Former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer is certainly not lacking for confidence.
Kizer told Tom Pelissero of USA Today that he believes he has a combination of Tom Brady’s brain and Cam Newton’s body and can put that together into one package that can be the best quarterback in NFL history.
“Name a college quarterback who goes into the game-plan meetings on Monday and throws his notes at the coaches,” Kizer said. “No one else game plans the way I do. No one else prepares the way I do. No one else knows football the way I do. No one else is as big as I am. No one else is as powerful a runner as I am. Pat Mahomes might throw the ball 80 yards and I can only throw the ball 72, but I guarantee he can’t throw an out route the way I can. No one else can do what I can do. And I’ve truly figured out in this process, if I can maximize all my potential in every aspect of the game – this is bold – I do have the ability to be the greatest quarterback to ever play. Imagine taking Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton’s body. Why can’t I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me. That’s what’s driving me now.”
Whether Kizer actually has the same mind for football as Brady would be difficult to measure, but he doesn’t have Newton’s body: Kizer is shorter than Newton, lighter than Newton and did worse than Newton on every test of speed and agility at the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams like players with confidence, but Kizer’s confidence may come across as arrogance to some NFL teams. If there’s a case of a player taking his confidence too far, this may be it.
