Tag: Brandon Clark

Notre Dame makes scholarship offer to another 2022 quarterback

With Ian Book out the door, the debate for Notre Dame is whether Brendon Clark or Drew Pyne will be his successor at quarterback in 2021.

With Ian Book out the door, the debate for Notre Dame is whether Brendon Clark or Drew Pyne will be his successor at quarterback in 2021. But what if neither of those guys is the long-term solution at the position?

Tyler Buchner is a big-time recruit but what about the recruiting class of 2022?

Maybe the upcoming season will be a bridge between Book and the next great Irish quarterback. Specifically, Pyne and Clark could be keeping the seat warm for Drew Allar, a pro-style quarterback from Medina, Ohio, who has received an offer from Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees:

Allar now has offers from 22 schools. Just this week, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Illinois and Ole Miss joined the list. He’s also drawn significant interest from programs like Wake Forest, Iowa, USF, Washington, Iowa State, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Penn State, Indiana, Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Related:
Notre Dame’s best football recruit from each state since 2000

Notre Dame’s 2022 Recruiting Class Commitments

Notre Dame scholarship offer tracker for 2022

Prominent college programs always are looking for who might be the next person to represent them at the most important position in sports. Allar will do that somewhere, but we don’t know where exactly yet.

Notre Dame drops in ESPN’s future quarterback rankings

With the graduation of Ian Book, Notre Dame must find their signal caller of the future or they could continue to drop in the rankings.

Going into last year the Irish were in very good hands at the most important position in sports, with Ian Book quarterbacking the team for this 3rd-year as a starter. The results were great, a regular season ACC title, a berth in the College Football Playoffs for the second time in three years.

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Although the 2020 season didn’t end the way any of us wanted to, Book brought stability to the position which resulted in 10 wins. The immediate future most likely sees transfer Jack Coan as Books replacement, although the need for Brian Kelly to develop depth at the position is much needed for the future of the program.

The upcoming season’s past 2021 will hold a much different future for the position and after ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg looked at his future quarterback rankings (insider), the Irish will need to catch up a bit. Falling from 7th last year to 16th after this update, the position will once again be in the spotlight in South Bend.

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Rittenberg sees the situation like I do, “Notre Dame needs to upgrade at quarterback to truly challenge for a national title despite two CFP appearances in the past three years.” The need for a difference maker at the position is glaring, Coan isn’t the long-term answer but maybe that player is already on campus.

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The 2021 class included top-100 recruit Tyler Buchner from California, who is the future at quarterback. That’s not a knock on Brendon Clark or Drew Pyne, it’s more of a testament to Buchner’s abilities. Rittenberg mentions Buchner as being “long been pegged as Notre Dame’s quarterback of the future.”

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The future is now and the need to develop the depth at the position is a glaring issue. Clark and Pyne had virtually no experience heading into this season, which is why Coan was brought in.

Kelly and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees can’t have another situation like this years emerge next year. The younger quarterbacks need to play, so going into 2022, there should be some semblance of urgency to get the younger QB’s that much needed experience.

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With Coan’s injury history, relying on him to complete a whole season shouldn’t be taken for granted. Again, getting the younger players experience will be paramount. When Rittenberg revisits his future QB rankings next year, this group should be ranked higher as long as development happens.

Opinion: Jack Coan is not the answer for Notre Dame at quarterback

On man’s opinion on the Wisconsin transfer Jack Coan, who seems to be in line to lead Notre Dame in the 2021 football season.

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.

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.

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.