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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 18, 2015

DeShone Kizer

South Bend, Indiana

An interview with:

DESHONE KIZER

Q. DeShone, you said a couple of weeks ago that you're not, of course, a run-first quarterback, you're never going to be a run-first quarterback. But with the amount that you've run and in the red zone and everything, how has your comfort level improved and how do you think you have progressed in that area?
DESHONE KIZER: I believe that throughout the season I have definitely developed as a runner, comfort along the lines of being able to read blocks and understand what we're trying to do with the run play. I definitely have improved in that area.

Before it was more just a zone read type of run guy where once you get off it's just a race to the finish, whether it's out-of-bounds or trying to get some yards. But now being able to read blocks from internally with some power game and stuff like that, I definitely developed a little more. And my comfort level throwing the ball as high as it can possibly be.

Q. You mentioned runs that have been particularly impressive with jumping in and out of blocks and things like that. How much of that is being able to see the whole field and how much of it is knowing where your blocks are going to be?
DESHONE KIZER: Being able to -- it's been weeks and weeks understanding how we want to block things up. It's part of the quarterback position to understand the blocking schemes up front. So to be able to understand where the unblock pad is and set that unblock pad up to maybe get caught up in a couple of extra guys over there, those are things that definitely helped me out as a quarterback.

As a runner, you've got to be patient out there. I'm not a guy who's going to be able to blow past guys with speed and be able to make mistakes and just run past them and do things like that. I've got to be able to think through runs and try to cut off of guys and understanding the blocking scheme.

So like you said, I have just continued to develop as we move forward. And if the opportunities are there for us to have a quarterback-run-driven game, then we're going to have to do it because guys are going to try to put extra guys on the blocks to stop our running backs right now.

Q. If you looked at the film of the Wake Forest game, what are some things that you picked up that you could have done differently, or was it -- what were some of the issues that led to -- I think it was only 280-something total yards for you guys that day.
DESHONE KIZER: We had the ball. We had upper 40s on places. We were averaging around 70. There is not much that was disappointing from the game. But on my own end, there was a couple of third down situations in which I gotta be able to get the ball out and understand the protections that I need to be in to get the ball out. There is one in particular that has been eating me up all week that I'll be able to clean up and fix up.

But other than that, you know, when Wake Forest is running the style of offense that they run, it's not necessarily a -- it's a spread offense, but they're still consuming a lot of time out there when they're checking over to the sideline a bunch and they're snapping the ball with two, three seconds left on the clock every time they are up to bat.

You're going to get limited drives. This isn't a game where we game plan to get limited drives, but that's just how it fell. When we get put in third down situations, I've gotta to be able to throw the ball and get us ahead of the chains and continue to move on so we can put together longer drives and kind of keep our defense off the field.

Q. Off topic, but being a former baseball player, is there anything added going to play a game at Fenway Park?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, this is awesome. This is awesome. It's been circled all year to be able to see that park. I've never been to Boston. I've watched it on TV a bunch.

I always thought that eventually I would be a guy that you might have to do a poppy shift for me since I pulled the ball a bunch, and this is just a cool opportunity for me to be on the field that a lot of great baseball players and a lot of history has been made on.

Q. Nick Martin talked about the confidence in your voice and how you carry yourself on the field since the time you've been starting. How natural of a transition was that for you to allow your voice to come out more than maybe it had?
DESHONE KIZER: It kind of developed within itself. It wasn't something I thought about. It wasn't something I thought I had an issue. It was just I allowed my leadership role to develop within itself. I knew I couldn't force anything. I'm not a guy -- I'm not just going to come in and become a starter and start chirping at everyone. I just allowed it to progress to what it is.

At the quarterback position, at least this year and last year, we weren't really in a position in which we did a lot of talking. Our verbal guys came from Nick Martin up front. Our verbal guys came from and the defensive end in Joe Schmidt.

