Zaire, Kizer to share Irish QB duties in opener

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly put a temporary end to the debate about which player will be the team’s starting quarterback this season by saying on Wednesday that both junior Malik Zaire and sophomore DeShone Kizer will play in the Sept. 4 opener against Texas.

“If I list (the roster’s) top five playmakers, they’re (both) in it,” Kelly said. “So my ultimate decision was I can’t put one of those guys on the sideline against Texas.”

Zaire was Notre Dame’s starting quarterback in the 2014 Music City Bowl against LSU and in the first two games of last season. He was outstanding in a 38-3 rout of Texas in the 2015 opener.

Zaire was lost for the season when he suffered a serious ankle injury in the second game against Virginia.

Kizer, then a redshirt freshman, replaced Zaire and threw a game-winning touchdown pass against the Cavaliers and went 8-3 as starter in 2015.

Kizer completed 63 percent of his passes with 21 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions last season. Zaire went 26-of-40 for 428 yards, four touchdown passes and no interceptions in his short 2015 campaign.

At the end of spring practice, Kelly said he would name one of them as the starter in preseason camp. But he changed his mind.

“These two guys are just too good,” he said Wednesday. “I watched them in practice and they’re making plays, and then I watched the guys around them and they’re just not as good. It was counterintuitive for me (to name one as a starter.)”

Kelly provided no specifics on when or how long each would play against the Longhorns and added he might even consider having both on the field at the same time.

“It’s never easy playing two quarterbacks, it’s much easier playing one,” Kelly said. “But we’re in the business of winning football games. If it’s a little harder on us, we can make it work if the net result is winning. My job is to win, and my belief is playing both of them gives us the best chance to win.”