High school star quarterback Gunnar Kiel headed to Notre Dame
Comments (...)SOUTH BEND (MCT) — Gunner Kiel enrolled at Notre Dame on Tuesday. When the program’s latest five-star quarterback lacquered in reverie officially arrives is the issue now. And for however long it takes to determine whether Brian Kelly just set course for promised land or another penetrating disappointment.
The 6-foot-4 Kiel, by consensus either the nation’s best or second-best high school quarterback, is the landmark recruit of Kelly’s Notre Dame tenure. And Kiel’s decision confirms this as a landmark offseason for Kelly, who retools his offensive staff while overseeing a quarterback battle that just went hypersonic.
“What they’re getting,” Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell said, “is the perfect fit for their system.”
After a season in which its offense mostly floundered against good defenses and during an offseason in which only the tight ends coach is likely to be the same for next season, Notre Dame needs an identity. Preferably by the end of spring practice, ambitious as that is, to establish direction.
That direction starts with quarterback. As prolific as Kiel was in high school, passing for 2,517 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior, the competition level has been questioned. Then there’s the small matter of absorbing an intricate offense in nine months when three in-house quarterbacks have years-long head starts.
“Physically, he’s ready to compete,” Farrell said. “Mentally, I have no idea. ... He’s as good, probably better, physically than any of the quarterbacks there. But the mental part of things is always going to be the gauge.”
Particularly against Notre Dame’s tough 2012 schedule, it’s likely Kiel would make precisely the mistakes the Irish want to avoid. But how does Kelly divvy the reps in spring? If he wants to ready a starter, can he afford a four-way split with Kiel, incumbent starter Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson?
Rees has to fend off another five-star prospect with king-size hype that, specs-wise, seems superior. Hendrix must outplay a player with similar attributes who’s viewed as more polished. After sitting out 2011, Golson now has a bigger version of himself just one class behind.
They’re all at Notre Dame. They can do math. If the reps indicate Kelly is preparing Kiel to help at least some in the short-term while obviously eyeing the long-term, how will the quarterbacks running third and fourth respond after reading the tea leaves or hearing pitches about position switches?
It’s a situation almost hilariously saturated with melodrama that, along with the staff reshuffling, Kelly must manage exquisitely to secure a positive trajectory in a critical Year 3.
It became theatrical when, just hours before Kiel was set to travel to LSU — the second school to which he committed, after initially pledging allegiance to Indiana — another change of heart drove the Columbus, Ind., native to South Bend.
“This recruitment process was a roller-coaster ride at times, but I know I have made the right decision for my family and me,” Kiel said Tuesday in a statement released by the school.
“There were three critical elements I was looking for in my future school: The quality of education I would receive, the distance from home and the comfort level I would have with the players and coaches in the football program. Notre Dame was the perfect fit for me because it hit all three areas.”
No one questions Kiel’s arm and talent. Some question his nimbleness and potential as a runner in a spread offense. Few doubt Kiel can be good. Some wonder if he yet has the withering confidence of a Jimmy Clausen or even the pedigree of a Dayne Crist.
No one is unclear on what the dizzying process that brought Kiel to Notre Dame means: Rumpus, rumpus everywhere.
“It all worked out in the end,” Farrell said. “He’s where he should be. If he’s not successful at Notre Dame, I don’t think he would be successful anywhere.”
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