We live in a wonderful world where there are numerous Notre Dame players catching the eye of NFL scouts. This isn’t like the mid-aughts where maybe two players were getting some hype about maybe getting picked in the 2nd round. Things are much different these days with the proliferation of social media and hot takes that can come to our phones and lap tops instantaneously.
One of the country’s most visible talent scouts is Matt Miller from Bleacher Report. Over the last 12 to 18 months Miller has been all aboard the Notre Dame talent hype train, including mocking Jaylon Smith first overall in this past spring’s NFL Draft prior to his devastating injury.
Here’s a sampling in recent months, for example:
Kizer reminds me a lot of Cam at Auburn, honestly. Just need to see better accuracy and getting through reads https://t.co/qKw7lDy95L
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 29, 2016
Cole Luke and Jarron Jones. Really liked Max Redfield before he got released. https://t.co/tOgdIVHwBV
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 27, 2016
Notre Dame is so loaded on both sides of the ball this year. NFL scouts will be flocking to South Bend
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 27, 2016
Going to watch a lot of @DKizer_14 tonight. Love the way this kid spins the ball.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 24, 2016
Ronnie Stanley has been flawless this preseason. My goodness. @Ravens hit on another excellent draft pick
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 24, 2016
Watching DeShone Kizer film this morning. Dude can sling the ball all over the field. He’s my preference at QB for the Irish.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 8, 2016
The love for @HoustonTexans center Nick Martin is real. I’ve talked to coaches and players who think he’ll be the team’s best lineman.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 4, 2016
Notre Dame is the best OL factory right now. Sure they’re using it in recruiting too @PFF_Mike
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) May 17, 2016
With Texas slightly out of the playoff picture this year, I’m rooting hard for Notre Dame.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) October 4, 2015
He likely won’t be a Day 1 or 2 prospect, but Notre Dame LB Joe Schmidt is my favorite player in college football. So intense, so smart.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) September 29, 2015
Did a mock draft exercise this morning…9 of 32 picks came from Ohio State and Notre Dame.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) August 3, 2015
Could an inside linebacker debut as my No. 1 overall player for the first time ever? Notre Dame’s Jaylon Smith looks like Patrick Willis did
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) June 23, 2015
Last year at this time I picked Ohio State to win the National Championship. I’d say this year it’s them and Notre Dame in the title game.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) May 4, 2015
Notre Dame’s Louis Nix RT @crmetz23: Who is the best 3-4 nose tackle in the draft
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) January 6, 2014
There’s a lot to digest in there. Miller is a self-professed Texas fan although it seems as though the Fighting Irish have their hooks in him, too. Last season, he sat in the press box for the USC game and enjoyed himself. With his allegiances this Sunday night is sure to be interesting!
The latest tweet to make the rounds of comparing Kizer to Cam Newton is pretty fun. I mean, I’m personally not buying that at all but it’s crazy that a year ago virtually no one knew who Kizer was, or if he could come in and even be a respectable backup, and here we are with these pretty crazy but not super outrageous comparisons.
I wonder what Miller liked about Redfield, to be honest. If the need ever arises to break down Max’s film I’ve done the leg work and put together his highlights:
Okay, that was mean. But seriously, the future of Redfield will be interesting to watch. Notre Dame has washed its hands of him in the football sense but that doesn’t have to be the end of his playing days. We don’t know if he intends on playing college football somewhere else down the road or if he has an eye to try and play in the NFL. I always thought his athleticism was overrated but he wouldn’t be the first Notre Dame player to seemingly have multiple lights go on after a year or two of professional football.
It’s hard to believe now but there was a time when Joe Schmidt was really well respected, and especially really well liked among the national media–the latter has always remained steady. Miller’s tweet came in late September last season and from there it was an up-hill climb in Schmidt’s final season. As an aside, has there ever been a prominent player at Notre Dame whose injuries were talked about less? How many Irish fans could explain what Schmidt played through in 2015?
I’m still not over Jaylon’s injury. I love that Miller had him going No. 1 overall.
You may have heard that Nick Martin has been lost for the year with an ankle injury. That’s too bad he was really turning heads down in Houston. It would have been amazing if he was truly the Texans’ best lineman, although that can’t say much about the talent in Houston, right?
Back in 2012 I might have picked Louis Nix as the most sure-fire NFL prospect on the team at the time. He’s now heading into his third year with 0 career tackles and has struggled mightily with injuries. By the time you read this he could be cut by the New York Giants.
