For a long time, it seemed as if Notre Dame’s pursuit of a quarterback in the Class of 2012 would be a relatively quiet one, but it turned into one of the biggest national stories of the recruiting cycle.
Brian Kelly and his staff had to juggle quarterback numbers when they arrived in South Bend two years ago, but are now hoping to be on schedule to take one quarterback each cycle. Landing Everett Golson in 2011 gave the Irish a top-flight signal-caller and they set their sights on inking another one in 2012.
Most of the early attention focused on Ohio quarterback Maty Mauk, whose brother played one season for Brian Kelly at Cincinnati. Ben Mauk’s only regret in playing for Kelly was that he only had the chance to do so for one season.
While still at Cincinnati, Kelly verbally offered Maty a scholarship before the younger Mauk even entered high school. The smaller, but mobile Mauk seemed like a perfect fit for Kelly’s spread system, which requires the quarterback to extend plays with his feet while keeping his eyes down field, a trait that was readily apparent on any of Mauk’s highlight films.
Still, when National Signing Day came around in February of 2011, it wasn’t Mauk that Kelly was on the phone with. Instead, he reached out to a pair of other elite signal-callers - Alabama’s Jameis Winston and Indiana’s Gunner Kiel, offering both scholarships on Feb. 2nd, 2011.
The Irish never established any real traction with Winston, who ultimately picked Florida State over Alabama and Stanford, but there were some positive early signs from Kiel, whose uncle Blair played quarterback for Notre Dame in the 1980s.
Kiel, who camped at Notre Dame the summer before his junior season, was starting to pop up as one the nation’s top quarterback prospects and eventually would land at the very top of several ranking boards. He made his way back to South Bend a month after picking up his Irish offer for a spring practice. But as the spring rolled on, it became clear Kiel’s eyes were focused elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s focus shifted back to Mauk.
Mauk and his father/coach traveled to South Bend in April to get a look at Notre Dame and returned again in the summer to compete in a 7-on-7 tournament. At one point, a commitment from Mauk to the Irish seemed imminent, but it never came. As time went on, and became clear he was looking elsewhere and in July, he committed to Missouri over Notre Dame, Michigan and Cincinnati.
A couple weeks later, Kiel shocked the college football world when he committed to Indiana.
The Irish were left with few options.
Colorado quarterback Cyler Miles (Washington) reported an Irish offer at one point, but it was never official. They checked on guys like Chad Kelly (Clemson), Connor Brewer (Texas) and Patrick Towles (Kentucky), but didn’t make any serious pitches.
Then, just before a mammoth recruiting weekend in October for the USC game, the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium in 20 years, a key visitor was added to the list; Kiel. He was reopening his recruitment after seeing Indiana struggle at the start of the season and the fact that he was immediately heading to South Bend was surely a positive sign for the Irish.
Notre Dame again seemed poised to grab one of its top quarterback targets, but Irish fans were cautious and rightly so. Kiel also made visits to LSU and Vanderbilt and just days after Christmas announced his commitment to the Tigers.
The Irish again looked at other options at quarterback and with Chuck Martin replacing Charley Molnar as Notre Dame’s new offensive coordinator, they seemed intent on landing one.
The Irish turned to New Jersey’s Devin Fuller, who they initially offered as an athlete in April, but who Martin wanted as a quarterback. Fuller figured to be a good fit for Notre Dame, on and off the field, but the coaches needed to convince Fuller and his family that they really wanted him at quarterback.
A meeting at a suite at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio following the U.S. Army All-American Bowl did just that and Fuller was inching closer to scheduling an official visit to South Bend, but before he could, there was another twist.
It isn’t clear exactly when Kiel started having second feelings about LSU. It might have been before the national title game. There were rumors that Kiel was going to be in attendance, but he never made it. It might not have been until the day before he was set to move to Baton Rouge.
By Saturday, Jan. 14th, the LSU coaches were having concerns and it was too late. Kiel didn’t leave for LSU on Sunday and was in class at Notre Dame on Tuesday. Why Kiel made the switch may never be revealed in detail, but sources close to the situation have assured Irish Sports Daily the decision was Kiel's in the end and he would have never made the choice he did unless he firmly believed it was in his best interest.
Fortunately for Irish fans, Kiel's interests and Notre Dame's aligned in the end.
