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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 16, 2015Nick MartinDeShone KizerSouth Bend, Indiana Q. Nick, when you have a quarterback starting for the first time when you switch quarterbacks and so forth, do you as a center try to take more on in terms of protection calls and things of that nature? NICK MARTIN: First of all, DeShone is very intelligent. His football IQ is high. He knows the protection we're going to be in for the most part. So I wouldn't say I'm changing protection because he has to know where he's protecting and where he's not. Q. As far as anything physically even physical things a little bit as height difference with him being almost of 6'5", is that something you have to be cognizant of, the little physical differences and ways he likes to run the ball and things of that nature? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, a little bit. You've got to get the snap up a little bit higher in his hands, but also it comes with an advantage because he can see over the line a little bit easier with his vision. Q. What have you seen from him maybe from a mental and emotional standpoint as he's gone through practice this week? NICK MARTIN: Well, he's definitely ready to step up, there is no doubt about it, and he's preparing. He's going to be very prepared for this game and all the games to come. There is no doubt about that. Q. Will said after the game he was almost kind of shocked how poised DeShone was in the huddle when he had sensed that same kind of calmness and confidence from him? NICK MARTIN: Absolutely. He was thrown in and probably the toughest situation he could have been thrown in and he handled it unbelievably. Q. Why was that important for him to have that poise to kind of keep the offense together? NICK MARTIN: Even as a young player when you're a quarterback people look at you. You come in with that poise in that situation, it calms down the whole, not just the offense, but the whole team. Q. Do you expect that from him? NICK MARTIN: I did. We've seen him practice and I think it's obvious. Q. Someone told me on the sideline that after Virginia scored late and it was kind of on the offense to win the game you kind of let out a little bit of like a grin or a smile. How much do you relish the opportunity to go out there and win it when it's really like on your shoulders? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, we love it, and that's why we play the game. The amount this team and really any team puts in, it's a year-long sport, winter, summer, spring, that's what you work for are those moments and those situations, a fourth quarter game. And when we all put the team on our back and go down and win in the last second, I tell you, that's when emotions fly and it's fun. Q. You also kind of talked about Malik and just how he operates in the huddle. How is DeShone kind of different, and have you had to kind of adapt to that at all? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, it's a little bit different, but the one thing that DeShone does well, which Malik did a good job of it, his voice. Just the consistent and how loud his voice is and it's commanding and that's huge. Q. Following up on that, Coach the other day said that DeShone is positive and enthusiastic, but how is he as a quarterback? How does he lead? NICK MARTIN: Not enthusiastic yet, but every play he's focused I would say more so. Because you're not going to get that vocal enthusiastic, always positive, not saying he's not positive, but the focus, you can see it in his eyes. He's ready for every play. It's going through his head like the progression and what he needs to do. Q. With Malik out, is someone else stepping up and becoming that voice for the offense or someone filling in that void? NICK MARTIN: I think this year this team has so many leaders that you don't really necessarily see one guy step up and take that spot or replace it, but just the leaders come out and have always been there. Q. Obviously you had confidence in DeShone when he went in, but when he makes the play he did to Will, how much more does that reassure that confidence when you guys saw that? NICK MARTIN: It does, and that's exactly what it does. It's also good for him personally to be in that situation to know that he can do it and prove that he can. Q. And Will, what can you say about a guy like him and how he's able to help you guys with his ability? NICK MARTIN: He's an unbelievable player, receiver. When I saw the ball in the air, I looked over and saw No. 7 running after him, and I knew right then it was going to be a touchdown. And to have that confidence in a player to know that he has that ability, he has confidence in everyone in your offense. Q. How much do you like to block for a guy like C.J. Prosise? NICK MARTIN: Oh, it's fun. It's why you play the game. When five guys are on their blocks and on their man, and you see him spit out and break a few, get a few guards after he's hit it, it's just fun. Q. Is it a mentality thing, a physical thing with C.J. Prosise that makes him adapt and be so special back there so quickly? