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Could Dayne Crist Be The Next Kansas Jayhawk Quarterback?

via <a href="http://www.chicitysports.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/dayne-crist-named-irish-starter.jpg">www.chicitysports.com</a>
via www.chicitysports.com

Is Kansas about to be the program for second chances? First it was Charlie Weis. And most recently it's been mentioned a few times on here today that Kansas and Charlie Weis are expecting a pretty big name visitor over the next 48 hours. That player is of course Notre Dame quarterback Dayne Crist.

Crist was a five star quarterback coming out of high school and only Terrelle Pryor was ranked higher as a quarterback prospect. Crist checks in at 6'4" 235 pounds and was slotted to be the next in line for Charlie Weis had he remained employed by Notre Dame.

Now Crist is a little bit of an unknown at this point but it's hard to argue with the fact that this would be a fairly high profile option for Kansas at quarterback heading into year one under Weis. Crist's first two seasons in South Bend were spent behind Jimmy Clausen on the depth chart and then in 2010 he would step into the starting role only under a different coach. Crist would amass 2000 yards passing with 16 touchdowns and 7 interceptions in nine games before sustaining a season ending knee injury.

Crist would never really regain his footing as the Notre Dame starter as Brian Kelly elected to go with Tommy Rees in 2011. That means Crist has wrapped up his four year career at Notre Dame, things haven't really gone as smoothly as expected and he has one last shot to show what he is capable of.

Right now the suitors include Kansas, Texas and Wisconsin who has made a pretty good season out of this little NCAA loophole this year. That's pretty good company for Kansas to be considered a part of the conversation.

Is it possible we could be talking about a former five star recruit with offers from Oregon, Stanford, USC and Notre Dame making his way to Lawrence to play football? The circumstances are obviously different and Crist would be looking to turn around his career in a lot of ways, but regardless this would seem to be the type of personnel move that would add some excitement to the offseason as we head into the Jayhawks first season under Weis.

H/T to Nick Britt for the SBNation link and NYTimes tweet.