BEREA, Ohio -- DeShone Kizer presented himself as thoughtful and quiet when he met the media as the second-round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns.
It was a far cry from his pre-draft image, fueled by his own statement to USA Today: "Imagine taking [Tom] Brady's intellect and Brady's preparation and putting it on a guy with Cam Newton's body."
Kizer said he shrugged off the perceptions that grew about him as the draft approached.
"I think that at Notre Dame, there is a target on your back at all times, so there [are] perceptions coming from everywhere," Kizer said Saturday. "When you go to a school where 50 percent of the world hates you and 50 percent of the world loves you, you learn to see right through it and focus in on yourself."
On Friday night, Kizer explained the Brady quote on a conference call.
"I was talking about where I wanted to aspire to be," he said. "A guy like Tom Brady, who is a guy who has won quite a few championships ... that came from his preparation and his understanding of his offense and the defense that he's playing against. Cam Newton is a guy who has an extreme amount of athletic ability, and that is a guy that I aspire to be. If I can set some goals for myself, those are two guys that I am going to try to emulate, as far as the preparation that it takes to get to the elite level."
The Browns said they were surprised and pleased that Kizer was available to them at the 52nd spot. Kizer will be thrown in with Brock Osweiler, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan, and the offseason and training camp will reveal the opening day starter for Cleveland's game against Pittsburgh.
"That is the reason you play football is to play and not to sit around and watch from the sidelines," he said. "I will do whatever it takes to contribute as quickly as I can."
In the statement when he was talking about Brady, Kizer said: "Why can't I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me."
He did not shy away from that statement in Cleveland, though it wasn't said with braggadocio.
"Absolutely," Kizer said. "That's the reason that we all do what we do is to be the best we can possibly be. At the same time, I have quickly acknowledged how much work is going to go into that. I look forward to now having the resources in front of me to get to that. You can say it all and do as many media things as you want, but until you have a playbook in front of you, you can't go out and play."