Who’s your pick for the next hyped Matt Miller player tweet?
“Quenton Nelson is an absolute monster – love watching his film. Surefire 1st rounder -rare to see a guard drafted Top 10, but he might be that good.”
Good call, for sure. I bet Morgan gets some love soon too.
9/5/16
“26 game starter you never heard of? Isaac Rochell. Texas backfield sure knows him now”
Apparently being able to “sling the ball all over the field” is more important than being able to consistently make the right decision and finish drives in the EZ. I suppose that is a better skill than remembering which color jersey you’re supposed to be throwing to.
Do you actually enjoy watching ND football? Or do you prefer just coming around to rip apart a QB who went from 3rd string to leading the Irish to a 10 win season? Because any time Kizer is mentioned at all, it seems all but certain that you will be here letting us all know that he’s actually garbage.
But he’s just pro-Zaire that’s all!!
That charade left town a long time ago.
I seriously just had to go and check if Kizer threw 21 TDs and 10 INTs last season or the other way around with 10 TDs and 21 INTs. It would be tough to remember sometimes.
I must have missed the memo…Are ND QBs no longer rated for their performance in big games or is it just against the likes of UVA, Pitt, and Umass that they’re considered great nowadays?
In fairness, he played well vs Stanford and Clemson too.
And OSU allowed the most points all season against ND. So yeah, not sure where he’s coming up with the “Kizer sucks in big games” narrative, but it’s pretty weak.
He played pretty well against Stanford but was also helped by a PR TD by CJ Sanders and a homerun by Adams. He also fumbled at the end of the first half inside the red zone.
Against Clemson, he was able to start a bit of a comeback after clemson had started pulling off a little because he looked like hot garbage in the first half throwing 3INTs. Similar story against tOSU. Awful first half, decent second.
I’m not arguing, however, that Kizer is a BAD PLAYER. I keep saying this over and over. My contention is NOT that Kizer stinks or that he’s not the answer or can’t make ND successful…my contention is simply ZAIRE IS A BETTER PLAYER. Zaire is the guy that I trust considerably more to lead us to the promised land. All the good to decent stats on Kizer wont change that.
Yes, in fact you are arguing that Kizer is a bad player.
You keep trying to tear his performance last year down. I’m pretty sure that qualifies as arguing he’s a bad player. Of course, it’s all you have, since you have 1.5 games worth of evidence to claim Zaire is a better player.
It would be easier to believe the bottom paragraph without the top 2 marginalizing Kizer’s successes by crediting others and highlighting the negatives which seem to be all on him.
So you were looking for 500 total yards and 5 offensive TDs against Clemson? Would that have been enough for you to say he played a good game in a monsoon? Or maybe the fact that you have inflated his INT total is skewing your view of that game.
Kizer – 19/34, 321 yards, 2 passing TDs, 1 rushing TD, 1 INT
Watson – 10/21, 84 yards, 2 passing TDs, 1 rushing TD, 1 INT
But I guess that isn’t a big game performance? Or perhaps you’re talking about the Stanford game, where he had 365 total yards, 2 TDs, no turnovers, and a 15 play, 88 yard drive for a TD, leaving 30 seconds on the clock.
Oh now I see, you’re pissed at Kizer because he doesn’t also play defense for ND to help them win. Got it.
Geez, Clearwall!
Should have changed it “I WAS IN THE AEGEAN SEA!!!”
ND wasn’t even bad in the red zone last year. They were 7th in the nation in red zone S&P+. We just played some of the best red zone defenses in the country, so it felt worse than it actually was.
Well yeah, we had Prosise and Adams last year too. The problem was when we FAILED in the red zone, it was mostly Kizer to blame for it.
I could have sworn receivers had drops, even at the goal line, and Elmer totally got blown up on the 2 pointer at the goal line.
we’ll get to see soon enough Kizer vs Zaire. I like them both but think Kizer is the better bet.
See, I feel the same way. Like em both, but Zaire is better. Would love to be wrong and see Kizer lead us to a NC though.
“Sure, Kizer led us to 12-0, but man we’d have won every game by 10 more points at least if Zaire had started…”
LMFTFY: 13-0
KIZER led or CJ Prosise and ESPLOSIVA led with Kizer?
I’m saying that’s what you’ll say at the end of this year.
Of course, I think we’ll go 7-5, so I don’t REALLY think you’ll be saying that.
I don’t recall all the times we failed in the red zone, but I suspect this is confirmation bias mixed with the fact that if we end up not converting in the red zone we probably threw it on 3rd down so of course it would be Kizer.
