Malik Jamaal Zaire (born February 28, 1995) is an American media personality and former

collegiate football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He currently works for the sports media company

Overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

as on-air talent and as a producer, as well as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for college football games on the

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

. He played college football at Notre Dame, before transferring to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

as a graduate transfer.

Early years

Zaire attended

Archbishop Alter High School Archbishop Alter High School, also known as Alter High School, is a Catholic high school in Kettering, Ohio, United States. It is operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati and is named after Archbishop Karl Joseph Alter. History ...

Kettering, Ohio Kettering is a city in Montgomery county in the U.S. state of Ohio. Almost entirely in Montgomery County, it is an inner suburb of Dayton, Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 57,862 (down slightly from 58,453 in 2010), maki ...

. As a senior, he earned 2012 AP Ohio Division III Southwest District Offensive Player of the Year accolades with 1,990 yards passing, 1,120 yards on the ground and 33 total touchdowns (24 passing touchdowns and nine rushing touchdowns). He was rated by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the third best

dual-threat quarterback In gridiron football, a dual-threat quarterback, also known as a running quarterback, is a quarterback (QB) who possesses the skills and physique to run with the ball if necessary. With the rise of several blitz heavy defensive schemes and increa ...

in his class. Zaire committed to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

to play

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

College career

Notre Dame

2013 season

Zaire did not play in any games as a freshman at Notre Dame in 2013.

2014 season

Prior to his sophomore season in 2014, Zaire competed with

Everett Golson Everett Demone Golson (born January 2, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He previously played quarterback for Notre Dame from 2011 to the spring of 2015. Golson chose to transfer to Florida State after graduating from Notre Dame. ...

to be starting quarterback. Golson won the job with Zaire as the backup. He received his first extensive playing time against the USC Trojans, replacing Golson, who was benched. He completed 9 of 20 passes for 170 yards and a rushing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

in the game. After spending the entire season as Golson's backup, Zaire started the

2014 Music City Bowl The 2014 Music City Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 30, 2014 at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee. The 17th edition of the Music City Bowl began at approximately 2:00 p.m. CST and was broadcast nationally b ...

, becoming the first left-handed quarterback to ever start for the Fighting Irish. Zaire completed 12 of 15 passes for 96 yards with one touchdown, and ran for 96 yards on 22 carries scoring one touchdown, leading Notre Dame to a 31–28 victory over LSU and earning the game's MVP.

2015 season

The Fighting Irish opened spring practice with an open competition at quarterback, but neither Zaire or

separated themselves as the starter according to head coach Brian Kelly. However, after Golson decided to transfer and play his final season at Florida State University, Zaire was named the starting quarterback. In the second game of the season, against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, Zaire fractured his ankle after a run. It was announced after the game that he would miss the rest of the season.

2016 season

Zaire battled

DeShone Kizer DeShone Allen Kizer (born January 3, 1996) is an American football quarterback who has played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played college football at Notre Dame and was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the secon ...

before the season for the starting quarterback position. Both shared snaps in the team's first game, a loss to Texas. Statistically Kizer had a far better game than Zaire, earning Kizer the starting quarterback position. Zaire played little during the remainder of the season. After graduating from Notre Dame in May 2017, Zaire announced that he had transferred to the University of Florida to play a fifth year in the 2017 season.

Florida

2017 season

Zaire started two games and appeared in four. He finished with an overall record of 0–2 as a starter, completing 57.1 percent of his passes for 349 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

, Zaire was invited to attend the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

' rookie minicamp on a tryout basis. He did not make the Jaguars roster.

References

External links

Notre Dame profile

Florida Gators bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaire, Malik 1995 births Living people People from Kettering, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio American football quarterbacks Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Florida Gators football players