When it comes to Notre Dame quarterbacks this century, DeShone Kizer is at the head of the class.

To give you a sense of how impressive the Kizer-led offensive output has been, I’ve compared the redshirt freshman’s snaps to the first 656 snaps of four of his predecessors: Everett Golson, Tommy Rees, Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn. (Dayne Crist, who had 630 career snaps, was also included.)

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In the six QB group, no one has thrown for more yards to start their career than Kizer. No group of runners has accumulated more yards than they have while Kizer is behind center. This year’s offense gained more than 15 percent more yards than a Golson-led or Rees-led offense, 30+ percent more than a Crist-led or Quinn-led offense and 80+ percent more yards than Clausen’s disastrous first year (and change).

Kizer’s team is also finding the end zone more frequently. The team has scored 42 touchdowns, with 19 coming from Kizer’s arm. Only Rees threw for more – 21 – although his team found paydirt only 30 times in the period examined.

ACCURACY

While Tommy Rees is likely best remembered for his turnover prowess by casual fans, I will always remember him for being, at one time, Notre Dame’s all-time most accurate passer. In the set, Tommy completed 215 of 339 throws, for a 63.422 percent completion percentage. DeShone Kizer completed 189 of 298 throws, just a hair better (63.423 percent) than Rees during the period studied.

Golson and Crist both completed 58.9 percent of their passes. Clausen completed 55.9 percent, and Quinn was at 46.6 percent.

TURNOVERS

One of Golson’s Achilles heels during his Notre Dame tenure was his inability to keep possession of the football. Surprisingly, it’s Golson with the fewest interceptions – 5 – through 656 snaps, with Crist and Kizer both at 9. Rees and Quinn both had 14.

The 2015 team is also slightly less prone to fumbling in comparison to the 2012 team at this point. The Kizer-led offense has 13 fumbles (7 lost) with 4 (1 of those lost) coming from the QB. The Golson-led offense had 14 fumbles (7 lost), with 8 (4 lost) coming from Everett’s hands.

PLAYMAKERS

“I’ll win the game for you, just give me the ball.” – Will Fuller to Brian Kelly during the 4th quarter of the Virginia game.

Will Fuller has been the most exciting receiver to watch since Michael Floyd was catching passes from Tommy Rees and Dayne Crist. Fuller’s decision to return for his senior year is a tremendous “get” for the Irish, because Fuller and Kizer have an undeniable connection. The pair hooked up 47 times for 933 yards – just shy of 20 yards per catch.

The Floyd-Rees connection was the most heavily utilized in the snaps analyzed. Tommy relied on Michael getting open to the tune of 79 catches for 918 yards.

And who can forget two other solid connections? Brady Quinn’s favorite deep target as a freshman was Maurice Stovall, who caught 19 passes for 397 yards – or almost 21 yards per catch. And Jimmy Clausen found the speedy Golden Tate 14 times for 291 yards, good for a 20.8 yard average.

Top receivers, sorted by yards per catch (minimum 10 receptions)

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When we think about workhorses, Julius Jones was the guy handed the rock most often during the period studied. When Brady Quinn handed off the ball, 55 percent of the time it went to Jones. He tallied a whopping 192 carries.

With injuries at the running back position this year, carries were distributed among three individuals: C.J. Prosise (124 carries), DeShone Kizer (120 carries, which includes sacks) and Josh Adams (87 carries). It’s amazing to think that Prosise, a safety-turned-slot-receiver-tuned-feature-back was so banged up this year, but that Kizer, who had four fewer carries suffered no significant maladies.

In terms of explosiveness, it’s easy to remember a speedster like George Atkinson, who had 38 carries for 300 yards in the Golson-led offense. But Jonas Gray actually had a better yards-per-carry average during the Rees tenure – 8.1 yards per carry on 46 carries, good for 373 yards overall.

Jones had the most yards – 1,148 – in the time period studied, with Cierre Wood (865 yards in Tommy Rees’ time) and Prosise (815 yards) a distant second.

Top rushers, sorted by yards per carry (minimum 10 carries)

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EXPLOSIVE PLAYS

Irish fans who like big gains had a lot of fun during DeShone Kizer’s redshirt freshman year.

The Kizer-led offense had 86 explosive plays – which I define as a rush of 12 yards or more or pass of 20 yards of more – for 2,452 yards. That means nearly 54 percent of all yards gained were through plays that gained chunks of yardage.

Quinn, who would set all sorts of Irish passing records later in his college career, had only 17 explosive pass plays during the time period studied. The 47 “explosive” run plays were second best to Kizer’s 48, however.

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The Kizer offense could be a bit of a boom or bust. They amassed 70 plays that went for negative yardage, which was more than all other quarterbacks besides Jimmy Clausen (whose 84 included sooo many sacks). Kizer’s indecisiveness – remember the 3rd quarter of the USC game? – also led to an inordinate amount of negative QB runs. Kizer lost 130 yards on 30 such plays, again only bested by Clausen’s 284 yards lost on 30 plays. For comparison, Tommy Rees – never known to be fleet of foot – only lost yards 12 times while the ball was in his hands during the snap count covered.

FINAL TIDBITS

No matter which way you slice them, the statistics suggest that DeShone Kizer had the best start to a Notre Dame career than any of his predecessors this century. This led to a 10-2 record, but not a shot at the national championship – which Golson (assisted by Rees) was able to accomplish in his first year.

Brian Kelly and Mike Sanford had a great year, running a mix of plays that utilized Kizer’s arm and legs as well as the team’s offensive line strength. Regardless of running back or receiver, everyone appeared to get in the same rhythm as Kizer, which makes him the presumptive front-runner heading into next year.

Here are the personnel for each period studied:

2003 – Quinn (true freshman) – Ty Willingham coach; Bill Diedrick offensive coordinator
2007 – Clausen (true freshman) – Charlie Weis coach; Mike Haywood offensive coordinator
2008 – Clausen (sophomore) – Charlie Weis coach; Mike Haywood offensive coordinator
2009 – Crist (redshirt freshman) – Charlie Weis coach; Weis offensive coordinator
2010 – Crist (junior); Rees (true freshman) – Brian Kelly coach; Charley Molnar offensive coordinator
2011 – Rees (sophomore) – Brian Kelly coach; Charley Molnar offensive coordinator
2012 – Golson (redshirt freshman); Brian Kelly coach; Chuck Martin offensive coordinator
2015 – Kizer (redshirt freshman) – Brian Kelly coach; Mike Sanford offensive coordinator