Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/388723
UNDER THE DOME Following the start se- nior quarterback Everett Golson had the first three games this year — which already earned him no- tice as a top-five Heisman Trophy candidate — it's hard to believe the Notre Dame QB competition was considered "open" by head coach Brian Kelly entering August camp. Golson's backup, soph- omore Malik Zaire, some- times still considers that it should be. "Quite frankly, it's hard for a No. 2," Kelly said a couple of weeks into Sep- tember when asked about Zaire's demeanor. "He's got four seasons of eligi- bility, and he's sitting be- hind Everett Golson. He's not coming in to practice every day with a big smile on his face, going 'Boy, this is great sitting behind Everett.'" After redshirting last season to give him at least a two-year window to start in 2016-17, a seri- ous Zaire told reporters that he planned to be the starter against Rice in the 2014 opener, despite Gol- son's history of helping the Irish advance to the 2012 BCS National Cham- pionship Game. A sensational spring game in which Zaire out- shined Golson — com- pleting 15 of 19 passes for 259 yards in the first half alone — kept the quarter- back competition "open" entering August, but by the second week of prac- tice, Kelly named Golson the starter. "I got the right answer from Malik — he wasn't happy," Kelly said at the time of Zaire's reaction. "If he gave me a hug, I'd be very disappointed. … He's going to keep work- ing to be the starter." Zaire made his debut late in the 48-17 rout of Rice, and his first play was a 56-yard scamper off the zone read, where he is more natural than Gol- son, to set up sophomore tailback Greg Bryant's touchdown run a couple of plays later. "We're trying to teach him every day, give him opportunities to grow ev- ery single day," Kelly said of Zaire. "He's getting 40 percent of the reps. … In the NFL he'd be getting about 15 percent of the reps. We're really giving him a big chunk. We want to make sure that we con- tinue to develop him be- cause we think so much of Malik." Kelly admits it hasn't been easy to keep the stout 6-0, 210-pound Zaire engaged, but he does point to history. His 2008 BCS team at Cincin- nati had to use four differ- ent starters at quarterback at one point because of in- juries. The 12-0 Bearcats in 2009 needed Zach Collaros to start several games when starter Tony Pike was injured. At Notre Dame, fresh- man Tommy Rees had to replace starter Dayne Crist over the final five games of 2010 when Crist MALIK ZAIRE BIDES HIS TIME AT QUARTERBACK Zaire, a sophomore, remains eager to see action under center despite an excellent start by senior starter Everett Golson. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA