Kiel making most of scarce reps

SOUTH BEND — Each Notre Dame quarterback has his flaws, but freshman
Gunner Kiel’s biggest blemish is the one that he has the least control
of — time.

With three scholarship quarterbacks competing for the starting spot in
the season opener against Navy, Kiel has been given opportunities
throughout the start of fall practice, but he hasn’t been around long
enough for the reps to become substantial in number.

The reps aren’t high in quantity yet for Kiel, with Everett Golson and
Andrew Hendrix taking the vast majority of the snaps in practice, but
they are high in learning value.

Kiel had a head start during spring practice after enrolling at Notre
Dame in January, but he’s still trying to catch up with the lead pack.
He’s forced to learn the offense with mostly mental practice.

“Whatever the coaches want I’m going to do. That’s all I can say.
They’re there and they are going to teach us,” Kiel said. “If Andrew
and Everett are going to get more reps than I am, that’s fine.”

To counteract the lower number of reps, Kiel is constantly asking
questions of the coaches and the older quarterbacks. Kiel called
himself a “squeaky weasel” in the film room, trying to pick up any
information he can about the playbook.

“You’ve just got to be smart,” Kiel said. “It’s going to take a while
to learn but if you take the time and effort to get into it and look
at it and ask the coaches questions about it then you’re going to get
it. That’s what I’m trying to do my best at.”

Kiel has been able to take more snaps because of the one-game
suspension of Tommy Rees. The 16-game starter at Notre Dame has become
a de facto coach for the younger quarterbacks in camp.

“He knows so much about the game,” Kiel said. “I talk to Tommy outside
of football and he says that he wants to be a college football coach,
and he definitely has the ability and the mind for it. It’s great
having him there to teach us all the stuff he knows.”

Still less than a year removed from playing high school football at
Columbus (Ind.) East, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Kiel notices the
difference in speed and strength at the college level.

In Wednesday’s practice, Kiel was engulfed by walk-on linebacker
Connor Little rushing off the edge for a sack during a scrimmage
segment where the quarterbacks were live. After practice, Kiel said he
enjoyed the hit, the result of another layer in the quarterback’s
responsibilities in Brian Kelly’s offense that Kiel’s still learning.

“I probably should have checked to a different line protection there,”
Kiel said after a laugh.

The hit was a reminder that while things might be moving slower in his
head, the play on the field is full-bore.

“To be honest, it feels good. I haven’t been hit for a while,” Kiel
said. “You get right back up and move on to the next play.”

Kiel’s been forced to balance the roles of gunning for the starting
position and being patient with the learning process.

“I just have to have a positive outlook and go in trying to get better
and understanding that I’m the rookie and everything’s going to happen
not so fast, it’s going to happen gradually,” Kiel said. “So you’ve
just got to wait and be patient and when the time comes you’re going
to get your opportunity.”

His life as a freshman became more comfortable in June when the rest
of the 2012 recruiting class joined him in summer classes. Their
presence helped Kiel relax a little more.

“Whenever I saw the guys in my class I was really excited,” Kiel said.
“It was great seeing them and talking to them. It felt great having
them right by my side.”

While Brian Kelly has praised the work of the freshman wide receivers
Davonte’ Neal, Chris Brown and Justin Ferguson, Kiel has also noticed
their potential. The quarterback knows those three guys could be his
favorite targets in the seasons to come.

“It’s amazing. Davonte’ and Breezy (Brown) and Fergie, they’re good
players and they’re willing to get after it,” Kiel said. “It’s great
to have them there. Before camp they were always saying, ‘Hey, let’s
go throw. Let’s get in the playbook.’ So I loved that they were
already wanting to get into that good stuff.”

One week into fall camp, the really good stuff is yet to come for Kiel
and the freshman WR trio.