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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 16, 2016DeShone KizerMalik ZaireSouth Bend, Indiana Notre Dame Blue - 17, Notre Dame Gold - 7 DeSHONE KIZER: I'm really confident in what I'm doing, really confident in what I'm doing and need to get better. Q. How is your confidence level? DeSHONE KIZER: It's at a high. I feel like I have a great grasp of our offense. I understand a lot of what the defense is trying to do and some of the -- indiscernible -- other than that, I think I'm better than last year. Just understanding the game and how to feel it out and read defenses and react in the slot. During the season, it's easy to game plan and kind of see everyone's looks. Going into spring with Coach VanGorder, he has a bunch of different blitzes that you have to be able to go on the fly and just use the knowledge that you've learned from the past. I've done a pretty good job of just taking the things I've learned throughout the season last year to go out and have my own experimentation and getting through some of those wild looks. Q. Coach Kelly said the two of you guys -- how would you handle that? DeSHONE KIZER: That's one thing that's out of my hands. I know what I can do and I know what I have been doing and I just have to continue to expand at that. Last year was pretty good. Obviously we were about four points away from being an undefeated regular season team and with that, I've just got to make sure that I can develop off that and if I get better -- the next National Championship. As long as I continue to have the confidence in myself and once again continue to develop, hopefully it will be an easier decision. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: KJ was able to take those things in highlights and make them reality today. He brings it over to spring and that's very impressive and now to be able to bring it into the spring game in front of 40,000 people and you're still able to go out there and run great routes is awesome. Defensively, the linebackers out there playing different teams and having the production we had out of them shows we are able to come in and fill some of those spots with Joe and Jalen leaving. I'm excited to see what our defense is going to do and I'm excited to watch the young guys mesh with the rest of their class when they get into town and try to help out this team and accomplish our goal. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: This is awesome. You get so caught up in all the pressure that comes along with this, and obviously this is a huge business and there's always a lot going on with the final four and all the rankings and all that good stuff. When you're out here, you're able to take in the same vibes that you have and just focus on the good times. Obviously Malik and I have developed to where we're going to be and everyone kind of understands where we are. This wasn't necessarily an audition in one night. I was able to take off that pressure, take off the competition and take off the stuff that comes with the final four. I'm out there laughing and making fun of guys and stuff like that, that's what this is for. As long as we continue to have fun and keep that mind-set that at the end of the day, it's about having a good time and playing the game that we love and just a great game, and it's a great example of where our guys are and how much we love the game. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: You know, it propels you and yeah, it's cool to have someone that's great behind you. But at the end of the day we're two different quarterbacks. I have my own style, he has his own style. It's hard to compare evenly against someone who is not like you. So you're going to have to compete with yourself and come from within and try to figure out how you yourself are going to improve. So with that, yeah, it's great to have the competition and it's great to have someone who is great throwing the ball next to you but at the end of the day it's about you and how you're going to develop. Same way I was trying to develop during the season is the same way I'm going to try to prepare. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: Overall, it was a great opportunity for me to experiment with some of the things I did last week. Like I said. And with that I was able to have some confidence with what I was doing to really see things and work things out and put some guys in motion and get a sense of the right play. I'm the type of guy where I'm not going to just allow us to be in a right play and make it right. I want to be in the right play at all times, and I think this is a great opportunity for me to learn from that. That was kind of one of my biggest goals and I feel like a accomplished it. Even today I was able to go out there and make the protections I wanted to make and truly communicate well with Coach VanGorder on the sideline, along with Coach Sanford. Mechanically, there's some things that you have to get better at. Even the best have a lot that they have to work from in the off-season. I think I made some strides in some things but also threw another ball in the dirt. That's something that eats me up. That was one of my big things I did last year and absolutely destroyed me, and I thought that was gone. And all of a sudden, I get comfortable out there and I'm thinking about things that are not related to mechanics. So now I have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: Continue to learn how to lead this team. Obviously this is going to be a fun competition with him and we're going to have to figure out who is going to be the guy. But there's a lot that's going to happen within the next couple months in term of new guys coming in, in terms of Malik trying to go out and do his own personal work outs. I'm just going to try to learn as much about everyone on the team to make myself a better leader. In the spring I took an approach to my leadership to be a guy and lead from the outside but now it's time to show some initiative and kind of put myself in a position that's maybe even captain-like. If I can do that, it would be a better opportunity for me to be a starting quarterback because you have the ability to lead. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: It's a great football -- it's impressive to see what he does -- what he did today -- indiscernible -- my mouth dropped. I don't wish anything bad upon him. I'm enjoying it just like you guys are enjoying he's an amazing athlete. And with that, we talk a little, we have a little fun, we laugh. Any time we do something good, we pull for each other. Our quarterback's meeting room has one initiative and that is to be a championship quarterback to represent everyone else in the room. When I'm out there I'm trying to represent everyone else in the room, and when he's out there he's trying to represent me and everyone else in the room. We're trying to get to a National Championship. We've been pretty close the last couple years and we want to take some of those good seasons and turn them into one great season. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: He's a great leader and he's had an opportunity to finally show what he can do. Obviously last year was an opportunity for him to truly take over and be the guy and to be one of the better running backs in the country and -- he had an injury. Today he's back out there, he's giving his all, was around 95 percent, wasn't able to be at full go and in the next couple months he'll be a full-go guy. I'm excited to see what he can do. He has all the experience. He has the smooth running and the patience to be a great running back. So I'm just excited to see what he does and obviously he's going to play a big part in our success. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: Oh, yeah. Bad weather, we had, what, four, five inches on the ground last week of snow. Just happened to be the perfect weather, great crowd, families are out, people are having a good time. You can smell the barbeque in the air. It's a great time here in South Bend. Q. A year ago in the spring game -- now you're comfortable and making plays -- DeSHONE KIZER: Last year was really rough for me. I definitely said it was one of the lowest points in my life, and I was thinking whether I even wanted to play football. I thought maybe I should switch sports or find another path to become successful. But obviously a lot has changed since then. I was able to clear my plate off through the development at quarterback, and got an opportunity and tried to make the best of it. Now this is just another step in the road for me to take that low moment and continue to develop off of it. I'm really happy to be here. I think it's one of the best decisions I made was to stay around and also to even come to this school. Notre Dame is a special place and I'm looking forward to being able to represent it and become a great quarterback. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, I concentrated on my decisions. There was a lot of opportunities. There's two great quarterbacks in front of me at the time. I wasn't throwing the ball well. The spring game wasn't the best for me. I was having some issues off the field and I had to make a decision whether or not football was the way to go, or any wanted to to play another sport or I wanted change schools -- obviously you're -- indiscernible -- never once did I ever reach out to see a guy who wanted to transfer -- inaudible -- in the back of your mind when you're not having the success that you had in high school. So with that, obviously I made the right decision and we're here now. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: The personal issues back home were cleared up, a successful surgery with my girlfriend at the time -- Everett decided to leave -- indiscernible -- business school. There were some things that were restarting for me and I kind of used the opportunity to take all the stuff that I had my freshman year, my red shirt year and use the summer to gauge where I was and started throwing the ball well. I got to work -- inaudible -- and obviously to be in a good position -- inaudible -- I thought that was a good position to be a starting quarterback, but when he did slowdown -- indiscernible -- I was able to go out there and do pretty well. Q. Where do you think you've developed the most after stepping up last season? DeSHONE KIZER: I have my own repertoire of different plays that I can go out there and do. A lot of what we do here is based upon Coach making (indiscernible) for us. I think that it would go a lot smoother if I was able to have the same mind-set and be parallel with some of those -- (indiscernible). It's a great time for me to learn about myself and how I want to go about our offense and how I can take the knowledge that I have and the experience that I have to go out there and make my own -- today was a great opportunity and I made some plays I wanted to get to and now I can take those different things that I did throughout the spring and mix them with the game plans we put together for the year and hopefully make sure that we're in the right place. Q. Do you work out with Malik? DeSHONE KIZER: Yeah, we have plays around practices where we'll all be together and other times you're better on your own. Malik is a guy that he likes to get up and do one-on-one work outs with certain guys and I'll do that. But for the most part, we're here with the opportunity to practice as a team at all times. So we'll be going out six times a week doing seven-on-sevens. That's more than enough to put yourself in good position. The extra stuff, you can get a little bit of that, but for the most part, we kind of plan that as a team. Q. Inaudible. DeSHONE KIZER: He's a great quarterback. Obviously he can win. We saw his performances. He came out of the spring game -- inaudible. I'm just going to make sure that I'm in a position that when my name is called that I'm in a position to help win the game -- all I can do is go out and better myself. I'll try to figure out a way -- I didn't come here for personal goals or Heisman. I came here to win a National Championship for Notre Dame. MALIK ZAIRE: I think the main goal is being the best player on the field so you can help the team win a National Championship and that's my goal and that's the goal of the rest of the guys so. Whatever it takes. Q. Will you be ready -- MALIK ZAIRE: I'll be ready. Q. How confident are you in your ability to lead this team? MALIK ZAIRE: I've always had confidence. If you don't have confidence in yourself to get the job done, then you might as well not even be out there. I always feel I can help this team. Q. Coach