A month ago, 49ers GM John Lynch told reporters Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer blew the doors off his interview with San Francisco. Lynch flew to South Bend for Kizer’s pro day and ate dinner with the 21-year-old. It would not be a shock if the 49ers selected the big-armed Ohio native in the second round at No. 34.
“I think this whole thing is not about an interview, but if you were grading him on that alone, he blew the doors off it,” Lynch said. “He’s an impressive young man. His film is very impressive.”
Too bad Kizer’s former coach isn’t keen on promoting his quarterback the same way Lynch is.
Rarely will you see a college coach rebuke one of his players for entering professional sports early. During a Sirius XM radio interview, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly crossed that line.
“Well, he still should be in college. The circumstances are such that you have to make business decisions and he felt like it was in his best interest,” Kelly said. “I’m going to support him and his decision. But the reality of it is he needs more football, he needs more time to grow in so many areas. Not just on the field, but off the field.”
Kelly has all sorts of debatable personality flaws, but throwing your former quarterback under the bus is not a good look — for Kelly or Kizer. If Kelly is really blaming last season’s 4-8 record on his quarterback, he needs to look in the mirror. It was evident Notre Dame lost a truck full of talented players from a 10-3 Fiesta Bowl team. Kizer regressed, as did the entire team.
For however off-kilter Kelly may seem to be, it’s never good news when a former coach gives any type of negative press to a former player. From the day he declared, I made it clear I have an issue with Kizer’s accuracy problems (58.7 completion percentage). Notre Dame lost all six of the games he didn’t complete 60 percent of his passes. At 6-foot-5, though, he does have the physical tools that often translate to NFL success from college. The “off the field” comment from Kelly is also a little troubling and completely uncalled for in a public setting.
The question becomes if Lynch and Kyle Shanahan truly are intrigued about drafting Kizer, will they dive deeper into this issue with Kelly? You better not take a quarterback in the early rounds unless you’ve done every bit of homework on the prospect. Hashing out a discussion with Kelly seems like a priority between now and April 27th.
Kelly’s not fully wrong here. Kizer could’ve benefited from another season slinging the rock for the Fighting Irish. But one thing is for sure: However entertaining the interview was, nobody benefits from Kelly ripping his quarterback on his way out the door. Not future recruits, not Kizer and certainly not Kelly.