CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said quarterback DeShone Kizer should have stayed in school for another year.

That's true, from a pure football standpoint.

It's also true for Mentor's Mitchell Trubisky. The local product started only 13 games in his career at North Carolina.

Other than Clemson's Deshaun Watson, is any quarterback in this draft NFL ready?

Even Watson will have to learn an NFL offense, but at least he had 35 starts for a team that won a national title.

When he was interviewed on Sirus XM, Kelly said this of his quarterback: "He still should be in college. The circumstances are such that you have to make a business decision and he felt like it was in his best interest. I'm going to support him and his decision."

All of that sounds OK.

Kelly could have added that other quarterbacks are in the same situation. If you're projected to be a first-round pick, it's hard to go back to school.

At the start of the season, Kizer was considered perhaps the top quarterback prospect in the draft.

He struggled at Notre Dame. Kelly also lost confidence in him at one point and benched him.

It was an ugly season for the Irish, who finished 4-8. There is still a lot of finger pointing in the program about who is to blame for what went wrong.

Kizer is expected to be drafted in the first round, or at least high in the second round. It's a life-changing decision for Kizer and his family.

Suppose the Browns take him with the No. 33 pick, the first pick of the second round.

Last year, the Browns selected Emmanuel Ogbah with the first pick in the second round.

His contract: $6.6 million for four years with a $3 million signing bonus.

Odds are Kizer will make at least that much -- and Kelly should have said that.

GRUMPY COACH

Instead, Kelly explained, "The reality of it is he needs more football. He needs more time to grow in so many areas. Not just on the field, but off the field."

Ouch.

The "off the field" part is a warning siren. Is there something wrong with Kizer, besides being very inconsistent for a wildly underachieving team?

Kelly made it sound that way.

Or is the comment that of an angry coach who is losing his quarterback?

That's how it sounds to me.

To be fair, later in the interview, Kelly said: "He's a great kid. He's got great character. You don't change character much, and he's got great character so you're not going to have an issue there with that young man.

"He's going to continue to learn and he'll learn with great coaches around him, a great mentor around him, so there's a huge amount of growth that will happen every single day with DeShone Kizer."

But it was still strange he threw in the "off field" stuff earlier.

Kelly doesn't have to do a Dabo Swinney. The Clemson coach compared his quarterback to Michael Jordan, trying to sell Watson as the top player in the draft.

But the parents of recruits want to know the college coach will publicly support a player if he turns pro, even if the college coach isn't fully behind the idea. That's especially true if the player is heading for a mega-million dollar deal.

WHO IS READY?

Dane Brugler rates Kizer as the No. 2 quarterback in the draft. The lowest I've seen him is No. 4.

Kizer is 21 years old. He has been at Notre Dame for three years and has 23 college starts.

In his excellent draft guide, Brugler wrote: "Although he could have benefited from another year of seasoning at the college level, Kizer didn't receive the support needed from the head coach to further his development. His offensive coordinator also left to become head coach at Western Kentucky."

A Mount Union product who writes for CBS sports, Brugler also said Kizer has "the highest ceiling of any quarterback in the draft."

I'm not in love with any of the quarterbacks in this draft. So this is not an endorsement of Kizer. I do hear the Browns are at least somewhat intrigued by him.

But it is saying he made the right decision to turn pro.

"I don't know of a 21-year-old who didn't need further maturing," Brugler texted. "Whether or not Kizer says this ... the lack of support by Kelly was at least part of the reason he moved on from Notre Dame. Kizer wasn't Kelly's first choice to be a starter. That wasn't a secret."

Very few quarterbacks are ready for the NFL. But very few should walk away from millions of dollars, which is what is in front of Kizer.

The Notre Dame coach should know that and should have said as much.