Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE W hen a big-time college football player gets the rare chance to leave campus during a season and go home for a weekend, their high school and community will always roll out the red carpet, while their immedi- ate family often rolls out the wheelbar- row. Such was the "welcome back" two weeks ago for sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer after he returned home to Toledo, Ohio, for fall break from classes and a bye week from football. He was handed a rake and a shovel, and told to get busy. "My parents were doing a big con- struction project," Kizer said. "I was working from 8 a.m. until about 2 p.m. out back, whether it was raking things, or putting up a fence, or whatever it was." The life of a big-shot Notre Dame quarterback, right? Now, before we portray Kizer 's weekend in Toledo as just another col- lege kid hauling dirty laundry and an empty wallet back to his parents' place, it's worth mentioning that a Showtime camera crew was in tow to document his homecoming weekend. But even with the added attention of television reality, Kizer's dose of family reality couldn't have come at a better time. "He was running on fumes," is how Irish head coach Brian Kelly described his rookie starter 's situation heading into the bye week, and understand- ably so. The intense demands asked of any Notre Dame quarterback need no ex- planation. And given Kizer's quick as- cent and unlikely circumstances going Family Helps Keep DeShone Kizer Grounded When Kiser returned home to Toledo, Ohio, during Notre Dame's bye week, his parents gave him a rake and a shovel, and put him to work. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA