Notre Dame Football: Who will win starting QB job?
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are one of America’s most popular teams. Now one of their most intriguing prospects is starting to receive some hype.
Who will be the starting quarterback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish? That is not a question often asked at South Bend, but Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer will battle it out for the starting quarterback job at Notre Dame next month when fall camp commences.
Regardless of who wins the competition, both players were recognized by being elected to the Maxwell Award watch list. They became the only pair of quarterbacks from the same school to make this year’s list.
Unfortunately last season, Notre Dame had to fight off the injury bug, Notre Dame had 18 players miss games this past season. Not including the best player on last year’s team, linebacker Jaylon Smith, in the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl.
The tale of the 2015 season was perseverance and the tale of the 2016 season is redemption. Well, that’s the case for Zaire who was lost for the year in Week 2 of last season after he suffered a broken ankle.
Which opened up the doorway for redshirt freshman Kizer, who looked like a seasoned pro at times last season. Which leads us to the most intriguing college football quarterback dual of 2016.
Two Ohio born and raised prospects who are both vying for college supremacy, one of the most coveted positions in sports, the starting quarterback job at Notre Dame. Zaire was supposed to be the guy before he broke his right ankle.
Kizer had a spectacular season under center, posting a 150.1 QBR with over 2,800 yards through the air and a 21-to-10 interception ratio. He also added another 500 yards and 10 scores on the ground.
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There is no doubt that both of these players are immensely talented and deserve to be the guy. But only one of them can be the starting quarterback, so who is it going to be, Zaire or Kizer?
It should be Zaire, he was the starter going into last season, he beat out Kizer fair and square. Despite the fact that Kizer did have success last season, going 8-3 as a starter for the Irish.
File this nugget away Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has not ruled out the idea of both QBs getting snaps according to Travis Haney of ESPN.com
While the history of utilizing multiple quarterbacks has heralded uneven results, Kelly would be better served to let them battle it out and picking the best guy. While according to Haney, it appears that Kizer has the early lead because of Zaire’s recovery from a broken ankle and the fact that Kizer had an incredible amount of success last season.
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While Kizer may have the edge early on, Zaire is going to win the quarterback job for the second straight year because of his talent, his leadership, and his desire to be great. Kelly does, in fact, have an embarrassment of riches and with that, he has one of the best problems in college football.