DeShone Kizer: From Holder to Irish Hero

Sep 19, 2015; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback DeShone Kizer (14) throws the ball against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the first quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Mistakes will happen, but it is how DeShone Kizer responds to them that he truly shines and rises above the competition.

At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds, Kizer has the big frame to go along with his big arm. Kelly pointed out that he was recruited to Notre Dame because of that skill. Even with a clutch and impressive performance against Virginia, Kizer became a first-time starter against highly ranked Georgia Tech.

“It’s kind of one of those things where we can’t handcuff him and baby him,” Kelly said during his press conference. “We’ve got to let him play. What I like about him the most is he’s very confident. He’s got very good poise and leadership skills. He can go out there, and we really don’t have to worry about him with kind of that deer in the headlights look to him. He’s going to go out there being very confident.”

Notre Dame’s redshirt sophomore quarterback led the team inside the 10-yard line where he exposed his inexperience. Kizer misread Georgia Tech’s coverage on Corey Robinson and floated his pass into double coverage. Cornerback D.J White Intercepted it, which was the Irish’s first turnover since last season’s finale against USC. The turnover led to a game-tying touchdown by Patrick Skov when he dove into the end zone.

BUT… Instead of pouting and dwelling on the poor mistake, Kizer had a short memory and put Notre Dame on his shoulders. He led the Irish on a scoring drive that gave the momentum back to Notre Dame. Kizer didn’t have any more turnovers for the rest of the game as the Irish went on to a 30-22 win over a top-15 team.

“Completely flush it,” Kizer said of his post-pick approach. “Honestly we went out there, we had another set of plays we needed to get out there. … We came back out and completely forgot about what happened and moved forward.”

DeShone Kizer has made mistakes, against both Virginia and Georgia Tech. Those mistakes will not show up in the box score. It’s bound to happen, right? He will learn from them as he did in both those games. The mistakes will constantly need to be fixed for Notre Dame’s offense to reach its ceiling with Kizer as its quarterback.

This is what Brian Kelly told NBC Sports about his new starting quarterback:

"“What I liked about him is he immediately takes ownership,” coach Kelly said. “He’s not a guy that’s looking to say, ‘Well, it’s his fault, or, I didn’t know this.’ He clearly knew they bracketed him. He got duped. We saw the press on Corey, his eyes got big, on the goal line, I’m throwing that one up there. It was a pre-snap, postsnap decision. He didn’t take his time to see that they bracketed him.”"

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