We were a type of group where we try to lead with our play and step in when we absolutely had to. And now the way this season is moving on, it's staying the same way. Nick Martin is a guy who is going to be the verbal guy and lead us, lead the offense the way it is. My position is more along the lines of, you know, being myself and making sure that everyone is staying calm and staying focused.

I'm not -- I'm still not a guy that's going to go out there and yell at everyone. We just want to execute each play that we get the opportunity to execute. And when it comes to my verbal end of things, I'm learning the offense still and I'm becoming more comfortable each week. And the more comfortable I become, the easier it is for me to push that out to the players out in the field.

Q. That being said, though, as a quarterback, you've got to have a certain amount of confidence in your voice. How do you walk that line between allowing others to be the verbal leaders and you being the quarterback?
DESHONE KIZER: It's who you are. I've learned quickly that you can't be fake. These guys are in the locker room with you, they spend 365 days almost with you throughout the year. These guys know who you are. And you've gotta be yourself.

I've learned that -- I came in and I thought that I was going to have to be some big-time -- making sure everything was running the right way. But we're all elite athletes. We all know what we're supposed to do. We're all playing at a high level for an elite program. Everyone knows their jobs. I don't have to go out there yelling and chirping at them.

As the season goes on, I'm understanding the personnel out there and understanding the personalities of all my teammates. And I think I've done a pretty good job with evaluating how guys like to be led.

And with that being said, this team is at a point where everyone knows everyone. We have an identity, and we don't look for extra leadership. Everything just kind of plays itself out. We've been in a lot of situations in which we have learned from, and now it's all about executing.

Q. I wanted to ask you, and might not be fair to you because you're so much younger than a lot of people in this room, but Rick Mirer and Tony Rice, just what you know about them, what you've heard or maybe even seen about them?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, I know they were the closest thing to dual-threat quarterbacks of their time and they're crazy athletic. Didn't really -- like I've always said, I wasn't necessarily the biggest Notre Dame fan growing up so I don't know too much about them. I just understand that they're respected and some of the greatest athletes and greatest quarterbacks to play at not only Notre Dame but to play in NCAA.

So I've heard a lot of things that they say I have similar traits to them, and I don't necessarily -- I haven't really looked into them and the style of play that they had. But I just know that to be able to play the position that guys that are as respected as them is is always an honor. And I completely respect and acknowledge that every time I get the opportunity to step out as a Notre Dame quarterback.

Q. Must be fun to see the records, just like Josh over the weekend with his 98-yarder and Then will moving up the charts with his catches. And to think you could tie a record if you get another rushing touchdown, it's got to be fun to watch that offense and be part of it.
DESHONE KIZER: The only time we hear about records is when you guys bring them up in these questions. I have no idea what records are even out there. I know that some of the guys around me are playing spectacular and I know that it's eventually probably going to lead to some records, but we're just worried about how we can come out and win the day. There's not necessarily some big goals in mind when it comes to making records and playing at that level of football.

Q. I don't know if you can talk about how different it is now compared to last year? I'm sure you could go places last year and be more anonymous. I don't know if anybody has used the word "Heisman" to you or anything like that, but just playing at a high level, being the Notre Dame quarterback, being so photographed now and on TV and everything, how has that changed? Did you go to stores last year or go into a restaurant and nobody knew who you were?
DESHONE KIZER: That's definitely -- it's weird, when you recruit, you are at the top of a totem pole. You are looked at some amazing, elite athlete. And then all of a sudden you get here, you go right back down to the bottom and you have to work your way back up.

The way that this transitioned so quickly, I didn't necessarily climb the totem pole as slow as most people climb. I just kind of got thrown at some of the upper-tier levels of elite athletes and end up being compared to and talked about as one of the better guys.

But at the end of the day, there is so much going on each week that you don't necessarily look at that stuff.

