Tag: Brendon Clark

Notre Dame transfer portal tracker (2022)

An ongoing list of those departing and those entering…

The transfer portal is sweeping college football and changing the landscape of the entire sport like few things have before.  Although Notre Dame hasn’t been hit with a major loss by any means this season, there is still plenty of an impact that can be felt as nine different players have entered the portal since the start of the football season.

We assume it’s only a matter of time before the Irish land a few commitments in it but as of now that is not yet the case.

Here are those nine and the latest on their future destinations:

Notre Dame quarterback announces transfer destination

All the best to Brendon Clark!

Has anything been going on in college football the last day or two?  It seems like news has been really slow on the coaching search and College Football Playoff projection fronts.

Kidding aside, Notre Dame football is in the news today as quarterback Brendon Clark, who was at one time seen the possible replacement for Ian Book, has announced his transfer destination.

Related: Updated College Football Playoff Ranking Projections

Clark, a Virginia native and former Wake Forest commitment, announced he was entering the transfer portal back in October and over the weekend announced his next move will be to Old Dominion.

Clark never quite bounced back how he would have liked and was passed on the depth chart by both Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner while Jack Coan transferred in for the 2021 season.

All the best to him with his move to the Monarchs football team.

Notre Dame quarterback enters transfer portal

Hardly a surprise…

When evaluating the quarterback position in 2020 for the years ahead Brendon Clark was a player who received a good amount of attention.  The Midlothian, Virginia product surprised some by earning the backup job entering last season but a recurring knee injury that he originally suffered in high school sidelined him the second half of that year.

Clark never quite bounced back how he would have liked and was passed on the depth chart by both Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner while Jack Coan transferred in for the 2021 season.  Now Clark is calling it a career at Notre Dame as he’s entered the transfer portal.

Clark finishes his time at Notre Dame with two career completions, one of which went for a 22-yard touchdown.

All the best to Clark in the next phase of his career and life.

Related:

Notre Dame-USC: fun facts about epic rivalry

Notre Dame injury update ahead of USC game

Notre Dame releases depth chart for USC game

Kirk Herbstreit releases his latest top six team rankings

 

Notre Dame post-spring positional breakdown: quarterbacks

Will the starting quarterback in Week One be the starter in November?

Spring football has come and gone for Notre Dame in 2021 and the next time we see the Fighting Irish football team will be when they start camp for the regular season.

In that time more will come in figuring out positional battles and where things fall.

For the first time in seemingly forever, Notre Dame goes into the season without a known commodity at starting quarterback as Ian Book, the winningest quarterback in program history is off to the New Orleans Saints.

So how does Notre Dame’s depth chart at quarterback set up for the 2021 season?

Here is what we know at the conclusion of spring ball:

ESPN projects who will be Notre Dame’s starting QB in 2021

The battle to replace Ian Book will be one many eyes will be watching and ESPN has predicted which QB emerge as Notre Dame’s starter.

One of the biggest questions going into spring football for Notre Dame is who will replace the all-time winningest quarterback in Irish history, Ian Book. ESPN’s Tom Luginbill took a look around the nation (insider) at programs who will have new signal callers in the 2021 season and obviously the Irish were included.

Of the four quarterbacks on campus fighting for the job (Jack Coan, Brendon Clark, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner), Luginbill feels like Coan is the leader in the clubhouse.

There are four legitimate options, but while Buchner is an exciting incoming freshman and can be a difference-maker, he is not the leader to be under center come the fall. That has to be the Wisconsin grad transfer Coan…

This makes plenty of sense, as Coan was brought in to bridge the gap. We predicted that Brian Kelly would dip in to the transfer market to replace Book and the former Badger was the answer even though he wasn’t on our watchlist.

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Luginbill does assess each of the contenders as “Clark is probably the best passer with the most arm strength,” but knee injuries have stunted his growth.

