SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- He was still a third-stringer then, rooming with fellow reserve Malik Zaire for away games, bonding with his Western Ohio comrade on road trips through Toledo, Dayton or Columbus, through blizzards and hail storms, visiting family and friends throughout the Buckeye State -- all the while biding his time last season on a depth chart that appeared too steep to climb.

“Malik does the driving,” DeShone Kizer said Wednesday while wearing light blue pants and standing behind a large podium, one of the perks of being Notre Dame’s new starting quarterback. “I can't stay awake long enough. He does the driving. I'm the co-captain on trips.”

He was there with Zaire again Monday, just two days after saving the day, and perhaps the season, in relief. He was kicking off the first week of the rest of his life by visiting the ailing former starter in the hospital, steadying his mind because lightning had, somehow, stuck twice.

Everett Golson left for Florida State after the spring and Zaire went down for the season Saturday. Therefore, No. 8 Notre Dame’s playoff hopes now rest on the right arm of a redshirt freshman who has 13 career throws to his name, a signal-caller who, at the very least, has said and done all the right things in the days since being tasked with this new post.

“[Kizer] always told me, ‘I prepare as if I was starting,’ because even last year if two injuries would’ve happened, you would’ve had to be ready to go in,” Central Catholic (Ohio) High coach Greg Dempsey said. “That’s two plays, and that’s always been his mindset when I’ve spoken with him, and he just always wanted to make sure he was ready if his number was ever called.”

Yes, the comparisons to a certain other former third-stringer from Ohio are coming in now, regardless of how different Cardale Jones' situation at Ohio State was to Kizer’s current predicament at Notre Dame. Kizer himself has avoided any mention of the defending champs, trying to just get through this next obstacle in his way, this one No. 14 Georgia Tech, the reigning Orange Bowl champions.

Not that he is ignorant to just how fast everything has changed from a short year ago.

“You tell yourself out of high school you don't go to school to play right away,” Kizer said. “ ... I knew I was coming into a tough situation with two studs in front of me. It didn't settle in the way I would have liked it to set in at the beginning of the process, when you go from being a quote-unquote elite athlete in high school, and you get sat down and don't get the reps you expected. It's a little rough like it is on most freshmen.

“But after a while I took it for what it was and accepted a year of not playing and took it and tried to allow myself to learn the game and become more comfortable with the speed of big-time college football.”

Added Dempsey: "True freshmen are usually not expected to start or play at Notre Dame, let's be honest. But he was the guy a lot of people didn't know about, didn't say much about. But he never let it bother him."

His first two plays Saturday yielded two scores -- a fake field goal toss and a third-quarter handoff -- before the uneven and ultimately victorious fourth quarter. His first two career media briefings since then have shed light on one of the more mature figures in the Fighting Irish locker room.

"What I like about him the most is he's very confident," coach Brian Kelly said. "He's got very good poise and leadership skills. He can go out there, and we really don't have to worry about him with kind of that deer in the headlights look to him."

Kelly should know: All three of his previous rookie quarterbacks at Notre Dame, true and redshirt freshmen alike, won their first starts, including two against ranked teams.

For Kizer, the first real burden was already lifted at Virginia, via the game-winning, final-minute toss to Will Fuller. He can be forgiven for becoming a prisoner of the moment, having bolted down the field in jubilation, something that would cause him to later make fun of himself for how ridiculous he had looked.

It probably will not be his standard operating procedure. But, like most things, he will cross that hurdle when he comes to it.

“I have no idea,” Kizer said. “Let's just worry about throwing touchdowns before I can worry about the celebration after.”

From the passenger seat to the cockpit overnight, Kizer is now the Irish’s pilot-in-command.