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, I mean, I guess so. It's hard to explain. He's a natural football player, unbelievable vision, and he works really hard. Q. This weekend, two top 15 teams going at it inside their own stadium. How much fun is a game like that for you guys when you know it's such a big game? NICK MARTIN: Atmosphere here is always unbelievable. Obviously when you have two top 15 teams, it's going to be (No microphone). That's why football's fun. Q. The offensive line has dominated up front to the point of 5.5 yards a carry, but short yardage has been an issue. Is it something that you guys have been able to pinpoint? Is it probably something we don't know? Are there different factors going into each situation, but I think it's 1 for 8 on 3rd and 4, other than that you've been blowing people off the ball? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, absolutely. As an offensive line we talk about where to find the obvious run and the obvious pass. And plain and simple we haven't been good enough in that situation. Good thing is every week's new, every week's different. You can't dwell in the past, you can only learn from it and move on from there. Q. Is there something you need to harp on this week, or is it these are the things we did well and what we did poorly? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, it goes back to what we feel like back to basics. In those situations, if you do the fundamentals and the basics correctly, you're going to have success. Q. Nick, how important is it to stay steady? First week it seemed like you guys were invincible. (No microphone)? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, absolutely. You've got to take it week by week. You can't look to the past, you can't look to the future. You know, college football, really you've just got to be the best team that day and be the best team in the country. You can't think about it, you just have to prepare and try to get a little better each day. Q. Do you feel doubters? Is this a week that maybe gives you a little bit more (No microphone)? NICK MARTIN: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's one thing this team does really well is stay together and play for each other, and that's huge. When you know the guy to the right and left is playing for you and not for himself or for others, it's huge. DeSHONE KIZER Q. DeShone, have you had a chance to talk to Malik maybe in the past few days as he's been recovering? If so, maybe something you could share from those conversations? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, I was over at St. Liam's to see him on Monday, and it's kind of hard not to talk too much football. That's the last thing that's on his mind right now as he's trying to recover. But at that time he was getting back to himself. He was being the same goofy, loving, caring outgoing guy he's always been. Only slight comments he's talked about is, "It's time for you to ball." That's all he kept saying, to get my mind off the extra stuff and just ball out as much as I can. Q. How much has your life changed from spring when you were 13, not getting a lot of reps, going through some personal stuff, to now all of a sudden being a starting quarterback at Notre Dame? DeSHONE KIZER: Obviously, it's changed quite a bit. There's been a lot of attention that's been going my way in the last few days. But I've made it a point to continue going about my week and my everyday lifestyle the same way I have for the last couple months at Notre Dame. I've put a lot more focus on my studies, whether it be in the classroom or on Georgia Tech, and that kind of takes my mind off the changes that have occurred the last few days. Q. How is Ellie doing these days? DeSHONE KIZER: She's doing all right. Ellie and I are no longer together, but we keep in touch quite a bit. She's doing good. She's right around 95% in her recovery process, and I wish her the best. Q. There were a lot of people that felt like when you were in high school and you were playing for Central Catholic that you'd eventually be a basketball player. That that was probably the route. When did football kind of take over for you when you knew that that was really your future? DeSHONE KIZER: Nowadays, the recruiting process starts so early, and you have to make a choice when you're put in position to what to do with your summers. Nowadays, recruiting happens a lot in AAU basketball. When you're at the NFTCs and the Elite 11 and things like that, you have to make a decision on which route to go. After receiving some offers for football after my freshman season, not even seeing the varsity field yet, I had to make a decision, and the decision, obviously, led towards football because I didn't necessarily have the attention I had in football in basketball at the time. Q. Last one for me, when we saw you come out for the first practices in August, you looked completely different guy from what we saw in the spring. Obviously, opportunities were different. You were able to play with first or second-team players rather than third team all the time. But what was your summer like? What did you do? What were your intentions over the summer to try to put yourself in a better position? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, you know, I believe playing the position I play has a lot to do with being comfortable. Over the summer I was able to get out and throw to all the guys as much as I possibly can, and I got quite a few reps in. When it came to seven on sevens, I was working with the ones and twos rather than working with the incoming freshmen I was working with last year. With that preparation and all the reps, it allowed me to gain a little more confidence in my game. Obviously, that kind of carried in the fall, and that confidence is now at its best going into week three. Q. DeShone, obviously you're a very confident guy. But when Malik gets hurt and you're running right out there, were there nerves for you as you took the field and went into that huddle? DeSHONE KIZER: Of course, but the good thing about the situation I ran into was the first play I got in was the touchdown. Those nerves kind of went away right away. I got a little bit of a break, and Virginia went on a drive. But after that that kind of settled me down a little bit, and I was able to talk to Coach Sanford on the phone, and also talked to my teammates and they kind of settled me down and got me going a little bit. Obviously the next drive didn't go as hot as we wanted it to go, but from there I got a little more accommodated to the situation and got it rolling a little bit. Q. I know it's a totally different situation, but early in the game when you guys do the fake field goal, how exciting was that and how much fun was that to have that type of success on that play? DeSHONE KIZER: It was pretty cool. We spend quite a bit of time working on it and figuring out the best way to go about that fake. Obviously, that was kind of my highlight I was waiting for. I knew we were going to run it eventually, and honestly after we scored on it, it was kind of disappointing to think we can't run it again. It was a very cool play, and I was glad I could be a part of it. Q. When you did that play, did you think in your mind anyway possible that you would actually have a bigger highlight in that game? DeSHONE KIZER: No, absolutely not. I thought that was going to be the only opportunity for me to step up and make a play for the Irish other than holding the field goals and keeping Ian in the right mindset to knock down some extra points. Q. When you make the pass to Will, he brings it in and you're running down that field, what went through your body when you were running down there? DeSHONE KIZER: I was blank. I didn't even know how goofy I looked until I saw the pictures and the videos afterwards. I knew I wanted to go celebrate with him and got down there as fast as I possibly could and ended up doing like a little soccer slide into the end zone. I had to slow myself down before I got to him. I didn't want to run him over. But I kind of blanked out. The adrenaline was pumping as fast as it's ever pumped before. Obviously, it was a really cool feeling. Got back out there for a two-point conversion and settle myself back down. Q. Will that be your signature touchdown celebration? DeSHONE KIZER: I have no idea. I have no idea. Let's just worry about throwing touchdowns before I can worry about the celebration after. Q. You mentioned getting comfortable. When did you get comfortable? I know the first play handoff touchdown helps, but then you have to go in and you have to punt. Was it getting the fourth down run, getting hit? The throw to Corey looked very comfortable. Do you know when you got comfortable in that drive? DeSHONE KIZER: I can't say I'm completely comfortable now, so to sit here and say there was a specific moment when I was comfortable is kind of different. Stepping up in the pocket and really feeling pressure in that second drive was a very good moment for me. I didn't necessarily make the throws on the targets that I wanted to make, but to feel the rush and to feel the rotation and defenses and things like that has kind of helped me out going forward in the game. Q. Obviously as a number two you're locked in knowing you might have to go in, but how much of a shock to the system was it that now I'm in and knowing you were staying in too? You probably knew pretty quickly you had to stay in because Malik was out? DeSHONE KIZER: I didn't know it was as serious as it was until after the game, but it was kind of weird. I had a conversation with my mom the other day about the same situation, and it just kind of happened. It wasn't really a thought process. It was too quick to think. You just quickly throw your helmet on, put in the mouthpiece, warm up a little bit and get out there. The quickness of it allowed me to settle down and really get going. Q. The last couple days, have you started to feel what it's like to be the Notre Dame starting quarterback? Have things changed dramatically for you? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, there's quite a bit that's been going on on social media and the role that you have on campus. But I think I've done a fairly good job of trying to ignore it as much as I can, once again kind of push myself in my academics and my football life as much as I possibly can and get those things off my mind. We're doing a really good job in our preparation so far for Georgia Tech, and obviously I'm just trying to take it day by day and continue to improve so that when Saturday comes around I'm as prepared as I can possibly be. Q. You're only as good as your last drive. Your last drive was pretty special. But for you your next drive is probably even more important just to set the tempo to gain confidence, maybe gain confidence with your team? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, I think the first drive of the Georgia Tech game will be a pretty good one. It's going to be pretty big for me and gaining the trust and becoming comfortable with my team and rolling down there. But like I said, it's all in the preparation, and I believe that after yesterday's practice and what today's practice holds for us, that we'll be as prepared as we can possibly be for the game. Q. As a group, the quarterbacks probably compete against each other, but at the same time work together. Your relationship with Brandon? Now he's the back-up. But is that a situation where you're trying to get him ready at the same time too? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah. I talked earlier about being comfortable back there, and Brandon and I have always had a tight relationship. As a QB room, we have a good relationship and we have a really good QB room. We're all good friends out of the room and off the football field, so that kind of settles in really well when it comes to preparing Brandon and preparing myself as much as I want to bring him along. I've got a game to plan Saturday, so I've got to put as much attention as I can on him and myself in making sure I'm prepared. To get Brandon comfortable, we've had quite a few conversations about just ripping it. You've got to be yourself out there. When you start getting your mind wrapped around everything else you tense up a little bit and your ball might not be the best, and then once your ball's not the best you start getting that in your mind and sometimes it can become a downhill movement. But we've had quite a few conversations with him helping me and me helping him when it comes to ripping the ball and having fun out there. Q. When you were in high school and committed to Notre Dame, when did you dream of being the Notre Dame quarterback? How far back does that go? DeSHONE KIZER: It doesn't go too far back honestly. I wasn't necessarily the die hard Notre Dame fan that you find throughout the locker room here. But it was definitely something I knew if I had the opportunity I had to explore it. It wasn't until late in my recruiting process that Notre Dame even opened the doors for me. At the time they weren't planning on taking a quarterback in my class. Once my recruiting got rolling a little bit, and I gave Coach Allison a call and I turned to Coach Martin, and he got in within the next week, the process happened really fast. To put a time limit or time line on when I really got the mindset of being the Notre Dame quarterback wasn't until late in my junior year and obviously going into my senior year. Q. Do you try to avoid the noise? I'm sure there are a lot of distractions this week, but the game in front of you has to be your main focus? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, avoiding noise is exactly what I'm trying to do. Like I said, I'm just trying to bury myself in my studies in the classroom and also bury my studies on Georgia Tech. And to be honest with you, going to the University of Notre Dame, that in itself is very time consuming, so there is not much time outside of that other than to get some rest to allow those outside distractions and noise to get into my mind. Q. Your parents weren't able to be there for Saturday's game. I read somewhere where I wanted to see if you tell me where they were? DeSHONE KIZER: They were actually at a friend's birthday party at the time, and they were over having a couple wings and doing whatever watching the game at a local wing spot in Toledo. They said that the place erupted. And my mom at the time I called her, which wasn't until about an hour after the game, she was still just in crazy shock and tears running down her face. It was a really awesome moment to call her once I got back on the bus. Q. I assume they'll be here this weekend? DeSHONE KIZER: Yes, of course, my family will be in town. Q. Just quickly, you got your first scholarship offer before you played your first high school game? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, there were a couple offers at the time. We had some connections through our high school with some guys at Syracuse and some guys at Bowling Green. Q. They just because the coaches told them that we have a kid here that you want to look at or how does that work? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah like I said, the recruitment process is so fast nowadays, especially when it comes to quarterback. Most schools only take one. If you can get your hands on one early, it's probably the best thing for you, especially the schools that offered me at the time. So when they came on and watched me throw with the younger guys and Coach Dempsey had a good idea that I was going to be the guy the next year, it was purely off potential, and I ended up pulling the trigger quite early. Q. They were talking about earlier how you might have been a little down last year not playing. How tough was it to come in and find you're deep in the depth chart? DeSHONE KIZER: You tell yourself out of high school you don't go to school to play right away. You go to school to compete and allow yourself the