Notre Dame redshirt sophomore quarterback DeShone Kizer has not announced yet if he will enter the 2017 NFL Draft. I was told during the college football season that this past season was going to be his last as a college football player.

Kizer is a talented player, albeit inconsistent, but there isn’t any part of his game that can’t be improved upon with good coaching and hard work. As for raw talent, Kizer will be the most talented quarterback in this year’s class if he in fact decides to come out.

Going back to the beginning of the 2015 season, Kizer was listed as the backup to Malik Zaire. The two are very different types of players. Zaire is about 6-0, 225 pounds and very athletic.

He was the perfect quarterback to run Brian Kelly’s zone-option offense. In Game Two last year, Zaire was injured in the second half and lost for the season and in came Kizer. All Kizer did in that game is complete 8 of 12 throws for 92 yards and two touchdowns including the game-winning score very late in the game. From that point on, Kizer was the starter.

For the 2015 season, he finished completing 211 of 335 passes for 2,884 yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He had a veteran receiving corps led by first-round pick Will Fuller and seniors Chris Brown and Amir Carlisle. That group, and with Fuller having great deep threat skills, gave Kizer as good a receiving corps as any in the country.

This year, Kizer’s completion percentage went down from 63 percent to 59 percent mainly because he had a very inexperienced group of receivers. Except for Torii Hunter Jr., who missed almost half the season with injuries, the receiving corps was basically first-year players. The offensive line lost two players to the NFL after the 2015 season and wasn’t nearly as good as it was last year.

Still, Kizer was able to throw for 2,915 yards and 26 touchdowns along with nine interceptions. Those stats are remarkable especially when you consider that Kizer was not the quarterback that Brian Kelly wanted playing. Kelly would have preferred that Zaire win the quarterback job and even started Zaire in the opening game versus Texas. Kelly had the two QBs alternating series but when it was obvious that Kizer was clearly the better and more productive player, Zaire was made the backup.

Even though Kizer re-won the starting job, the damage had been done. There was no question who the more talented player was, but when the head coach prefers another it can be tough to play with confidence. Add to that the fact that Notre Dame redshirted their quarterback of the future this past season. Sophomore Brandon Wimbush has size and traits similar to Zaire and is the quarterback Kelly wants to lead Notre Dame in 2017.

The offense Notre Dame played this year also hurt Kizer’s development. In 2015, we saw a lot of quick passes where Kizer was able to get the ball out of his hand quickly. Of course, he had receivers who were very good after the catch. This year, except for some bubble screens, most of the pass plays were slower developing downfield throws. That type of offense is a much lower percentage passing offense and will hurt any quarterback's stats.

Kizer is about 6-4, 235 pounds with good to very good athletic ability. He doesn’t have the suddenness of a smaller player but he has good speed and can run well with the ball. He has a good feel for pass rushers and can keep plays alive with his feet. His arm strength is second to none when compared to other quarterbacks who may be in this draft class.

Kizer can make all the throws that an NFL quarterback needs to make. The Notre Dame offense is more sophisticated than most of the spread offenses we see and Kizer is asked to do things similar to what NFL quarterbacks have to do. He can change plays at the line as well as protections. The offense is a full-field offense and the route tree the receivers run is an NFL-type. This gives him an advantage over many spread formation QBs, as they have half-field reads and minimal route trees.

For the most part, Kizer sees the field well and is a good decision-maker, but he will make the occasional poor decision and force a throw. If he goes back to school for 2017, I see him taking care of this problem with more college experience. The problem is, I doubt he returns, which means it’s up to his NFL coaches to help him correct his flaws.

Kizer most likely won’t be the first quarterback drafted and maybe not the second, but I do believe that two to three years down the road he will be the best quarterback in this class. He has as good or better natural tools than any other quarterback in this class, plus he has superb football character. He works at the game and wants to be a great player. Of course, time will tell, but some team in the middle of the first round will hit a home run.