No coach in Division I college football has a more difficult decision to make at the quarterback position than Urban Meyer. Ohio State has two quarterbacks — Braxton Miller and JT Barrett — that were clear-cut Heisman Trophy candidates and a third — Cardale Jones — that led them to a national championship.
Despite that, Brian Kelly believes Notre Dame has more talent at the position.
“At the quarterback position, maybe other than Ohio State, I would take our two quarterbacks,” Kelly said Wednesday, per JJ Stankevitz of CSNChicago.com. “And I would take our two over Ohio State’s. In terms of depth, I don’t know if anybody has a better situation than we do in terms of the two quarterbacks we have.”
The Irish have two good quarterbacks in Everett Golson and Malik Zaire. The major difference between their situation and Ohio State’s is that both Barrett and Jones were thrust into action because of injuries, whereas Zaire took over when Golson wasn’t getting it done.
Zaire played like a true dual-threat in Notre Dame’s surprising bowl victory over LSU, which led to rumors about Golson transferring. And we all know about Golson being kicked out of school for cheating, so there have been some off-field concerns as well.
You can’t blame Kelly for expressing confidence in his guys, but, from a depth standpoint at least, no one would take the Irish’s quarterback situation over Ohio State’s.
