Notre Dame Football: 15 best quarterbacks in Fighting Irish history

DeShone Kizer is the only player on this list who is still active in the NFL. He is now entering year three in the league, now with his second team backing up Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers. Kizer’s inclusion on this all-time list might be a tad controversial, but he did put up some excellent numbers in his two years as the Notre Dame starting quarterback.

Kizer first committed to the Irish in 2013. He redshirted his freshman season in 2014, as he was the backup to both Everett Golson and Malik Zaire. Golson might have quarterbacked the Irish to a national title bout, but Kizer was the best pro prospect at the quarterback position to leave South Bend since Jimmy Clausen seven years before him.

Kizer got his first bit of collegiate action relieving Zaire in an early-season blowout of Texas. Once Zaire was injured in the second game of the season to Virginia, it was Kizer who took over and made the most of his opportunity. He completed 62.9 percent of his passes for 2,880 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a redshirt freshman. Notre Dame would make it to a New Year’s Six bowl game but fell to Urban Meyer’s Ohio State Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl.

Expectations were high for Kizer and Notre Dame entering the 2016 campaign. After playing out of his mind in a double-overtime road loss to Texas in Austin, things went for the worse for the Golden Domers that fall. Notre Dame went a miserable 4-8. Kizer and head coach Brian Kelly clashed, which didn’t make it all that surprising once Kizer declared for the 2017 NFL Draft after his redshirt sophomore season.

Kizer completed 58.7 percent of his passes for 2,925 yards, 26 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He finished his Notre Dame career with a 60.7 career completion percentage, 5,805 passing yards, 47 touchdowns passes and 19 interceptions. As a runner, he amassed 264 carries for 997 yards and 18 trips to pay dirt in his two seasons as the Irish signal-caller.

Kizer would be second-round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2017. He was the starting quarterback for the 2017 Browns that finished with a horrendous 0-16 record. Kizer was then traded to the Packers after his rookie season in a deal involving cornerback Damarious Randall. Overall, Kizer’s Notre Dame legacy is a complicated one, one that had a ton of promise, but fell short of lofty expectations and ended a year sooner than it probably should have.