Given the QB situation it makes sense to have him back back at third string there. Kizer is a bit of a project and won't even have spring ball to help acclimate him. As it stands the Irish are two injuries at the position away from epic disaster. Changing that to being two injuries away from regular disaster has some genuine value, IMO.
EDIT: Kinlaw should be in there somewhere - maybe even ahead of Kizer. If Massa is brought back and that allows Kinlaw to work at his projected future position rather than working at QB then it's another positive effect.
I have been thinking a lot about this.
First, Kizer is no more of a project than any quarterback that has come in for Kelly back to CMU. That is right. Dan LeFever spent his freshman year as a redshirt at CMU. And "project" status or rating aside (I think it is one of the most trite and overused phrases in the fan lexicon) few teams get a guy coming in with as high a athletic ceiling as DeShone Kizer.
What I was thinking about was Kelly "interrupting" his own press conference to delve into detail about his plans for a signal caller. It is unlike BK to release much of any information up front, without being prodded. Brian went to great lengths to talk about depth on his squad at the quarterback position, and he named Malik Zaire, and something like "whoever else we may have coming in." In my opinion, Brian Kelly went out of his way to acknowledge DeShone Kizer, even though it was an especial pain in the NCAAss, with rules for unsigned commits being what they are.
Other than to keep DeShone in the fold if unsubstantiated rumors are true about him bolting to play basketball somewhere, (DeShone plans things methodically), why would Kelly have said that?
Last year I tried to express myself about the quarterback situation and failed miserably. I think that the coaching staff's new mantra is exactly the rub. Kelly went from in '13 not having one quarterback available to him that had the abilities he wanted to see in his starter, to having every one on his depth chart (through three) having those abilities. I think Kelly has, and knows he has three guys that can play outside the pocket, and can extend plays by foot or by air, and has the rest of the offensive tools (line, WR's, TE's, and RB's) he needs to put it to best advantage.
Simply put I believe for whatever reason, Kelly said, I can play and win with my 1, 2, or 3. Obviously, he doesn't want to be in the position to use his three in September, but I believe over the run, he thinks he can win big with any of his guys.
