Hurricane QB To Challenge Notre Dame Defense
By Walt Kosin
Notre Dame has an advantage over almost every team on its schedule at the quarterback position.
The Fighting Irish will face another difficult schedule for the 2016 football season. Notre Dame will have an advantage because the three toughest games will be against Michigan State, Stanford, and Southern Cal, teams with inexperienced or non-experienced quarterbacks.
The Spartans lose their three-year starter Connor Cook who during his career threw for 9,194 yards, 71 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions. Stanford loses Kevin Hogan, also a three-year starter who threw for 9,385 yards,75 touchdowns and had 15 rushing touchdowns. Southern Cal loses Cody Kessler, another three-year starter who threw for 6,803 yards and 59 touchdown passes with only 12 interceptions.
This is a tremendous break for the Fighting Irish if their defense can attack the inexperienced quarterbacks. Also, the Fighting Irish play Michigan State and Stanford at home and complete the season at Southern Cal.
As we look at the rest of Notre Dame’s schedule, it appears that the best quarterback they face is Brad Kaaya of Miami University. Kaaya will be a true junior and is 6’4”, 210 lbs. from Chaminade College Prep High School in Los Angeles. He is a two-year starter who has NFL scouts interested in him.
As a true freshman, Kaaya started all 13 games. He completed 221 out of 378 passes (59.3%) for 3,198 yards with 26 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. His best game was against Nebraska where he threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns. Kaaya also was a very good runner, who could buy extra time while passing.
As a sophomore, Kaaya started 12 of 13 games and completed 238 of 389 passes (61.2%) for 3,238 yards. He also threw for 16 touchdowns and had only five interceptions. His best game was against Florida State where he completed 29 out of 49 passes for 405 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. After the season he earned third team quarterback in the ACC.
Miami not only has a great quarterback returning, they also return most of the offensive starters including the entire offensive line. On defense, the Hurricanes return seven players, but the four losses were to both cornerback and both safety positions. Coach Mark Richt will coach his first season with Miami, so there will be changes coming for the Hurricanes.
Even though Michigan State, Stanford, and USC have inexperienced quarterbacks, it will still take great effort by the defense to defeat them. With Miami returning a very good quarterback and most of their offense, the Fighting Irish defense will have to again play a great game. But, Notre Dame has one last advantage over the Hurricanes, the game will be played at Notre Dame stadium on October 29. Maybe, just maybe, a nice Midwest cold front will come to South Bend that day and give the Floridians something extra to think about.