I can't tell you the last time I sat down and watched TV. The only TV I watch is in the quarterback room when I'm trying to watch some film. So I don't necessarily try to get too involved with all of that. There is just so much going on with us right now that we need to focus on preparing for the opponent at hand on the weekend, and maybe we can evaluate this all once the season is over.

Q. At the same time you've got to be treated with a little different respect maybe from some of the upperclassmen, I mean, as maybe before they didn't know your name and all of the sudden it's hey, buddy, what's going on?
DESHONE KIZER: Definitely, definitely. The respect levels are pretty high right now for me. But I believe once you are at this point in time in the season, your ranking or how many years you play is nonexistent. Everyone is just playing for each other. You don't look at a guy like a freshman or -- the only time that you can actually look at a ranking is when you understand a guy is a senior and you gotta give him his respect.

Other than that, when we are out on the playing field, we're all playing for each other and we're playing for the name across the front of our chest. And that's just the way it is. At this point of the year, there is no more of that. It's trying to accomplish a goal and trying to get a "W" each week.

Q. I know you have two games left. But how bad do you guys want to be in that college bowl game? Going to a great bowl game would be great, but you're right there. You're so close right now.
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, we set a mission at the beginning of this. We know that everyone who was recruited here and decided to come here came to play for championships. And we see the opportunity is there. But at the end of the day it's not about -- it more along the lines of what those 12 people sitting around the table decide.

We're just out here trying to prove ourselves and prove that we're one of the better teams in the country. In order to do that, we have to be able to beat today. And we know that there is some opportunities for us to play for those championships that we have dreamed for. But in order to put ourselves in that position, we're going to have to play some good ball going up to there.

We have a really tough opponent this weekend, the best defense in the country statistically-wise, and we know that after that we're going to play another really good opponent. With that being said, we've gotta focus on how we can get better today and how we can prepare for the game that we have Saturday.

Q. When Coach Kelly was in here yesterday, he was asked about the offense and maybe picking it up, didn't face a whole lot of plays as you noted last week against Wake Forest, but he said he felt like you guys could be more aggressive. I'm curious how you view that, if there were spots in the game where you felt like I could have pushed the ball more, and how do you balance that against not turning it over and forcing into a bad coverage?
DESHONE KIZER: Football is a game of rhythm. It's a game of understanding situations. When you are out there and you get 70 plays, like we typically average, you can feel when it's time to take a shot play. You can feel when a third down is supposed to be a three-step game rather than a five-step shot play.

But when you get the limited drives that we got and don't necessarily get the opportunity to get the rhythm that we want within the game, it's kinda hard to understand when you're supposed to take shots and when you're supposed to grind it out for a couple of yards.

There were a couple of opportunities in which I gotta put the ball out to a match-up in which that I believe we're favored in with either Will or backside to Chris Brown or Corey Robinson. And it was only once or twice throughout the game, I believe, but we just have to understand that anytime the ball is in our hands, we've got to go out there with an aggressive mind-set, an attacking mind-set and not allow ourselves to get caught up in maybe the slower tempo of the game.

Q. Is that easy to do? As a younger quarterback who has not played a whole lot at this level to not get sucked into rhythm being against you in pressing?
DESHONE KIZER: It's tough. That was the first game in which we didn't get the plays we wanted. We expected it earlier in the year with Georgia Tech and Navy, but we still ended up getting out there and getting opportunities to go up and down the field with the ball in our hands quite a bit.

It was the first opportunity for me to learn from something like that, and now I understand that I gotta be able to maybe become a little more vocal and show some energy in situations where we're only going to get a couple of drives throughout the game.

Q. You mentioned protections a little bit, and there was one that was still sort of bothering you. When it comes to stuff coming from the backside, whether it be a corner blitz against Pittsburgh, I think, that got to you, do you sort of have to experience those looks and pressures to learn from them?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, I guess that's a way of putting it. We understood that Wake Forest is really good on third down. They're one of the best third down defenses in the country. What they were doing over there with some of their looks and all the different variations of blitz they were going to throw at us was going to be a tough game on third down.

