While the NFL Draft evaluation process has seen the stock of former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer plummet like the brand value of Pepsi, he still made the right call in coming out this year. The 2018 class of quarterbacks will be much stronger than the 2017, which is a bit weak.
Also, given how ND’s season went, and the current direction and status of the Brian Kelly regime, Kizer really had no real reason to return to South Bend. It doesn’t seem like the 2017 Fighting Irish season was going to help the Toledo area native very much.
Another thing that won’t help him very much, the arrogant comments he made this past week. Comments that DeShone Kizer says were taken way out of context.
Sheesh? Way out of context… but alright https://t.co/6zGztV08Bu
— DeShone Kizer (@DKizer_14) April 20, 2017
Here are the exact quotes:
“Name a college quarterback who goes into the game-plan meetings on Monday and throws his notes at the coaches,” Kizer told USA Today.
“No one else game plans the way I do. No one else prepares the way I do. No one else knows football the way I do. No one else is as big as I am. No one else is as powerful a runner as I am. Pat Mahomes might throw the ball 80 yards and I can only throw the ball 72, but I guarantee he can’t throw an out route the way I can.
“No one else can do what I can do. And I’ve truly figured out in this process, if I can maximize all my potential in every aspect of the game – this is bold – I do have the ability to be the greatest quarterback to ever play. Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body. Why can’t I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me. That’s what’s driving me now.”
Tom Brady’s brain and Cam Newton’s body? Yes, that’s not lacking for confidence at all. Yes, it’s very arrogant, no doubt about it.
For the record, we’re huge fans of Kizer’s, simply because he overtly takes pride in being an intellectual. He does so at a time when America is backlashing against intelligence, expertise and even basic truths. The fact that you even need to have a March for Science, in 2017, in hundreds of cities all across the world, tells you everything you need to know about how America feels about intelligent people right now.
Kizer’s comments have been interpreted in numerous ways, often taken to extremes. He said what he said, the exact quotes are right there. Whether you think there’s a “smear campaign” against him or not, it’s up to you. If you think he’s comments weren’t cocky, and totally fine, it’s your own opinion as well.
Again, we believe that Kizer’s valuing intellectualism, at time when such a position is unpopular, makes him a guy with rooting for, but how will his controversial comments affect his NFL Draft stock?
(Here’s where he currently have DeShone Kizer slotted in our latest NFL mock draft.)
“You know, when 21- year-old kids say things like that, and like Myles Garrett, whatever he said a little while ago, I just start to laugh,” said NFL Network Draft guru Mike Mayock.
“To me that’s just immaturity. On a scale of that versus putting your hands on a woman or testing positive at the combine, I think it’s minute, and I think most people just kind of laugh and say, well, the kid will grow up once he gets to camp and realizes that he’s not the reincarnate of Cam Newton and Tom Brady. So I don’t think that’s a big deal.”
“What I’m telling you, and I’ve been consistent about with people, is that I do believe he’s got all the physical traits to be a first round quarterback and to be a starting quarterback. However, I don’t think he’s ready to play. And because he’s not ready to play, I would be very hesitant to take him in the first round. Would I like to develop him behind the starting quarterback for a year or two? I would love that.
“I would love to get him within a room with a mature quarterback, somebody who has been around and grind his tail off and shows this kid, who is a smart kid, hey, this is what it takes to play at the level. People don’t understand.”
“Not just quarterbacks. A lot of kids, 21, 22-year-old impressionable kids get drafted by certain teams, and they go into their rooms, and I mean the position.”
“That’s where they spend their most time. The guys in the position group room. If you get in a good room, most of the kids will go towards the good. If you get in a bad room, a lot of kids will go towards the bad. It takes a whole lot of mental toughness to be 21 and not go hang out with the older guys at night. It takes an awful lot. So, bottom line for me is I look at him and say I’d love to develop him.”
“But to me a first-round quarterback should be capable of starting year one, and I don’t believe he can.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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