Notre Dame's Will Fuller hauled in a beautiful pass to give the Fighting Irish a five-point lead with 12 seconds left against Virginia on Saturday. It looked like a deep ball Malik Zaire would throw — one with a great blend of velocity and touch.
But Zaire had left the game with an ankle injury. Sophomore DeShone Kizer delivered the 39-yard touchdown throw.
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Zaire will miss the season with a fractured ankle, so Kizer is now the starting quarterback for Notre Dame. He finished a 34-27 win over Virginia with 92 yards and two touchdowns on 8-of-12 passing.
Here are five things to know about the Irish's new signal caller.
Strong pedigree
Kizer was ranked the 232nd player in the class of 2014 by 247Sports.com coming out of Toledo Central Catholic High School. He had his pick of almost any school in the country — Alabama, LSU, Michigan State, Arkansas, Nebraska and Penn State, among others, offered him a scholarship.
Kizer also played baseball and basketball for Central Catholic and his father, Derek, played basketball at Bowling Green in the late 70s.
Big guy, big arm
Kizer couldn't have thrown that touchdown pass to Fuller any better. The receiver did a great job stretching the defense, but Kizer had the juice and precision to drop it just a few feet shy of the pylon. All Fuller had to do was fall into the end zone.
Kizer is listed at 6-4 and 230 pounds by Notre Dame although 247Sports listed him at 6-5 coming out of high school, and he's added about 20 pounds since to fill out that big frame.
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“He’s a dynamic player,” Greg Dempsey, Kizer's high school coach, told the South Bend Tribune in the spring. “He’s a big, athletic kid, who can throw the ball vertically and really stretch a defense multiple ways. He’s just got that big, pocket body, that’s kind of prototypical. Just like high school, he’s going to get better with every snap he takes and produce very well."
Motivation is there
Kizer's girlfriend had a baseball-sized tumor removed from her neck during a 17-hour surgery in the spring. It's offered him plenty of perspective in life and football.
You can read about Elli Thatcher's five-year struggle (and Kizer's role) on her personal blog.
Rough spring
While dealing with those personal issues, Kizer struggled to get meaningful reps in spring practice behind Zaire and Everett Golson, who transferred to Florida State in the summer. He went 1 of 5 for three yards and took a sack in Notre Dame's spring game.
Kizer beat out true freshman Brandon Wimbush for the backup job after Golson left. He didn't redshirt last season, but did not see any game action as the No. 3 quarterback.
He's been Irish before
Toledo Central Catholic's mascot is the Fighting Irish. It even uses a four-leaf clover as a logo.
The Irish were ranked second in Ohio during Kizer's senior season, which ended in a 42-41 loss in the Division III state quarterfinals. He completed 150 of 245 passes for 2,847 yards and 30 touchdowns with six interceptions that year. In 2012, he led Central Catholic to a Division II state title.