best opportunity to play. I got my mind wrapped around that when I committed here. I knew I was coming into a tough situation with two studs in front of me. It didn't settle in the way I would have liked it to set in at the beginning of the process, when you go from being a quote/unquote elite athlete in high school, and you get sat down and don't get the reps you expected. It's a little rough like it is on most freshmen. But after a while I took it for what it was and accepted a year of not playing and took it and tried to allow myself to learn the game and become more comfortable with the speed of big-time college football. Q. How prepared do you feel you are right now? DeSHONE KIZER: There's still quite a bit we need to do with Georgia Tech. I believe that within the first couple of days of preparation for them I have a good grasp of what their defense likes to do and hopefully we can continue to improve in that preparation and prepare ourselves as much as we possibly can. And by Saturday I think I'll be ready for whatever they can throw at me. Q. Not too beat the recruiting story too far into the ground, but Coach said when you first threw for Coach Martin it didn't go very well, and you called him up and said I want to throw again for you can you come back? What do you remember about that and the motivation to get Coach Martin back to throw for him again? DeSHONE KIZER: Well, when Coach Martin came at the time, I mentioned I was never really a true quarterback football guy like some of these guys are nowadays. I didn't have a quarterback coach. I didn't go to all the camps. I didn't spend the time I needed to spend on being an elite high school quarterback. When Coach Martin came in the first time I was just raw. I was a big guy, big arm, really, really long motion of a baseball player, so that didn't really go the way I wanted it to go. Didn't throw the ball well at all. He left, and Notre Dame left, and I kind of just X-ed them out. But once I continued to grow and my stock began to grow and I became -- figured out how to become a quarterback, I decided to give Notre Dame a call. At the time it was my last call. I was getting ready to narrow down to a select few schools, and I was like you know what? If there's ever a school that could adjust this list and hop into this list it would be Notre Dame. So I gave them a call, and it obviously ended pretty well. Q. You guess you mentioned they could happen in there. But why could they have hopped in there? What about Notre Dame did you want that attracted you? DeSHONE KIZER: During my recruiting process we saw the formula of how we were going to go and evaluate schools and academics were one, coaching staff was two, and style of play was three, and then there was campus and things like that at the end of that. And Notre Dame from day one was by far the top of all of those. We knew Coach Kelly runs the style of offense I wanted to run, and he did a really good job of setting his offense to the style of quarterback that he had. That was something that we really liked as a family. The academics obviously speak for themselves here. We got on campus and fell in love with the campus. So whenever we -- if they wanted to step into the picture at any point in time, we knew we were going to have to take a very good look at them. So they came in late, and just as expected, we hopped on the train. Q. Were you a pitcher in high school? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, well, I was. My dad shut down my arm my sophomore year just because we saw what was happening with football, and wanted to make sure none of the Tommy John or shoulder issues ever came up. Q. When you were starting to play quarterback, were you almost throwing it like a pitching motion? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, yeah, there are a lot of things that I still deal with now that have to do with my pitching motion and locking up my front knee. In baseball you're really driving down into the ground off the mound, and obviously that's something you can't do. You have to stand on a level playing field, you have to have your shoulders level in football. So I still to this day have to deal with things like that. But like I said, motion has completely changed since my sophomore year. Q. You roomed with Malik last week on the road before he got hurt. What were some of those conversations like with him? Whether it was you picking his brain about being ready or you giving him a pep talk or anything of that nature? DeSHONE KIZER: Malik and I have been rooming together since last year, and we've been really tight since last year. We've taken a couple road trips together and gotten along really well. The way that we go about staying together in hotel rooms before games is always try to stay as relaxed and calm as possible. We talk about football here and there. But when you are preparing all week and coach gives you time to get away and rest and get your mind off of things, we make sure we take complete advantage of those opportunities. So when Malik and I were together last week, we didn't really talk much football until right before the game where I started quizzing him a little bit, and he started quizzing me a little bit. Obviously it got going. We got towards the game, and we kind of go our separate ways. He gets into his mental zone to go play the game, and I went on my own and got in my mental zone to try to prepare if the time ever did come up for me to go in. Obviously the time came, and what he told me and the way we prepared all weekended up becoming a reality for us. Q. What were some of the road trips you guys have taken? Where have you gone, back home to Ohio? