The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is getting themselves a huge boost in 2014 as they’ll see the return of 2012 starting quarterback Everett Golson after being away from the team following academic issues. However, getting that starting job back won’t be as easy as a lot of people think, according to head coach Brian Kelly.

Despite leading the Irish to an undefeated regular season and an appearance in the 2013 BCS National Championship Game, Kelly reminded the media on Friday that Golson has some stiff competition ahead of him this season in the form of freshman Malik Zaire, and nothing will be simply handed over to the former starter.

“I just want to caution everybody that we have I think a very good quarterback in Malik Zaire,” Kelly said. “I’m not ready to hand everything over to Everett. I love Everett, he played in the national championship game, but I’m also somebody that wants to make sure the quarterback position is such that we give everybody an opportunity to compete for that position.”

With the departure of Golson, there were some that thought Zaire would see some playing time this season, but Kelly elected to stick it out the entire season with senior Tommy Rees.

If anything, this will be a fun QB battle to watch come spring time.