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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 10, 2016

DeShone Kizer

South Bend, Indiana

Notre Dame - 39, Nevada - 10

THE MODERATOR: Questions for DeShone.

Q. How did you feel tonight compared to Sunday?
DeSHONE KIZER: A lot better. Three games being the starting quarterback. It was definitely a good feeling to get back out there, see what it feels like to get out and win.

Q. After you knew you were named the starting quarterback, how much confidence did that give you?
DeSHONE KIZER: I kind of approached it the same exact way. This is something that I've been doing for the last year now. It's becoming pretty natural for me. Routine has kind of set in now. I'm kind of able to just prepare the same way I've been preparing, have a little success along the way.

Q. You have young receivers, but they're quickly figuring out the college game. Assess the way they played today.
DeSHONE KIZER: They played great. I had to put an emphasis on trusting those guys in big environments such as their first home game. Kind of got to toss it up, throw them into the fire, see what they could do. I have to treat them like the guys they are. They're elite athletes. Have to get the ball to Equanimeous, let them make plays.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: We do a good job focusing on going 1-0. When you go out there and achieve that goal, it feels good. Understand we have to make some big plays to beat a team like Michigan State. We're going to learn a bit from a sloppy quarter against Nevada and get ready to play a good team like Michigan State.

Q. Do you feel you made the improvements from week one to week two that you needed to make?
DeSHONE KIZER: You're never satisfied. There's a lot of room to improve. A sloppy first quarter is something we don't want to do. That comes a lot off of me. I need to recognize coverages better. If I make those throws in the first quarter, this game would feel a little different. There would be quite a few more points up. I didn't. Going to have to learn from it. Really learn to take what the defense gives me and move forward.

Q. How much better was it preparing coming off a win as opposed to a loss?
DeSHONE KIZER: Winning before a big game like Michigan State is huge for us. We're going to have smiles on our face. Come in tomorrow, kind of evaluate our game against Nevada, start preparing.

When you have those positive vibes going into a week, it allows you to kind of put yourself in a good position to learn as much as you possibly can.

We executed pretty well. We challenged the defense to come out. They held them to three points. A late touchdown, but three points overall. That's great. They play that style of defense, we're going to win a lot of games.

Q. Coach Kelly said a good quarterback helps a lot to win. Do you feel that confidence?
DeSHONE KIZER: He handed over the reins. We're definitely going to keep the competition rolling. But to know that I'm going to be the guy to step out and be the starter against the next opponent allows me to prepare with a little more confidence throughout the week.

As long as we continue to move forward and develop and learn from the mistakes, kind of rid the sloppiness we've had in a couple drives, we're going to be able to put up a lot of points.

Q. After a performance like this, do you think about the good stuff that happened or things that need to be fixed?
DeSHONE KIZER: I'm getting eaten up with that pick. That kills me. When K.J. goes out there and blows past the defender, I got to make that throw. He's a stud. I got to allow him to be a stud. Not trusting the guy, to under-throw a guy in that situation shows a little softness on my part. That's going to eat me up for a while.

We'll watch film, allow the 24 hours to go, the good, the bad, the ugly, then focus on Michigan State.

Q. How is it different than last year being first?
DeSHONE KIZER: You understand the routine. I figured out last year how to treat every game the same and prepare the same exact way, have the same intensity and focus, having the will to prepare, whether a game is big or a game that we're supposed to win.

We have a really good young team and we're going to be able to figure some things out. Now it's about taking some of those experiences I had last year and sharing them with the young guys in preparing a game against Michigan State.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: That's just watching a lot of film. That's understanding looks. The best thing that we have is playing against VanGorder. He gives you 10,000 different looks in practice. If you can recognize all those looks, when someone comes out here, you have those things back in the cabinet that you've been working on all camp that you have to be able to pull out at the right time. If you can recognize defenses...

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, I mean, we lost Torii on the field, but we didn't lose him on the practice field when it comes to leadership. He was able to prepare those guys who were already ready to go. They came out and made some big plays. K.J. is a guy I really have to trust and stretch vertically. He's able to come into the slot spot.

Those young guys need to make those big plays. They're going to develop. We're not going to refer to them as 'young guys' any longer.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: Oh, yeah. Torii is very confident where he's at right now. I'm pretty sure he's doing pretty well with all the testing. We're looking forward to having him back as soon as possible.

Q. Two red zone scores, Coach Kelly said he was pleased with that. Is that a sign of the progress that you're making in the red zone?
DeSHONE KIZER: Absolutely. You got to understand in the red zone that if the first option is not there, go to the second, or third. If the third isn't open, don't force it. That was my biggest fault last year. I wanted to take the first, second or third read, never really considered extending the play.

I went out there, was able to extend the play. We're in play zone coverage down there.

Q. When you get in the red zone now, do you feel like there's a little bit more of a comfort zone?
DeSHONE KIZER: Absolutely. Absolutely. We spent so much time defining who we are in the red zone. We get into a lot of funky formations, try to run the ball as much as we can. We get to the plays we've been running all camp. As long as the guys continue to make the adjustments on the ball, try to make catches in tight windows, we'll be able to score every time we're down there.

Q. You get 24 hours to enjoy it, but your thoughts will start turning to Michigan State a little bit. What are some of the priorities you think you need to improve upon?
DeSHONE KIZER: We got to make sure that we're healthy. Michigan State is a team who is going to push us all four quarters. We know that. When you go out here and you play against a team like Nevada, you assume that everyone that walks off the field is going to be absolutely perfect going into the next game. Those guys hit hard. They're big-time, Division I athletes. They played us well. They're a really good defense.

We're all broken up a little bit. We got to get into the training room make sure we're all right physically so when the game plan gets put in we're able to practice hard and treat it like a game-like situation.

Q. Physicality, that has to be a priority?
DeSHONE KIZER: Absolutely. Absolutely. You can sit here and say 'physicality' all you want. We're one of the most physical teams out there, with the three-headed monster at runningback. We're going to be physical all across the board.

Now it's about putting on your hardhat, lunch pail, going out and doing it. Michigan State has a rep that they are going to play you hard-nosed, play you in between the tackles. We're going to do it when we have to, take the shots when we have to.

Q. (No microphone.)
DeSHONE KIZER: We have chemistry all across the board. We spend a lot of time with everyone. When you have guys like Equanimeous, K.J., everyone is a stud. We're not looking for chemistry. We're trying to put the ball in the guy's hands that is going to make the play.

Q. What can you say about T.J.? Seemed to be reliable.
DeSHONE KIZER: There's no favoritism when it comes to receivers. We draw the plays up and call them to get the ball into the guy's hand who is open, whether it's Torii, the veteran, it happens to be him that play. We're going to be able to spread the ball around. Young guys can make plays.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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