mentioned that the offense developed last year -- do you feel that way, that you did catch up? MALIK ZAIRE: I think we've got a new team. Last year's team is different than this year's team, so getting acclimated and adjusting to those guys, building chemistry not only with the tight ends and receivers and running backs, but also the o-line. We mixed up the teams a little bit today, but I think the chemistry is only going to continue to get stronger. And we don't want to be there now. I mean, we've got a lot of time before our first game. I think getting closer to that chemistry is something we worked on in the spring and is something we accomplished. Q. Inaudible. MALIK ZAIRE: Getting ready for the first game. Getting ready for the season. There's a lot of things that I want to clean up and a lot of things that I want to work on heading into the summer. That's something that we can accomplish. I think those are goals that we have and we'll get that done and be ready for the season. Q. On the touchdown run, how good was it to be able to do that in a live situation -- MALIK ZAIRE: Playing football. Q. Do you think you'll be able to have that TD and kind of put that behind? MALIK ZAIRE: If I didn't feel good, I probably wouldn't have been out there. I'm glad with the help of the training staff we got a lot of work done and got me to this point where I can be out there and play. There's a lot of work to continue to do, not only with health but field position wise. Q. Do you enjoy having another quarterback on the roster to push you like this? MALIK ZAIRE: Well, we are two guys in the best place -- competition is the best place to be as a quarterback in my opinion, and on a national stage like this. I think at the end of the day, it's all about staying competitive and whatever it takes for the team. Q. You guys had a little talk on the side, the second drive, and the third drive you came out with a 50-yard pass. Do you feel like you got your confidence back on that third drive and went from there? MALIK ZAIRE: I don't know about my confidence. But I think that it's the game. Everything is going to work out. I'm glad we figured it out and we were able to score points and do it in a good fashion. I wish we had more drives. Q. Inaudible. MALIK ZAIRE: Since I've been at school -- to be able to go two sports and school at the same time. That man is very talented. Q. Inaudible. MALIK ZAIRE: Yeah, KJ, we've been doing a lot of work ever since he touched down and getting to see it pay off, it's going to see it getting better moving from here now. We consider him a semi-pro. I think he's a semi-vet, now heading into the summer, has a lot more responsibilities to get on the right track and we look for a lot of big things from him this year. Q. What's your relationship with DeShone, competing for the starting job? MALIK ZAIRE: The good thing is that we had a relationship before all of this even transpired. So I think that the starting position -- I'm glad he's on the roster and I'm glad that we are in a position that we can both be better and I think it's going to help the team in the end. Q. How much does he push you? MALIK ZAIRE: I'm motivated by my own sources. I think him being on the roster is good for both of us to be able to learn how to operate in different circumstances and different situations. I'm glad that he's here and I'm glad he's part of the team. That's my brother and we work out every day and we get a lot of things done together. I think just having that as another teammate and another brother on the team is only going to help us get stronger. Q. Coach Kelly talked about the communication, and how the offense has evolved a little bit. What do you think you really got done? MALIK ZAIRE: It was just about staying consistent. I think being able to come out every day and execute at the high level that we strive for, we set goals for, is something that -- a standard that not a lot of people know about. So being able to just stay consistent and being able to communicate on a high level is something that is expected from this position, as well as what it's going to take to win that National Championship. We've done a lot of good things and now it's just continue to build on that. Q. Inaudible. MALIK ZAIRE: Yeah, it's never been a frustration thing for me. I feel like what I've done -- I feel like I can't sit there and be disappointed and think, you know -- what I could have done better. For me, it's continue to take that next step and reaching that level to help this team win the National Championship. I want to do that really bad for this football team and the only way I know I can perform that and do this for that football team is playing my best and being the best in the country. That's my motivation getting me ready through the summer and looking forward. Q. How many guys will have starting -- MALIK ZAIRE: It's good. I think all our linemen -- I've never been worried about the O-line. I know they are going to go through the things they need to go to get to a high level of offense. They raised the bar of my expectation and also raised the expectation of the offense to keep up with them. We are always facing the O-line and I think you'll see on the first game, we'll put it all together. Q. Was it important to you that Coach let you be live today -- MALIK ZAIRE: We'll always be -- Q. Why is that important for you? MALIK ZAIRE: I think it's playing football. You don't play football with a lot of handicaps. I don't like having a red jersey on me but I've had a red jersey on for a long time now. So it's time to move on to more game situations. Q. Did you miss the feeling, the contact? MALIK ZAIRE: Nobody likes contact but I like the feeling of knowing that I've got -- indiscernible. Q. Did you talk to him at all about the quarterback competition -- MALIK ZAIRE: He's my guy. We always catch up and talk a lot, actually. We don't really talk about things that we're going -- but we're like brothers. We talk about brother stuff, just being able to be close and also know that he's another great competitor and a guy that I hope down the road -- it's good to have that relationship with another guy. We talk a lot but I think the most important thing is we always push each other to help our team win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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