CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer knows he can't stray out of earshot from the quarterback whisperer.
Wherever Kizer goes on the practice field, coach Hue Jackson follows.
The second-round pick is not only the teacher's pet right now, he's the teacher's pet project. If he's to beat out Cody Kessler for the starting job, he knows he has to be joined at the hip with the guy calling the plays -- and the shots.
"It's great," Kizer said Wednesday after the open organized team activities practice. "It's exactly what I expected when I got brought over to this club. Coach Jackson ... said that's exactly how he goes about his quarterbacks and he's held up to it."
When Kizer took reps with the first-team offense and hurled a perfect deep ball to receiver Rashard Higgins, Jackson was right there to congratulate him. When he was picked off a few plays later by safety Ibraheim Campbell on a short pass, Jackson immediately pointed out what went wrong.
"As soon as I told him what the mistake was, he goes, 'Got it,' " Jackson said. "Now, he's like that. He does pick things up pretty quickly."
The second-round pick out of Notre Dame, Kizer has no plans to make the same mistake twice.
"I'm still trying to figure this thing out,'' he said. "We were in a blitz period and they were sending a couple of different looks at me. I'll go back and watch film and I bet you won't see that same pick ever again.''
Conversely, he has plenty more of those deep connections planned.
"That's all I'm trying to do right now is get the confidence where I can just go out and let it rip all the time,'' Kizer said. "That's a prime example of when I'm out there and can be completely content with what's going on on defense ... and I can go out there and just let that ball rip. But there's other plays where I'm still fluttering around in the huddle and I get out there and I don't have that confidence to let it rip.
"The more I learn, the better I'll continue to go out there and (complete) those type of balls.''
But with Jackson always in his ear, Kizer hopes he's on the fast track to playing time.
"It allows me to start my learning curve a little faster when you have the guy who's calling the plays, the guy who's created this offense ... teaching you every day the fundamentals,'' Kizer said. "It pushes you a little quicker than if it was someone else."
Jackson, who's been waiting for a strong-armed, mobile quarterback to come along, admits "I want to make sure I have my hand on him as much as I can."
It started in rookie minicamp two weeks ago. While Jackson spends extra time with Kizer, Cody Kessler, Brock Osweiler and Kevin Hogan get more of new QBs coach David Lee.
"I will continue to do so,'' Jackson said Wednesday. "I have to find out probably more about (Kizer) than I do any of the guys. He's not going to get too far away from me, I know that. He's done a good job. He just has to keep getting better. He's improved from day to day."
Jackson has found Kizer to be a quick study.
"There's a lot thrown at him now, but he's doing a good job,'' he said. "He's been better than some guys I have been around [while working against] our defense and all of the different things our defense does, which is only going to make our guys better.''
Jackson's eyes widened over the pass to Higgins, because he needs a good long ball to run his offense effectively.
"He can throw it,'' said Jackson. "I think we all know that. ... He has to learn how to play the game the way we want it played in our system. He's growing every day, but a lot of our guys are. Hopefully, you can see that there is better quarterback play throughout practice.''
Kizer (6-4, 233) wasn't surprised to learn in rookie minicamp that Kessler would get first crack at the starting job. The rotation in OTAs was Kessler, Osweiler, Hogan and Kizer, but Kizer did get some first-team reps.
"[Kessler as OTA starter is] exactly what we expected,'' Kizer said. "Cody earned that respect and he's a guy who understands this offense with a level that allows him to be out there first. He's gone out and he's made all of the corrections that he wanted to make this off-season, has some velocity on his ball and he's a heck of a quarterback.
"I'm just looking to him now for guidance. ... He's out there running everything as if he was a 10-year veteran and that's exactly where I want to be one day.''
Kizer will accelerate his learning curve even more this off-season by working out in Los Angeles with Jackson's hand-picked biomechanics expert, Tom House. In the meantime, he didn't feel out of place when the vets arrived this week.
"I think I'm fitting in fine,'' he said. "The best thing for me right now is to not compare myself to those guys. I'm at a completely different level than they are. This is all brand new to me, so to compare myself to someone that's that far ahead of me would be probably tragic on my end because my self-esteem would go down. But at the same time, I'm holding myself to the same standards they are.''
So is his personal QB coach.