Blair Kiel, who played quarterback for the Irish from 1980-83, is dead at the age of 50 of natural causes.

Kiel was rushed to Columbus (Ind.) Regional Hospital in the early-morning hours of Easter after falling ill at “a relative’s house,” where he was pronounced dead by Bartholomew (Ind.) County coroner Allen Smith.

Smith would not confirm that Kiel died of a heart attack, but did say that Kiel died of natural causes.

Kiel was the starting quarterback as a true freshman for the 1980 Notre Dame squad, which used a punishing rushing attack (244.0 ypg.) and one of the best defenses in Irish football history (10.1 ppg., 213.2 ypg.) to record a 9-2-1 record.

The Irish won their first seven games in 1980 - Dan Devine’s sixth and last season as head coach at Notre Dame - despite the fact that Kiel, who unseated senior QB Mike Courey after three games, completed just 48-of-124 (38.7 percent) of his passes with zero touchdown throws.

A 3-3 tie at Georgia Tech - one week after ascending to the No. 1 spot in the nation - was the first blemish of the 1980 season. But Notre Dame came back and defeated No. 5 Alabama, 7-0, the following week in Birmingham. After a victory over Air Force, the Irish traveled to No. 7 USC, where the Trojans defeated the Irish, 20-3.

Notre Dame landed a Sugar Bowl bid against No. 1-ranked Georgia, which was led by running back Herschel Walker. The Bulldogs defeated the Irish, 17-10.

Kiel would serve as starter for a majority of the 1981-82 seasons under new Irish head coach Gerry Faust. But Faust began to use quarterback Tim Koegel - a former player for Faust at Cincinnati Moeller High School - as well as Ken Karcher and walk-on Jim O’Hara.

Kiel started seven games in 1981 and nine in 1982 before freshman Steve Beuerlein received the bulk of the starts (eight) over Kiel (four) in 1983. Kiel, a co-captain with the late Stacey Toran, finished his Notre Dame career on a high note, completing 11-of-19 passes for 151 yards in the 19-18 Liberty Bowl victory over Boston College and QB Doug Flutie.

Kiel was a four-year starter at punter, averaging 40.7 yards on 259 career punts. He finished his Notre Dame career with 3,650 yards passing, 32 interceptions and 17 touchdown passes.

His NFL career spanned seven seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Indianapolis Colts and the Green Bay Packers.

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