SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Two weeks ago, one of the first people to tell DeShone Kizer he might be able to fit a pass through the back end of Temple's cover 2 defense was Malik Zaire.
The injured redshirt sophomore quarterback has traveled with Notre Dame to all of this season’s road game, but that Halloween trip to Philadelphia was the first time Zaire was physically fit enough to be mobile on the sidelines. Without much of a risk of getting leveled by a player running out of bounds — his fractured ankle healed enough to allow him to evade that — Zaire’s been more active in watching games and relaying what he’s seeing to Kizer and the Irish offense.
“He was (at Temple) able to see the defenses and be able to chart down every coverage that they had for me and some of the blitzes that they were sending at me,” Kizer said. “Not only does it help me, but it helps the coaching staff, and he's able to relay that to coach (Mike) Denbrock and the receivers and such.”
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Zaire will get his boot removed in about a week and a half and he’s already started throwing to begin strengthening his left arm. There’s no chance he’s able to play again this year, but Notre Dame has been hopeful since his Week 2 injury that he’d be able to participate in spring practice, which should begin in about four months.
But while he’s recovered, Zaire hasn’t sulked as his replacement catapulted from being a virtual unknown to a rising national star on a team three wins away from a likely, but not certain, berth in the College Football Playoff.
“He's been great in the meeting rooms, on the sideline in games,” coach Brian Kelly said. “After (DeShone) comes to the sideline, I'll say a couple things to him, then he talks to coach (Mike) Sanford on the phone, he goes over to Malik and gets the recap and any information he's seen. It's been really good dialogue and has built a strong relationship between the two.”
That dialogue paid off at Lincoln Financial Field. Zaire noticed Temple’s safeties were playing a little too far inside in their cover 2 scheme, information which he relayed to Kizer. Receivers Corey Robinson, Chris Brown and Will Fuller all eventually told Kizer the same thing, with Zaire also reminding the redshirt freshman that a hole may be open on the wide side of the field.
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With Notre Dame down three late in the fourth quarter, Kizer took advantage of what Zaire told him. He fit a 17-yard touchdown to Fuller into that weak spot in Temple’s coverage, which stood as a game-wining score to keep the Irish in the College Football Playoff hunt.
“At the college level, we don't have the ability to come out and have sheets that show defenses and take you play-by-play and take pictures and things like that,” Kizer said, “so he's kind of that source for me in talking through things and seeing some of the tendencies and some of the patterns that you can't necessarily see up top.”