Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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spiral the rest of the year. Kizer filled in admirably for Zaire by keeping the Irish in College Foot- ball Playoff contention until the 38-36 loss at Stanford Nov. 28. "I really believe we can say that all we have right now is this game, and we do," Sanford said. "That's the most important thing. At the end of the day, both of those guys are out there and both are in meetings. This is an ongoing relationship between all of us, the quarterbacks, the coaches, Coach [Brian] Kelly. Everything we do, I want them to conduct themselves in a way that would be worthy of being the quarterback. It's an ongoing competition. "It's a competition you look forward to — at the end of the day we're going to be very competitive, but we're not going to be combative. It's something I say a lot. That's the culture we have in that room right now. Those guys care deeply about each other and that's real. That's not just press conference fodder. These guys really care about each other." In late December, Kelly praised Zaire for not missing a single meeting, keeping a presence in the practices and maintaining a positive outlook despite being unable to play because of the injury. "Now he's full gear, taking one-on-one reps and throwing the foot- ball," said Kelly in the early part of December when the team began its preparations for the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. "He's probably 60 percent. He can't load on his ankle right now, but he's out there still throwing the football. Pretty amazing young man." Unlike some schools that will enter the spring with questions at quarterback with multiple unknowns at the position, the Irish will carry two players with starting experience. "It's an exciting competition," Sanford said. "Just from the standpoint that you know both guys have been there in the battle and you know both guys have been through the adversity of struggling. You don't have to concern yourself with that component of the unknown. You actually have some background information to make a good decision based off of. "Then really it comes down to the purity of competition and statistically analyzing everything they do. The big thing for us is always going to be red-zone efficiency, third-down efficiency, drive efficiency and charting those in competitive situations throughout the course of spring and fall camp." Notre Dame's bowl opponent, Ohio State, had three viable starting options at quarterback during the spring before Braxton Miller moved to receiver. Then, Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett remained in a battle for most of the season. Jones led the Buckeyes to wins in the Big Ten Championship Game and both College Football Playoff games last season as Barrett's replacement. Many things can occur in the heat of quarterback competition. Last spring incumbent Everett Golson opted to use his fifth season at Florida State. "You can't predict what's going to happen there," Kizer said of Notre Dame's upcoming spring competi- tion. "It's going to be wild. You have a really good quarterback who goes down and comes back ready to go. "You have a freshman who's developed more than any freshman in the country probably, with Brandon, and a guy who's returning. I can't tell you that I know what's gong to happen, but I'm so focused on this game that to get into that would be a little silly at this time." — Andrew Owens UNDER THE DOME Head coach Brian Kelly lauded junior quarterback Malik Zaire for not missing a single meet- ing while unable to play due to the season-ending ankle injury he suffered at Virginia Sept. 12. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND