USA TODAY International Edition
Kizer driven to succeed in NFL
DeShone Kizer is giving something up. For the time being, at least.
The former Notre Dame quarterback has been quiet on social media in the lead- up to the NFL scouting combine, and that absence will continue indefinitely.
“I don’t know yet,” Kizer said Friday when asked when he might return to the platforms. “As of now, I think it has done really well for me, and I need to continue to push forward in developing my game. I don’t think that I’m anywhere near to where I need to be a starter next year, so I’m probably going to stay in this bunker mentality for as long as that takes to get back to level of play to where I need to be.”
That’s a pretty honest assessment from a player who is trying to do anything he can to improve his draft stock. It directly opposes what two of his main competitors to be the first quarterback selected in the draft — North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson — said on the same podium hours earlier.
So for Kizer to say he’s not there yet, it’s a surprising admission and refreshing self- awareness.
Kizer faces questions about why Notre Dame went 4- 8 last season despite his physical gifts.
Last season Kizer completed 58.7% of his passes ( a drop from the previous year’s 62.9%) for 2,925 yards, 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He was benched midway through a loss to Stanford on Oct. 15. Some thought Kizer might opt to return to South Bend for another season, but he declared for the draft shortly after the season.
Kizer has at least one fan in the NFL.
New San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch said Thursday that Kizer “blew the doors off” during an interview session with the team’s brass.
“I’m pretty comfortable opening up and expressing who I am as a guy and how I plan going about this process,” Kizer said. “They had a lot of questions about last season and how a guy who has my size and arm strength goes and becomes 4- 8, and I responded with the way that I thought was the honest truth. And from what I understand, they were pretty impressed with that.” So what exactly went wrong? Kizer offered up a version of what he told the 49ers: “Going into that season, we were very confident. I was very confident in my abilities after the 2015 season. But at the end of the day, after doing a bunch of film study at the end of the season, the ball was in my hand every play and I just had to make more plays.”