Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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were done. When signing day hap- pened, my wife and I said, 'Let's com- mit to being here and we're going.' This Notre Dame thing came out of nowhere. "When I first heard about it, I had a different reaction because it's Notre Dame. I think knowing that this place stands for something I want to be a part of: elite academics, the chance to explore from a spiritual standpoint, which is very important to me in my life, and also, this is the mecca of col- lege football." At the introduction of Sanford and three other Irish assistants March 2, Kelly indicated that Sanford's first pri- ority is to develop the signal-callers. "When you talk about bright, some- body that brings a lot of ideas, Mike Sanford [is that guy]," Kelly said. "When we were looking at bringing in the best and the brightest, we looked all over the country for that person that would fit into what we wanted to do offensively, coach the quarterback, somebody that could come in and co- ordinate the run and pass game to- gether. Mike Sanford was clearly a cut above everybody that we looked at." The question on the mind of every Irish fan this offseason centers on the quarterback position, and whether Ev- erett Golson and Malik Zaire — or per- haps both — will consistently figure into the team's 2015 plans. "The biggest thing right now is we're implementing our offensive schemes. I want those guys to go out there and be the best version of them- selves and let the chips fall where they may," Sanford offered. "... See how high your ceiling can be, and that's going to be our intent every day — to come out and be the best version of ourselves. Myself included." Sanford is eager to make an impact on one of the most important areas of the team at Notre Dame. "I really enjoyed getting to know the quarterback group," Sanford said. "That's one thing I take a lot of pride in. Coach Kelly mentioned in his press conference that my No. 1 job is to de- velop the quarterbacks. "That's one thing I really took away from this past year at Boise State is sometimes if you get too big picture in your thinking, sometimes you forget about the most important thing, and that's the premier position in all of sports is the quarterback." ✦ THE SANFORD FILE Year(s) School Position 2014 Boise State Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks 2013 Stanford Recruiting Coordinator/Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers 2012 Stanford Recruiting Coordinator/Running Backs 2011 Stanford Running Backs 2010 Western Kentucky Passing Game Coordinator/Quarterbacks 2009 Yale Recruiting Coordinator/Tight Ends/Fullbacks 2007-08 Stanford Offensive Assistant/Quarterbacks 2005-06 UNLV Offensive Graduate Assistant/Specialists/Asst. Quarterbacks