College football is coming and it is coming soon. We are almost less than three months away from the season opening game between California and Hawaii, which will be played in Australia. And since it is so close to the college football season let’s make a top ten list of the best returning quarterbacks in the nation.
And at number 10 on my list we have…
#10- Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer- At 6’4″, 230 pounds, DeShone Kizer is the only quarterback featured on my list that is in a quarterback competition. He will have to beat out Malik Zaire for the starting quarterback spot but I believe he will be the week one starter over Zaire. That is the only reason why he is only 10 on my list. If he was not in a quarterback competition he might be multiple spots higher on my list. Kizer’s ability to make pass through the air and on the ground is why he is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. And with his amazing talent comes, a kid who shows great poise and decision making ability. When he took over for Zaire he took Notre Dame to an 8-3 record and helped them make a Fiesta Bowl appearance. He ended his 2015 campaign with 2884 passing yards, 21 passing touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. On the ground, he rushed for 520 yards and 10 touchdowns.
His top three games last year, in no particular order, were against Virginia, Clemson, and Temple. All of those games on the road. The Virginia game was the one that Kizer came off the bench to fill in for a hurt Zaire. On the last drive of the game, Kizer hooked up with wide receiver Will Fuller for a game-winning 40 yard touchdown pass. In the Clemson game, the Irish lost, but it was Kizer’s coming out party. On a night game in Death Valley, S.C., he threw for 321 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 for 34 passing. There were only two QB’s last year to throw for more than 300 yards and at least only one interceptions against Clemson’s great defense; he was one of them. The other was Jacob Coker of Alabama. Against a pretty good Temple defense he had his highest adjusted QBR, 92.2. Kizer is one of the of the best QB’s in the nation and at Temple he made the defense look bad. He threw for 299 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns. He can and will put his impact on every game he starts next year. If he starts all of the games, he will easily have Notre Dame in the mix for a College Football Playoff spot. And just maybe a trip to the Big Apple in early December.
With DeShone Kizer at QB for the Irish, at the most I can only see the Irish losing two games. One being there October 15th bout against rival Stanford in South Bend and the other is their season finale against Southern Cal on November 26th. They will have a tough time with Texas in the season opener and Miami later in the season but I think they can pull out a win against both of those teams. I really see Notre Dame winning all but one regular season game and that will be because of the arm and feet of DeShone Kizer.