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, yeah. We went to visit some friends at Ohio State a couple times. I came back from Toledo and driven through blizzards, driven through hail storms, we've done it all together. Q. Who does the driving? DeSHONE KIZER: Malik does the driving. I can't stay awake long enough. He does the driving. I'm the co-captain on trips. Q. Did you know him at all in high school? DeSHONE KIZER: No, no, I actually didn't know about him at all. I heard about him -- well, I went to Elite 11 as a sophomore, and I got to see him throw and competed. I was with his group and didn't know much about him. But I learned a lot about him when I was with the Elite 11 and Coach Dilfer explained the type of guy he was and type of athlete he was, and how elite he was with his legs and his arms and how wise he was. I didn't get to know him until I got on campus here and we spent the summer together. Q. Just clarify, I read something about when you gave Coach Kelly your word about committing, Tom Brady got on the phone or someone at the Patriots facility? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, Coach Kelly just happened to be in New England at the time and was sitting in the quarterback room with Tom Brady talking some scheming stuff. When I called it just happened to be at a time he was there and I was on the speaker phone and Tom Brady was there to listen to me commit to Notre Dame. Q. Is that one of the cooler recruiting stories you get to share in the locker room and stuff? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, that was pretty cool. That was definitely a fun time. Q. Did Tom Brady say anything? DeSHONE KIZER: No. There wasn't much at the time. I was just focused on letting Coach Kelly know that I was all in. Q. You said there was a lot going on social media. What are you talking about? DeSHONE KIZER: Just when situations like this happen, people love it. Notre Dame fans are some of the best in the nation and everyone was kind of just trying to get to me and let me know that they trusted me and they believed in what I can do. Obviously it's pretty cool to go about that. Everyone is trying to make up some sort of a nickname for me. And the Kizer Soze thing is starting to get going. So we'll see how that continues to go. Like I said earlier, I'm trying to stay as much as I can, as far as I can away from that and once again kind of just throw myself into Georgia Tech and my studies during the week. Q. So it hasn't been negative stuff? DeSHONE KIZER: No. Well, I haven't been on it enough to see. There could be some negative stuff out there. But from what I understand the response has been pretty good from the Irish Nation. Q. You were talking about being nervous, but you looked so calm out there. Have you had problems with nerves in high school or were you always finding a way to stay calm? DeSHONE KIZER: I like to consider myself a mental guy. I like to stay within myself and keep things as simple as I possibly can. There's nerves have never really been an issue for me. Normally when there is a mistake out there, it's mechanical or something to do with my foot work. So when it comes to nerves and playing in big games, I've always been pretty calm in a leadership role, and I've always been taught that everyone's going to look to you when times are rough or when times are great. So I've always tried to keep myself in a really level playing field and a level mindset to make sure that I can lead my team or get with them and make sure that we're heading in the right direction at the time. Q. I'm curious, talking to people around Central Catholic, could you describe what impact going there had on you not just as a player, but as a person and sort of getting you to where you are now? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, Central Catholic was an amazing school. They're a college prep school. When it comes to academics, I definitely feel like I was very prepared for them and the connection that Coach Dempsey makes there, and the college and the elite football that's played there has prepared me quite a bit for being in the position I am here now at Notre Dame. Q. I just want to clarify the throwing for Notre Dame part. Do you ever end up throwing for them the second time? Was that on campus at Notre Dame or how did that end up playing out? