Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly wants you to know one thing about his team’s quarterback for the 2016, DeShone Kizer; He sucks.
That’s pretty much the only way to take Kelly’s recent comments to NFL Radio when he was asked to sum up Kizer’s prospects as a professional quarterback.
“He (Kizer) has got to be able to have that attention to detail and that focus,” Kelly said. “He’s got to be smart. He’s got to have the ability to grind and a great attitude. He’s got those traits, but they’ve got to be continuously worked on. Whoever takes DeShone, he’s not a finished product in those areas. But when he does get more time to work on those traits, you’re got to have a great young man and a great quarterback. The skills are out there. You can see them. You just go to his workout and you can see that he’s got those skills. He’s just not complete yet.”
Now, here’s the thing about Kelly tossing Kizer under the bus, driving over him, then hitting reverse and driving over him again; he’s not wrong. His assessment of Kizer’s NFL readiness matches my own, to wit, he’s not ready at all and if pressed as an early starter will absolutely bust right out of the league in three or four years.
But Kelly shouldn’t be publicly saying shit like that. That’s not his job as his former college football coach. Kelly’s job is to sell the NFL on Kizer, because a kid commits and plays for a college program with that expectation. He puts his body on the line with hopes to get to the NFL and that the coach will help put him there. Kelly, in one interview, just shit all over that trust, all because he’s a pissy little bitch.
“Well, he still should be in college,” Kelly said. “The circumstances are such that you have to make business decisions and he felt like it was in his best interest. I’m going to support him and his decision. But the reality of it is he needs more football, he needs more time to grow in so many areas. Not just on the field, but off the field.”
That doesn’t sound like support to me. It sounds like an asshole taking one last dig at a kid before he walks out the door. If Kizer does make it in the NFL, I wouldn’t be shocked to hear him introduce himself using his high school, Toledo Central, than Notre Dame on Sunday and Monday Night Football. Kelly is petulant bastard and if I was a kid looking at going to Notre Dame, after see this shit I’d rethink that real quick.
With a coach like that, is it any wonder Kizer wants to jet out of school early? Hell, not only did Kelly not name Kizer the starter at the beginning of the season, making him split the Irish’s opening game with Malik Zaire, he threatened to bench him later in the season too.
As far as I can tell, the Notre Dame head coach needs to improve his “off-the-field” performance too. There’s a reason this team went 4-8 this year with the same talent that went 10-3 the year before.
Other news
Former Buffalo Bills inside linebacker Zach Brown has signed a one-year contract worth $4.65 million with the Washington Redskins. Last year Brown had 149 tackles, four sacks, one pick, for passes defended and two forced fumbles.
The Green Bay Packers signed free agent defensive tackle and reclamation project Ego Ferguson. Ferguson was a second round pick of the Chicago Bears back in 2014, but hasn’t played a down of NFL football for the last year and a half due to injuries.
The Miami Dolphins waived former No. 3 overall pick Dion Jordan over the weekend. The all-time buster failed a physical and was not claimed by any other team. He’s now a free agent.
The Minnesota Vikings signed former Los Angels Rams quarterback and Jeff Fisher lovechild Case Keenum. Keenum got a one-year, $2 million contract. He went 4-5 as a starter last season, completing 60.9 percent of his passes for 2,201 yards, nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
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