Notre Dame Recruiting: Stockpiling QBs Won't End Well for Brian Kelly and Irish

Gunner Kiel changed his mind once again, and he is now planning to play for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. While this is great news, it also poses a big problem, as Brian Kelly must now spend the offseason figuring out who will be the starting quarterback once again. 

According to Bryan Fischer of CBS Sports, Kiel is now officially enrolled at Notre Dame. Having lost a recruit days before, the Fighting Irish were pleased to land the No. 1 quarterback of the class of 2012. 

Unfortunately, Notre Dame now has four young quarterbacks to work with, which doesn't make life easy for Kelly and his staff. 

Of course the Fighting Irish aren't going to turn away a 5-star recruit. That would be ludicrous. The issue here, though, is that Kelly has to waste time deciding which guy will start. 

In addition to Kiel, Kelly must choose from Tommy Rees, who started the majority of the 2011 season, Andrew Hendrix, who became more of a factor later in the year, and Everett Golson, who red-shirted this season. 

All of these guys are quick on their feet, but Kiel is the prototypical pocket passer. Rivals.com compares him to Peyton Manning, which is very impressive.  

With so many options, Kelly is likely to lose sleep at night. This is not the best way to spend an offseason because it hurts the team chemistry. 

Since Notre Dame is losing its top playmaker in Michael Floyd, the receivers that need to step up will hit a setback because the quarterback will be rotating all throughout the offseason. 

Remember that last year, Kelly waited until a week or so before the 2011 season to announce Dayne Crist would be the starting quarterback. 

After Crist flopped in the season opener, Rees ended up as the starter, only to split time with Hendrix toward the end of the year. 

It essentially doomed the Fighting Irish in 2011, and the same thing could very well happen in 2012. The back-and-forth switching of QBs for Notre Dame made way for several jokes via social media, and the news of Kiel enrolling in South Bend made things worse. 

Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports tweeted how Kiel is likely to experience the highs and lows of starting and sitting at Notre Dame because Kelly is never sold on a QB.  

Right now, Kelly has no idea who will start in 2012, which is perfectly fine. 

However, should he wait until a week before the season kicks off, Notre Dame is in for a world of hurt once again. The team camaraderie would be shot, as the Fighting Irish wouldn't have a true leader.   

Kelly would be wise to pick a starter after the spring and just go with it. If things don't work out once the season starts, then so be it, that's when you have to adjust. The Fighting Irish did a good job of switching to Rees in 2011, but as the season went on, Kelly wasn't pleased with what he saw. 

This is why I believe Kiel will be the starter in 2012, but since he'll be a true freshman, he's going to make mistakes. Kelly can't flip-flop on his decision again, as it will ruin Notre Dame's season. 

Having so many talented quarterbacks to choose from is what causes Kelly to never truly make up his mind. Notre Dame needs to stick with one guy and go from there.

That, of course, could lead to one of the four transferring out, which wouldn't be much of a surprise. Still though, Kelly would then have three QBs to pick from, but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier.

In 2011, the Fighting Irish lacked a true leader, which was their downfall. Stockpiling quarterbacks was the cause of this, and if Kelly doesn't handle the 2012 offseason better, it will be déjà vu for the Fighting Irish next fall.