have the same mindset and be parallel with some of those. … Last year's team is different than this year's team, so getting ac- climated and adjusting to those guys, building chemistry not only with the tight ends and re- ceivers and running backs, but also the O-line." While Zaire has acknowledged that his rela- tionship with Golson could be frosty at times, there might be more of a bond with Kizer. "The good thing is that we had a relationship before all of this even transpired," Zaire said. "So I think that the starting position — I'm glad he's on the roster and I'm glad that we are in a position that we can both be better, and I think it's going to help the team in the end. "It's good to have that relationship with an- other guy. We talk a lot, but I think the most important thing is we always push each other to help our team win." "Our quarterbacks meeting room has one initiative, and that is to be a championship quarterback to represent everyone else in the room," Kizer said. If Kizer is indeed the starter, the minute, series, quarter, half or game he falters, the groundswell of support for the backup — al- most always the most intriguing or popular player among many fandoms — will ascend. It's no wonder that Kelly wants to take his time on making any formal announcement about the starter. "I'm going to have to make a judgment call," Kelly admitted. "I've never had in my en- tire career two quarterbacks that you could run the same system of offense with. At Cincin- nati, I had a 6-6 quarterback that was a pocket passer, and then I had a 5-10 quarterback who was more of a perimeter-run player. These two guys can do the same kind of things and run the same offense." Managing those personalities and not cre- ating internal turmoil within the team might be Kelly's top task. Naming the starter down the road will be both a relief and bittersweet because of their competitive natures. "I can't keep them both happy," Kelly ac- knowledged. "Somebody's going to be un- happy. I love them both. They both are com- mitted. They are both great competitors. But somebody's going to be unhappy." Nothing that consistent victories can't allay. ✦ "I can't keep them both happy. Somebody's going to be unhappy. I love them both. They both are committed. They are both great competitors. But somebody's going to be unhappy." HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON KIZER AND ZAIRE Split Decision Seeing that 2016 is an election year, our Rivals network website BlueandGold.com took a survey prior to Notre Dame's spring practice with the following question: Who starts at quarterback for Notre Dame in 2016? One week into spring drills, 667 different voters weighed in, and the results were astoundingly close. • 328, or 49.2 percent, chose senior Malik Zaire, who had only three starts to his name. • 326, or 48.9 percent, selected junior DeShone Kizer, who started the final 11 games of 2015 after Zaire suffered a season- ending injury. • 13 opted to go against the grain and pick sophomore Bran - don Wimbush, who head coach Brian Kelly plans to redshirt this season unless an emergency arises at the position like last season that forced No. 3 option Kizer into the lineup. As expected, Kelly did not name a starter at the conclu- sion of spring drills, although private opinion might hold that Kizer's productive sophomore season — including three fourth-quarter comeback wins and a fourth where he steered an 88-yard touchdown drive to take the lead at Stanford with 30 seconds left — would be too difficult to overlook to not make him the starter at Texas Sept. 4. Nevertheless, the uncertainty about the starting role perhaps was best reflected on newsstands this summer. Lindy's Sports placed Zaire on the cover of its regional edition, while Sporting News did the same with Kizer. We have no recollection in college football annals where two different quarterbacks from one football team had their own individual regional covers of national magazines. Meanwhile, in one of the oddest of odds — literally and figuratively — both Kizer and Zaire are at 22/1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy in 2016 by Silver State Sportsbooks. How could that not be a first in college football history? Nevada Sports Books was a little less on the fence, putting Kizer at 20/1 to win the Heisman and Zaire 25/1. Such odds might be better placed on one winning the start - ing spot — and finishing the year in that role as well. — Lou Somogyi