Notre Dame to play two quarterbacks in bowl game
Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson’s season began with him in the Heisman discussion and will end with him splitting snaps.
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Monday that both Golson, a redshirt junior, and Malik Zaire, a redshirt freshman, will play when the Fighting Irish take on LSU in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Golson started every game this season for the 7-5 Irish, but he was replaced by Zaire after struggling mightily in the 49-14 regular season finale loss to USC.
Against the Trojans, Zaire completed 9-of-20 passes for 170 yards and scored a rushing touchdown.
“We got a glimpse of what (Zaire) could do against USC,” Kelly said per IrishIllustrated.com. “But I think both of them can help us win. I want to play them both because I think both of them have different traits and we need to find a way to win the game. I think both of them can help us win.”
While he doesn’t know exactly how the snaps between Golson and Zaire will be divided, Kelly said using both quarterbacks would help the team “control the flow of the game.”
“It’s not going to be pull one and put the other one in because they’re not moving the team,” Kelly said. “We’re going to be utilizing both of them. Everett’s got a lot of experience. He threw for a lot of yards, over 3,000 yards. He’s capable of obviously some big plays and throwing the football. Malik’s not as experienced, but Malik’s shown himself to be very good at running some of our read option stuff.”
Golson was Notre Dame’s starting during its run to the BCS Championship Game in 2012, but missed all of 2013 with an academic suspension. He returned this season and threw for 3,355 yards and 29 touchdowns, but turned the ball over 22 times (14 interceptions, eight lost fumbles).
The Irish started the season 6-0 and ascended to No. 5 in the rankings, but the team lost five of its last six games – including its final four – to end the regular season in disappointing fashion.
Moving forward, with both Golson and Zaire returning in 2015, Kelly said he hasn’t ruled out a quarterback competition heading into next season.
“I’m open really to anything at this point. We want to put the best football team, the best offense that we can put on the field,” Kelly said. “Ideally, you’d like to have one, but if we’ve got two, then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll see how this plays out and then evaluate it as we move forward. I haven’t closed to door to any kind of scenario.”
For more Notre Dame news, visit IrishIllustrated.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
