Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Dayne Crist is set to graduate this month and is going to continue his football career elsewhere. Crist has been given a release from Notre Dame and by graduating early:
"Dayne and I [head coach Brian Kelly] had a good conversation Friday and I have granted him permission to speak to other schools," Kelly said. "Dayne has been a valuable member of our team the last two years and if he feels he needs to look for a better situation then I think we owe that to him."
Crist can transfer and be able to play immediately assuming the school has a graduate program his current school does not have.
Recent big name examples are Russell Wilson who transfered from North Carolina State to Wisconsin for this season and last year Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli left to Mississippi for his final year of eligibility.
According to the Chicago Tribune via Block U, Crist has listed three preliminary schools he is considering:
Wisconsin, Utah and San Diego State are among rumored landing spots for Crist, who was the nation's No. 2 quarterback in the recruiting class of 2008, according to Rivals.com. Crist sat out his first year at Notre Dame, tore his ACL in 2009 and then tore his patellar tendon after nine starts in 2010.
With Crist expected to graduate this month he is likely to join a program for spring practice. At Notre Dame, Crist shuffled between a backup and starter due to injury and inconsistent play during his time at Notre Dame. Crist began the starter as the starter for this season but he lost it after only two quarters of play in the season opener against South Florida.
Now, if Crist does go to San Diego State he will have a chance to compete for the starting job right away since current quarterback Ryan Lindley is graduating. Crist never lived up to his recruiting status out of high schools and injuries did not help his cause. In 2010 when Crist had signifiant playing time before his second knee injury he was having an all right season with 2033 yards in nine games and 15 touchdowns to seven interceptons.
So, he was not lighting up defense, so why San Diego State. Outside of having an open quarterback position San Diego State has a wide open offense, there should be better receivers due to an extra year of playing time and also Ronnie HIllman should be back for his junior year.
If Crist is to join a team for spring camp he should be making a decision shortly.
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