Mirer’s Admirers : Notre Dame Quarterback Is Already Good and Figures to Get Better

Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships in the 1980s, has seen the future of the quarterback position.

His name is Rick Mirer.

Mirer has so impressed Walsh, a color commentator on NBC’s telecasts of Notre Dame home games, that Walsh has predicted great things for the Irish quarterback.

“I think when it’s all finally packaged together, when he’s two or three years older, fully physically mature and more experienced, he can be one of the great quarterbacks of our time,” Walsh said. “He has great athletic ability--outstanding ability that’s ideally suited for the position.

“He’s very instinctive, has a lot of poise--similar to the (Warren) Moons and (Joe) Montanas of football. I just feel he has virtually everything it takes, but of course he has to prove that over a period of time.”

Walsh’s hunch is that Mirer’s star will burn brightest after he leaves Notre Dame.

“He’s in the (Roger) Staubach range of abilities,” Walsh said. “It’s just a matter of him playing, gaining experience. Ten years from now, I think we could see another Montana, or a (Terry) Bradshaw--a great player.”

Mirer, while appreciative of the compliments, is also aware that they might be a bit premature.

“He may be jumping the gun a little bit,” Mirer said.

On at least one point, though, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound junior from Goshen, Ind.--a 40-minute drive from the Notre Dame campus--is in agreement with Walsh:

In his second season as a starter, Mirer is quicker, stronger and more in command than he was last season, when he ranked ninth in the nation in passing efficiency, led Notre Dame to a 9-3 record and kept the Irish atop the national polls for six weeks.

“That only comes with time,” Mirer said of his more confident air. “I’ve been through a bunch of games now and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the offense. Things are going pretty well.”

Entering Saturday’s game against USC at Notre Dame Stadium, Mirer has accounted for 20 of Notre Dame’s 38 touchdowns, passing for 13 and running for seven. He has completed 57.4% of his 115 passes for 1,089 yards, with six interceptions, and has run for 201 yards in 37 carries, averaging 5.4 a carry.

With five regular-season games to play, he seems a safe bet to break the school record of 16 touchdown passes in a season, currently held by three players, and is also a threat to break the school record for completion percentage, which is .604.

He ranks third nationally in passing efficiency, has led Notre Dame to five consecutive victories and has the fifth-ranked Irish (6-1) poised for another run at the national championship.

“The first few games, I thought I was playing maybe the best ball I ever have,” Mirer said. “Then I kind of leveled off. The last three games haven’t been exactly what I’ve wanted, but it’s been good enough to win. I’m just happy that I’m healthy and everything is moving along. We’re right where we want to be.”

Mirer averaged 217 yards passing in Notre Dame’s first three games but has averaged only 109.5 since. Part of the reason for the drop-off is that the Irish have been successful running the ball, averaging about six yards a carry and almost 300 yards a game.

Still, Mirer would prefer to take a more active role.

“It’s just that I don’t think I’ve done enough bleeding or had enough pain after the games,” he said. “I just don’t feel like I’ve been doing as much as I was earlier, because in the first three games, I got beat up. It’s gratifying to know that you went out there and took some big hits.

“It just feels like I haven’t done as much, but it’s because everybody else has done so well.”

Mirer knew what he was getting into when he signed with the Irish out of Goshen High, where many considered him to be the nation’s No. 1 college prospect in the spring of 1989.

“I could have gone to Miami or I could have gone somewhere else where they throw the ball all the time, but I chose not to and I think I made the right decision,” he said. “I’m happy doing what I’m doing.”

Mirer made recruiting trips to Notre Dame, Indiana, Michigan and UCLA, leaving Westwood with less-than-desirable memories because it rained when he visited.

“I’d never been to California, and it was a dismal weekend,” he said. “And all the students were gone (for Christmas break). All the impressions I’d had of California girls and all that--it wasn’t like that when I was there.

“It was sort of an odd weekend. There were lights on the trees, but it was nothing like the Christmases I’d seen here.”

Mirer ultimately picked Notre Dame over Michigan, spent his freshman season as a backup to Tony Rice, then found himself up against Michigan in his debut as a starter in last year’ s opener.

He passed for 165 yards and the winning touchdown, leading the Irish to a nationally televised come-from-behind victory.

The following week, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

The season ended on a down note, though. The Irish lost two of their last three games, falling short against Colorado in the Orange Bowl, 10-9, on Mirer’s worst passing day of the season and failing to reach their goal of a national championship.

When they reassembled last summer, four All-Americans were gone. Then, about a week before the start of the season, two of Notre Dame’s best players, Mirer and linebacker Demetrius DuBose, were arrested at a street party on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

All charges against Mirer were dropped, but the experience changed him, he said.

“It’s no secret that most everything I do is seen by somebody,” he said. “It’s not always fun to know you have no privacy and you can’t escape it.

“As time goes on, it’s getting harder and harder to just be able to go out and do normal things like a normal person.”

It has been speculated that Mirer will make himself available for the NFL draft next spring, forgoing his final season of eligibility.

Mirer hasn’t tipped his hand, nor has he seemed to be affected by any other distractions this season.

He has been bothered by sore ribs for more than a month--he was injured in the 24-14 loss to Michigan on Sept. 14--but has continued to lead a high-powered offense, doing what has been asked of him by Coach Lou Holtz while wishing he could do more.

“He really has matured physically,” Walsh said. “He’s so much stronger and he’s not any heavier. In fact, he’s lighter. He’s much quicker on his feet and he’s more commanding. He’s more decisive. He’s just maturing as a player.”

According to Walsh, the best is yet to come for Mirer.

“He functions very well in the Notre Dame offense, but I think if he were ever asked to throw 30 or 40 passes a game, then you would really see the true abilities of Rick Mirer,” Walsh said.

That’s not likely to happen any time soon, but Mirer doesn’t mind. “As long as we’re winning games, that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “I’m not selfish, where I’m going to say I want to be throwing and (compiling) all these numbers. When it’s all said and done, if I have a ring on my finger, I’ll be the happiest guy here.”