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, I had to throw for them again. I can't tell you the exact time line of it, but it was pretty quick. I called Coach Allison on I believe it was a Thursday. Next Wednesday Coach Martin was in. The following Wednesday I was offered. Set up a visit week the following week to see Notre Dame on Sunday, Bama on Thursday, LSU on Friday, cancelled all my trips by the Monday after I went on Sunday, and I was committed by the following Wednesday. So it was all really a good experience because I knew there was no other place I wanted to be. Q. Talk about that sequence where you're coming into the game after you're starting quarterback going down? What was your mindset in that drive to keep yourself focused on what you have to do to win that game? DeSHONE KIZER: I'd like to consider the two-minute situations are times where I can kind of settle in. When you're out there trying to put together drive after drive after drive, you kind of put a little extra pressure on yourself because everyone's expecting you to drive down and put together 10, 11, 13-play drives to score a touchdown. But when you were in two minutes, only focus is getting the next yard. You're just trying to get into the zone where you can tie up the game. But that kind of mellowed me out and allowed me to focus on getting to the next play and getting the ball into the playmakers hands. And obviously, C.J. Prosise made some key blocks. The offensive line was perfect. C.J. also made obviously a great catch and great run after a roll out play and got the ball out to Will a couple times and ended the way that we wanted it to end. Q. Talk about getting a phone call from Tom Brady, and also another quarterback from Notre Dame like Joe Montana. It wasn't like having that this week or saying that was part of the lure at Notre Dame? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, you expect nothing less from an institution like this. The top of the line people in the world are going to be around here, and thankfully are fans of the Irish. So when you're dealing with big names like that, it's kind of expected. I've prepared myself. And I've seen Everett meet the guys he's met, and I was around as a recruit when Tommy was out dealing with the role of being quarterback here. Obviously I've prepared myself mentally to be in this and to keep myself very -- try to stay as level-headed as I possibly can, and try to understand that there is a lot that comes along with being a quarterback at a university like this. Q. What is your understanding as you go into this? Do you have a long leash? Have the offensive coaches said it's yours to run or don't look over your shoulder, anything along those lines? DeSHONE KIZER: Honestly, there hasn't been much of a change at all. We're running the same offense we've always run. We're game planning the same way I've always seen us game plan, and we're running the same offense that we've obviously run for the last couple years now. When it comes to having a leash, short and long, it's not really any different than when it's ever been here. We're going to run the ball, we're going to throw the ball, we're going to kick the ball and do the things that Irish have been doing for quite some time now. Q. Where were you when you found out definitively that Everett Golson was leaving? DeSHONE KIZER: I was actually in an exam at the time, and my phone was blowing up and I was trying to figure out all these variances. I had no idea why my phone was going crazy. So I got out and read that he was gone. It was obviously shocking. I honestly didn't expect this. Q. You didn't have any inkling or any understanding that he might be? DeSHONE KIZER: No, he was a guy who was kind of the same way at all times. Whether he liked it, whether he didn't like it, whether he was happy or whether he was sad he kept a very stern and calmness about himself, so I had no idea he was heading out. I was preparing to learn from him another year and watch him and Malik battle it out through the summer and see who was going to be the guy next year. So I had no idea. Q. Did the thought ever occur to you that man, I got short changed here because you would have gotten those reps had he made that decision prior to the start of spring drills? DeSHONE KIZER: No, not really. I mean my reps were going to be my reps. I was going to take them how I took them. After you red-shirt, your first year is over and you don't play, you've got to change your mindset to now there is no excuse for me not to be on the field. So I was going to take the reps that I got and prepare for them to put value in whether I was going to be third string or first string. Q. Did you ever communicate with him after his decision to leave? DeSHONE KIZER: No, I have not. Q. You have not spoken with him? DeSHONE KIZER: No. Q. When you guys have a running game that's been as dominant as it's been the past couple weeks, how much does that kind of ease your transition into this job when you know how much support you have in that regard? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, it's awesome. As a quarterback I understand that with the play makers that we have to my right and to my left, and the great offensive line that I have in front of us, any given play, any given down, whether it's 3rd and 10, 1st and 20, we can run the ball for some yards. I have complete confidence in obviously the game plan we have set aside. Where it really comes into play, people like to get the 7th man in the box for us because they need help in stopping the run game and it opens up the opportunity to stop the pass game. So as long as we continue to read the defense and the way they want to go about their schemes, I think we'll be very successful in the upcoming weeks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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