Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 45 QUARTERBACKS gomery VanGorder led the game-clinching touchdown drive — re- inforced why Kelly didn't want to commit to naming either junior incumbent Kizer or the senior Zaire as the definitive starter. On Zaire's first four possessions against a Blue defense that featured a stronger overall unit than the Gold defense Kizer faced, Zaire was 1-of-5 passing for 11 yards, and three of the four series were three-and-outs. Whereas Kizer appeared a little smoother and consistent after start- ing the final 11 games in 2015 — plus throwing the clutch game-win- ning touchdown in the closing seconds at Virginia while replacing the injured Zaire — the southpaw was a little more wild with his passes and not as sharp with his runs, carrying three times for four yards. And then in series five for Zaire, while backed up at his own 8-yard line, it happened: • He launched a perfectly placed 50-yard rocket that traveled about 60 yards in the air on which cornerback Nick Coleman had textbook coverage, but senior wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr. made the one- handed snag at the only spot where the ball was catchable. • Two plays later, Zaire outdid the pass to Hunter with a marvelous in- dividual effort. On third-and-nine, from the defense's 41, Zaire appeared dead in his tracks on a blind-side blitz from line- backer Asmar Bilal — only to do a quick, reverse pirouette to his right to evade him. While still under heavy duress and rolling to his right, Zaire patiently waited until the final second to deliver a 28-yard strike down the field to a well-covered Justin Brent. • On the ensuing play on the zone read, Zaire started to his left, and then made a quick cutback to the middle and to his right to race for a 13-yard touchdown. "What he did today … my mouth dropped," none other than Kizer said of that series after the game. "I don't wish anything bad upon him. I'm enjoying it just like you guys are enjoying it. He's an amazing athlete." That 92-yard drive by Zaire in the second quar- ter knotted the game at 7-7 — symbolic of the dead heat, perceived or otherwise, between the two quarterbacks. Alas, there would be only one more series, not that either was going to procure a final deci- sion from Kelly on who ultimately would be the starter come September. Kizer answered Zaire's score by marching his Blue team 65 yards with three completions, high- lighted by a perfectly placed 13-yard outside route to freshman Kevin Stepherson on fourth-and-eight from the defense's 38. Yet it had to settle for a 22-yard John Chereson field goal with 27 seconds left until halftime for a 10-7 lead. Finishing with a field goal instead of a touchdown was a bit of negative residue left over from 2015. In last year's losses to Clemson and Stanford, the opposition scored touchdowns on seven of its eight red-zone possessions (and got a field goal on the eighth), while Notre Dame tallied only three touchdowns on seven chances (once coming up totally empty handed), which proved crucial in the two-point setbacks. "We'll have to spend a lot of time in the red zone," Kelly said of Kizer after the spring finale. "Just little things like that, we've got to continue to grow in the red zone with him and come up with some touchdowns instead of field goals." After heating up on the fifth series, Zaire completed a couple of more impressive tosses before time expired in the first half. "I wish we had more drives," lamented Zaire about both quarterbacks sitting the second half while he was just beginning to get warmed up. That prompts an oft-asked question: Why not utilize both quar- terbacks? Why doesn't Kelly do what he did in the 2014 Music City Bowl when his Irish upset LSU, 31-28? In that contest, he started Zaire, who rushed for a team-high 96 yards and also passed for 96, but also inserted Golson in passing situations, completing 6 of 11 for 90 yards, including directing the game-winning march. For his part, Kelly would rather not follow that template. Unlike running back or receiver, QB is not a "rotational" position. It's also not about maintaining "fresh legs," like so many other positions, or giving a premeditated 50 snaps to one player and maybe 25 to another. The Music City Bowl was considered an aberration because it could be implemented for a specific game — with not another one to be played until nine months later — but to do it for the duration of a season can be polarizing. "We're going to have an identity as to who we are, and it doesn't mean we can't play more than one quarterback," Kelly said. "But we'll have a quarterback and we'll get that established." Ohio State's chemistry on offense last year didn't mesh most of the first two months while it was trying to utilize the skill sets of both Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett, and that cost it a chance to play for the national title in a 17-14 loss at home to Michigan State. "It seemed to me that Ohio State found their identity after the Michigan State game, where I think in a lot of ways [running back] Ezekiel Elliott can be credited with waking up their entire coach- ing staff and saying, 'Who are we?'" Kelly said. "So I think the lessons learned there are, 'What's your identity going to be?' And they clearly de- cided who they were going to be after that game. "They went with [J.T. Barrett] and said, 'This is what we're going to be,' and that's who they were against us [in the Fiesta Bowl]. So I'll make sure that doesn't happen to us." Alabama legend Paul "Bear" Bryant had amazing success with two-quarterback systems during the 1970s, but not everybody is The Bear. Well, what about Chris Leak and Tim Tebow doing some rotational work during Florida's 2006 run to the national title under another coaching titan, Urban Meyer? Leak was "the passer" with 2,942 yards through the air and 23 scores, while Tebow was inserted as "the runner" in short-yardage situations, finishing second in rushing with 469 yards, 5.3 yards per carry and scoring a team-high eight touchdowns (Tebow also completed 22 of 33 passes for 358 yards with five scores that year). That is not quite comparable to Notre Dame's situation, however. Leak was an established senior in the program with a specific skill set. Tebow Notre Dame offensive coordinator and quar- terbacks coach Mike Sanford is confident that regardless of whoever wins the starting job, the Irish will get championship-caliber play under center. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND "[The competition] has played out very similarly to what I would expect. Ebbs and flows. They're athletes and they are going to have their good days and days where you level off. … You just never know how it's going to go. Somebody can really not be up to the challenge of competing, but based off what we know about DeShone [Kizer], Malik and Brandon they don't have any wince in them when they think about competing." OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR AND QUARTERBACKS COACH MIKE SANFORD DURING THE SPRING