Have any stats to back up that assertion?
Now did he have Corey robinson as a mock draft 1st rounder last preseason? unfortunately that undermines any potential credibility
I agree. I like that he likes ND, but I don’t give him much credibility given the Redfield , Nix, Robinson, and Kizer comparison to Cam Newton.
Kinda like Phil Steels having Redfield as an All American last year
Behind the scenes here at 18S, I said to the team the other day that with a big season I think Kizer will get a lot of love from draftniks as a Baby Cam. His arm strength isn’t as good (although few are, and it’s plenty good enough), and of course he’s not in the same class as a runner, but he has that kind of combo of traits. There aren’t very many prototype NFL quarterbacks – Newton is 6’5″/245, Kizer is 6’4″/230 – who are also mobile enough to stress defenses.
I don’t think Miller is completely off the reservation. Kizer isn’t Cam, but if he puts up a 3,000/600 season (very possible), get ready for the comparisons to heat up.
Deshone Kizer is Paxton Lynch or Logan Thomas (as a SO, by far his best year). These are all of their SO seasons (unless Lynch RSed).
62.9%, 2880 yds, 8.6 y/a, 20 TD, 10 INT, 150.1 rating, 135 rushes, 525 yds, 10 TD – Kizer 2015
62.7%, 3031 yds, 7.3 y/a, 22 TD, 9 INT, 137.9 rating, 113 rushes, 321 yds, 13 TD – Lynch 2014
59.8%, 3013 yds, 7.7 y/a, 19 TD, 10 INT, 135.5 rating, 153 rushes, 469 yds, 11 TD – Thomas 2011
I hope he makes a Lynch like SO->JR jump, +4%, +700 yds, +6 TD, -5 INT, but ignoring the -11 rush TD.
I don’t think that Lynch comparison is fair, just because Lynch played such inferior competition. I think Kizer probably puts up another 5-10 TDs against that level of competition.
Man after his sophomore year, I thought Logan Thomas was going to eventually win a Heisman (or at least be a finalist). That guy looked like an unstoppable machine, and he was so much fun to watch. For that 1 year anyway.
“Man after his sophomore year, I thought Logan Thomas was going to eventually win a Heisman”
You and every NFL scout.
I don’t know why I feel obligated to stand up for him, but I think people have been/were too harsh on Redfield’s on-field performance (he wasn’t that bad), the safety position is a mostly thankless one given the state of today’s offenses, and he played for a coach that hasn’t really demonstrated that he is able to put his personnel in positions to succeed. That is all.
Must… not…. laugh…. at…. that…. highlight reel….
Most efficient highlight reel. Ever.
bravo, Eric!
Nice to see someone who’s at least relatively neutral about ND so optimistic! At least somewhat pushes down the annual sense of impending doom.
I think Michael hit the nail on the head above, but I also expect to see him glowing about Studstill – if he liked Redfield so much, he’ll probably be high on Studstill too.
Sebastian is the starter at FS.
When was that announced? The last BK PC that I saw, he said that SS would be Tranquill then Sebastian, and FS would be Studstill then probably Elliott / maybe Sebastian. He even specifically mentioned that they’d have to rotate people in for Stud because he didn’t think a guy could take all the snaps in his first game.
Was there a more recent time when he totally changed that tune?
In his press conference today. “Sebastian is assignment correct”. Implied Studstill fell behind due to injury.
That explains it. Hadn’t seen any mention of a PC until this (although I guess we are back to in season weekly PCs aren’t we). Thanks.
Ha. And now the news is everywhere. I learned my lesson about questioning CC.
Ah, well makes me feel better that I wasn’t the only one late to the party, if that makes you feel any better.
Clearly an indictment on Vangorder!
Not being able to make 1 5-star player work? Nah, not an indictment.
Not being able to develop multiple 5-star players? Pending, since for some reason Niles Morgan wasn’t allowed to see the field last year, but this year OMG HE’S GONNA BE GREAT YOU GUYS.
I’m hopeful, but I gotta see it before I believe it. And yes, it’s my inherent anti-BVG bias at this point, but if Morgan is as good as he’s been advertised this off-season and kicks ass, in some ways that makes me more critical of BVG for not finding a way to get him on the field ahead of a clearly diminished Joe Schmidt.
Don’t forget running an aggressive, structurally unsound defense that still can’t get pressure or force turnovers.
The CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE DEFENSE!