I completely understood that. There was one in particular in which I checked one way and they brought an extra guy off the edge that I didn't expect to come. I hadn't seen that blitz all year.

But, yeah, you got to get hit in the back a couple times before you respect your backside. We have one of the best left tackles in the country back there. So I tend to -- or up until then I tend to almost forget that side. If I have a slide going that way, I believe that's completely picked up, but now that people are throwing some exotic blitzes and sending three or four guys off that edge, I definitely have to be more cognizant of what possibilities I can have back there and just feel the pocket out a little more and continue to develop in that fashion of the game.

Q. Watching film of BC, how have teams tried to attack their defense?
DESHONE KIZER: They like to play a lot of man coverage. In order to attack them, you're going to have to take them down the field a couple times. They trust in their corners. They trust in their veterans. And they have a really big box -- or really big guys within the box.

In order for us to attack them, it's going to be, I think, similar to Pitt in the sense that we are going to have to take shots when we need to take shots but also not get too (indiscernible) with taking four or five-yard gains, whether it be a slant route or an inside zone run play.

Q. Do you have to make inroads outside the hashes in order to have success inside against a team like this, a defense like this?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, I believe that's football in itself. People are going to throw an extra guy in the box if you're not going to challenge them vertically and challenge them on the outside. They have the ability to do a bunch of different things. They like to play their man coverage, but they play some really cool zone coverages in which there are not many open areas, and you've got to be able to understand when those are coming at you.

They have complete confidence in what they're doing right now. And that, I believe, is their biggest plus right now. They know what they're doing, they know who they are, and they're really good at what they do. And when you have confidence in what you're doing, it allows you to play more competitively and be able to take a couple more risks that end up in game-changing plays on defense.

Q. So you want to spread the field and get them moving laterally, or that's another statement, that's a general statement for what you guys want to do on a weekly basis?
DESHONE KIZER: Yes, weekly. That's who we are. We are a spread offense. We like to take it east and west as much as we can before we bring it inside and go north and south.

Q. How do you feel physically at this stage of the season?
DESHONE KIZER: I'm clean. Thankfully, I'm clean. There is a lot of guys right now who have a lot of bumps and bruises. When you play the schedule that we play, every game is going to be a tough one in which you're going to have to fight through some injuries.

But for me, myself, I'm pretty clean. And it's definitely a blessing because when you get into November, there's a lot of guys who are dealing with ankles and shoulders and minor bumps and bruises. That can build up and eventually hurt you pretty deep in November.

Q. Did you have a season in high school where you were a little bit more banged up than you actually are at this stage?
DESHONE KIZER: Pretty much every season in high school by the end of the year.

Q. Really?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah. By the end of the year, there was something going on, whether it was a shoulder, knee or something. This is kind of freaky to think I'm completely clean right now and completely fresh. And it's always a blessing, like I said. And you've got to focus on keeping it that way because we know these games coming up are going to be some big ones.

Q. You probably weren't 235 in high school, either?
DESHONE KIZER: No, no, no. About 195.

Q. I was curious over the course of the season if you had to kinda flip a switch or something like that mentally from being more of a caretaker filling in for Malik initially to "This is my job; I'm the number one guy here"?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, well, the way that it was set up is you get put in in your first game, in your first opportunity, and you're down a touchdown and you've got to try to go down and put together a drive to win a game. That was a switch in itself that you have to turn on and have complete confidence in yourself to score the points that you need to score.

With that being said, I didn't necessarily have a specific time, just because every game that I -- I came in in Virginia and we're down and you gotta score a touchdown. Then you come out and you start against a top 15 Georgia Tech team.

So the switch was on from day one for me. So there's not necessarily a specific time in which I saw myself as the guy who was relieving to a guy that has to take over because when you're playing the level of football that you play now, everyone has to be executing in all facets of the game. So I was always on in that sense.

Q. I think one of the most compelling parts of the Showtime series has been your conversation with Jack early on where you were very candid about some doubts that you had about should I be playing baseball or not, should I even be still pursuing football. How real were those moments and how far has your confidence come over this season?
DESHONE KIZER: That was a completely -- that was actually after an interview at the time and we were just kind of chatting it up and the cameras happened to be on. So that was a completely real moment for me. And now it's to the point where I've accepted the fact that my life has changed from then.

I'm completely a different guy from who I was last year, and obviously my opportunities to play quarterback and be the number one guy is a big part of that.

I'm completely comfortable where I'm at and I'm completely accepting of who I am as a quarterback and who I am as a representation of my college and my university.

So it's been a really fun ride, but, you know, we're just trying to focus up on preparing for these games coming up. Maybe we can have a little better conversation with this after the season when we can evaluate everything that's happened because it's happening so quickly; that if you want to get caught up in it, you're not going to be in the right mind-set to win a game on Saturdays.

Q. Baseball-wise you made it to the Majors; you're playing at Fenway.
DESHONE KIZER: Exactly.

Q. To that end, we've seen the eagle flap, we've seen -- I think you were conducting the band after one of your scores last week. Can we get a home run swing --
DESHONE KIZER: Oh, gosh. I'm just going to worry about trying to turn around and go find my big guys and celebrate with them.

I think Coach Kelly is on his last straw with this. (Laughter.)

Q. DeShone, thank you for your time today. Wanted to ask you about your confidence seems to have grown by leaps and bounds from that moment in spring where you had the issues that you were dealing with off the field and on the field, and I was wondering where was your confidence then? And it sounded like it was at its lowest ebb. But with the with the issues that your girlfriend was going through, did that help put things in perspective for you?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah, my confidence was almost zero at that point in time. I didn't have any confidence in throwing the ball. Couldn't throw a spiral. Didn't really fully think I knew the playbook, even though I had a little more than what I actually thought I had.

But since then things have turned for the better. Spending some time with Coach Sanford and developing my game and now having the opportunity to be a guy out there who's contributing for our offense and for our team has been truly a surreal feeling.

As I continue to develop and continue to experience the opportunities I get to experience on Saturdays, my confidence will continue to grow and I will continue to become more comfortable. And the more you understand the offense and the more you understand college football as a whole, the better you're going to be as a quarterback.

I've just been able to be blessed to have the opportunities to play in all the situations that we've played in and develop into a guy who is completely confident in what he does and is able to come up with a couple of W's throughout the season.

Q. When you committed to Notre Dame -- true story, I'm wondering -- when you called Coach Kelly to tell him that you were going to be coming to Notre Dame, I understand that Tom Brady was in the room when you made that call. If you had been aware of that, what would you have loved to ask Tom Brady?
DESHONE KIZER: That's a question that I could answer in a thousand ways. Why would he ever choose to head up north to a school like Michigan is probably the first question I want to ask him. (Laughter.)

That's one of the best guys that ever played the position that I have, and to have an opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with him would be an ultimate dream.

Q. Do you wish you would have known that he was on the phone?
DESHONE KIZER: Yeah. Well, I knew he was on the phone, but we were all about business. I was excited to let Coach Kelly know I had made my decision to come here and didn't really seize the opportunity to have a conversation with one of the greatest.

Q. In terms of just the -- you kind of mentioned playing against Boston College's defense. What concerns do you have about their ability to get after quarterbacks and kind of disrupt things for someone looking to operate their offense?
DESHONE KIZER: They're rolling. They're really good within the box. They're really good outside, too. They have complete confidence in their game plans. And you can tell when watching film that they're not willing to take a play off. These guys go hard and they take risks. And they've been really successful throughout the year.

We're going to have to make sure as an offense we continue to do what we've been doing in executing our game plan. We've had some great game plans being put together for the defenses that we play, and this is another opportunity to execute what the coaches draw up for us.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you guys, very much.

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