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Notre Dame's season is over, and so is DeShone Kizer's college career, as the Notre Dame quarterback declared for the NFL Draft on Monday.

The decision doesn't come as much of a surprise, though there had been some speculation that he might return. All of that speculation wasn't enough to overcome the fact that many project Kizer to be a first-round pick. Our own Dane Brugler has Kizer going second overall to the San Francisco 49ers in his latest mock draft.

Kizer's Notre Dame career was filled with surprises. He did not win the starting job heading into the 2015 season, but took over for Malik Zaire after Zaire went down with an injury. Kizer's first game included a comeback on the road against Virginia that ended with 39-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller with 12 seconds left. The Irish would finish the 2015 season with a 10-3 record, and were in contention for the College Football Playoff before a late season loss to Stanford.

That finish led to high expectations for both Kizer and the Irish heading into 2016, and both failed to live up to them. Kizer threw for 2,925 yards and 26 touchdowns this season, but his completion percentage dropped to 58.7. Notre Dame stumbled to a 4-8 finish as a team, though the blame for that falls a lot of places that aren't DeShone Kizer.

As for where Notre Dame goes from here, with Kizer leaving for the NFL, and Malik Zaire transferring, Brandon Wimbush and Ian Book will compete for the job alongside incoming freshman Avery Davis.