Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has every right to talk about former starting quarterback DeShone Kizer.
But it’s starting to feel a bit weird.
Kelly received some backlash for saying Kizer should’ve stayed in school. The intention probably wasn’t selfish, but wishing a kid who is a projected first-round pick would stick around and play unpaid football and gamble with his future finances is hard to justify.
Alas, Kelly just had another interview with Pro Football Talk and tried to expand on his comments, per Michael David Smith:
My comments were really specific about just maturing as a person. We want our guys to come to Notre Dame and develop holistically in all areas. So being at Notre Dame for a couple years does not give you that chance. When we turn over our young men to the NFL we want to say they’re finished products and DeShone’s not there yet. He needed more time. We clearly understood his decision to go to the NFL and we supported him, but I was merely saying that, again, he’s a young man that could use more time at Notre Dame. He’s a wonderful kid, he’s got great character. . . . Whoever gets the chance to draft DeShone is going to get somebody with great character and somebody that’s just scratching the surface as it relates to his football ability.
The interviews with Kelly feel redundant at this point. He’s happy Kizer will get his shot in the NFL but wants to stress Notre Dame could’ve helped him mature further.
Fine, but this feels more like an extension of the too-long draft process than anything. Kelly isn’t saying anything new. Kizer is a project with a gigantic ceiling who could go somewhere like Arizona and learn for a year or fall to the second round.
It’s clear Kelly will root for his former quarterback regardless. One has to wonder, though, if grabbing his thoughts on the matter will cease.
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