Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ist type of mentality, is what makes him Peyton Manning and what makes him not share time with other people. That's something that's inspiring for every quarterback to look at because it's something important. Every day you have to bring it. "I don't get paid to make the deci‑ sions — I wish I did — but I just do what I'm supposed to do and however it plays out, it plays out. I just have to make the most of my opportunities and then just go from there." As for Golson's thoughts, there weren't any because he declined to do any interviews this spring. While Zaire's strides continue to be promising, Sanford said the brakes have to be tapped at times with him. "It's a double‑edged sword because if he makes a ton of progress, then he believes he's the offensive coordina‑ tor or play caller at the line of scrim‑ mage," Sanford said. "We want him to be a great quarterback — get us out of danger problems; when there's an overload pressure, get us the right protection; get us the right concept. But you're not the play caller. "We don't want him to make too much progress in that area because then ultimately he feels like he's the play caller at the line of scrimmage, and we don't want to give him full autonomy — or really any quarterback full autonomy. We want them to play within the structure of our offense and trust that the play calling is going to put them in good situations. "And then, knowing what the trou‑ ble is we need to get out of, just keep it very simple." MAKING THE PLAY CALLS Contrary to some early popular be‑ lief on the outside of Notre Dame's football walls that Sanford was go‑ ing to revolutionize the Irish offense, his foremost objective is to improve his quarterbacks individually in their fundamentals. Last year 's offensive coordinator, Golson spent the spring working on his pocket presence, while Zaire focused on fundamentals and game management. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA