We all saw the news last night with former Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan committing to Notre Dame and will be eligible immediately as a graduate transfer.
Extremely thankful for the opportunity. Let’s get to work! @NDFootball pic.twitter.com/wKCEbWFgzY
— Jack Coan (@jcoan17) January 5, 2021
I for one am not overtly excited about this addition. A few weeks ago, I opined that Brian Kelly’s best option for his 2021 starting quarterback was in the transfer market, and personally, Jack Coan wasn’t even on my radar.
This move does absolutely nothing for me. I’m actually a bit disappointed by this decision.
It’s become clear that Notre Dame, or any school that wants to compete for a national championship, has to have a difference maker at the most important position in all of football. Jack Coan is not that guy.
Former Wisconsin QB Jack Coan announces he's transferring to #NotreDame. He completed 70% of his passes and had an 18-5 TD-INT ratio last year… The Irish QB room is also gonna be loaded with lacrosse talent.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 5, 2021
Coan is a game-manager, not a game-breaker. He is Ian Book-lite and we all saw what the outgoing Irish quarterback was capable of. Both of them will win you the games your supposed to, but when it comes to winning big games, neither is that dude.
Book over his career went 8-5 against top 25 competition, which is a solid record but one of those games he didn’t start, and of those 8 wins, three of them were to teams that went on to finish unranked by the end of the year.
Coan has garnered a 3-4 record, obviously worse than Book. This just isn’t very encouraging in my eyes.
The new Irish quarterback has throw for 300-yards in a game just once in his career. He’s not even close to the same kind of runner Book is, Coan has -11 rushing yards on 76 attempts. Yeah, sacks are included there, but Book had 1,518 rushing yards including those sacks as well.
I get what Kelly is doing with this addition, he needed a veteran presence at the position. With Drew Pyne, Brendon Clark and incoming freshman Tyler Buchner having virtually no collegiate experience between them, taking a transfer made all the sense in the world.
To me, Jack Coan isn’t that guy. Already, outlets like ESPN are predicting the Irish to have a “down year” in 2021. If that is going to be the case, why not get your younger players the ever valuable experience that quarterbacks need.
I would much rather see one of the young guys get their opportunity to see what they can do with the bullets flying. But that’s just my honest opinion on the situation.