Will Malik Zaire See Action for the Irish in 2013?

Will Brian Kelly ever enter a season at Notre Dame without question marks heading into a season at the quarterback position? 2013 was seemingly going to be the year for that until Everett Golson's dismissal from school this spring. Golson was set to be the guy coming off a solid performance in the BCS National Championship game, who more than likely was going to make a huge jump as a second year starter.

With Gunner Kiel bolting to Cincinnati, Kelly wasted little time letting fans and media know who was going to start under center when the Irish run out of the tunnel against Temple next month.

"I've always moved forward," Kelly said. "I don't live in the past. I don't spend too much time in the future. I live in the present, and the present is that I've got Tommy Rees who is the starter for us, an established player, and he will be our starter. We think Andrew Hendrix and Malik Zaire can contribute, but Tommy will be our starter."

The quote is interesting because it doesn't rule out Zaire hitting the field this fall, but is Kelly just throwing the freshman a bone or does he really plan on using him this season? I believe that Kelly doesn't even know at this point if Zaire will see the field.

I believe whether Zaire plays this season will depend on three things- injuries, how he performs in Fall camp, and how the offense operates with Rees at the helm. Obviously if Rees goes down early in the year the likelihood of Zaire seeing the field will increase drastically. The last two points are really interesting. We have heard high praise about Zaire's passing ability and mobility, but his praise he gets from the coaching staff about his football IQ is the most exciting. Chuck Martin was quoted as saying Zaire picked up the offense faster than any freshman QB Kelly has had in 20 years of coaching. Lastly, what are we going to get with Rees? If Rees keep his turnovers down and moves the offense Kelly would have little reason to burn a year of eligibility with Zaire; I think we would see Andrew Hendrix in mop up time and special packages that calls for a mobile quarterback.

Notre Dame's offense under Kelly is most dangerous when the quarterback is a threat to run the ball, and I'm pretty sure we won't see Rees burning defenses with the read option anytime soon. So the question is, will Rees be able to make enough plays with his arm? I see Rees as a table setter not a playmaker, the problem is without a proven skill player like Michael Floyd or Tyler Eifert to rely on I think Notre Dame will need their QB to make plays. My worry is what happened in 2011 will repeat itself.  Rees turned the ball over what seemed like 100 times and they were always in the red zone during the 2011 campaign. Take a just a few of those away and Notre Dame could have easily had a 10 win season.

I really want Rees to succeed; he has had a roller coaster ride of a college career and it would be nice to see him cap it off with a solid senior year. If the offense falters or if he starts turning the ball over however, I think we will see Zaire this season. It will be interesting to see how long of a leash Kelly will give Rees who is notorious for being quick to yank a struggling QB out of the lineup.