Kizer was dreadful in the Blue Gold game that year and there were questions about whether or not he would ever be ready to be THE guy. Then Zaire went down against UVA and he came in and looked like anything but a true sophomore who hadn't played before.
It's a shame that how the QB situation was handled in 2016 probably really messed with Kizer's development and that we never saw him at his peak. Given how his NFL career went, it's an even bigger shame that he didn't come back in 2017. Imagine that 2017 team with Kizer at QB.
The more we talk about what ifs for ND QBs, the crazier it is to me that we're entering year 11 for Brian Kelly and he still hasn't produced a single elite QB to date.