As for the other returning quarterback “Pyne most resembles Book’s skill set, having served as the Irish’s No. 2 quarterback down the stretch last year. He’s undersized but has some skill as a passer with good feet, a solid feel for the game and a high ceiling.”

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How about the incoming freshman Buchner? “He is likely the future. He’s physically capable of playing right away, but as with all freshman, the learning curve can be steep.” The Californian is already on campus going through spring drills, so Buchner is already getting his feet wet in South Bend.

The spring will be very telling as to who will ultimately replace Book, if Kelly will go with experience in Coan or a higher ceiling in Buchner.

Former Wisconsin Quarterback Jack Coan Transferring to Notre Dame

Notre Dame fans already missing Ian Book may not have too miss him for too long.

Notre Dame fans already missing Ian Book may not have too miss him for too long. Sure, the Irish already have Brendon Clark, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner competing for the starting quarterback job, but what’s a little more competition? Enter former Wisconsin quarterback and graduate transfer Jack Coan:

Coan, who is recovering from a broken foot that cost him the entire 2020 season, was 12-6 in 18 starts for the Badgers, most of which came as a junior in 2019. In three seasons, he completed 68.0 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,278 yards and eight touchdowns. He also ran for five touchdowns.

The journey to South Bend is a long time coming for Coan. Before choosing Wisconsin, he originally committed to Notre Dame as a lacrosse player. Now, he’ll have a shot at revenge on the Badgers when the Irish meet them Sept. 25 at Soldier Field. Talk about coming full circle.

Notre Dame news about future of quarterback position

It may be a bye week for Notre Dame but Monday brought a bit of news regarding their future at the quarterback position.

Brendon Clark isn’t a name Notre Dame fans have heard much this year, aside from the sophomore quarterback getting into a couple of games in mop-up duty.

Clark is listed as the second-string quarterback and during Brian Kelly’s media availability on Monday, we were tipped off to what will figure to be one of the biggest storylines regarding Notre Dame this coming off-season as the Irish will have to replace record-setting Ian Book.

Clark was seen with a knee brace Saturday against Syracuse and Kelly was asked about it.

“Brendon had ACL surgery in high school and that knee has been cranky, so the knee brace is to give him more stability through the rest of the season. Then he’ll get evaluated at the end of the season as to whether there needs to be a procedure cleaning it up or a reassessment as to where he is with that knee.”

That creates an interesting storyline in regards to who eventually takes over at quarterback for Ian Book.

Clark entered the year second on the quarterback depth chart and has battled back and forth with freshman Drew Pyne at that spot throughout the year.

Entering next year as a recruit will also be highly-touted Tyler Buchner of California who once had a five-star composite rating on 247Sports.

Then there are some that would like Notre Dame to expand further in the transfer game and pursue an experienced quarterback who may be looking for a new home like Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Miami, and others that have benefitted from recently.

Related:  Ranking Notre Dame’s quarterbacks entering 2020 season

 

Irish gameday injury update: Hamilon, Bracy and other’s status for USF

Find out which Notre Dame players won’t be suiting up this afternoon against South Florida.

Notre Dame has announced with players who were on the depth chart this week that will no suit up against South Florida this afternoon.

The biggest player not putting on the Blue and Gold this afternoon is safety Kyle Hamilton. He injured his ankle during last weeks win against Duke, Brian Kelly making the safe choice to sit his one of this star players. The defense didn’t look bad after Hamilton was injured, so him not playing shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Other notables include cornerback TaRiq Bracy, who had four tackles last week, and linebacker Marist Liufau. The depth at cornerback and linebacker was probably another reason Kelly played it safe with Bracy and Liufau. Also running back Jahmir Smith is out, hopefully electric freshman Chris Tyree is the benefactor.

Notre Dame Player Preview: Brendon Clark – Quarterback

The race to be Notre Dame’s backup quarterback in 2020 is on. Find out more about the leading candidate for it, Brendon Clark, right here!

We get a day closer to Notre Dame football returning and although we’re anything but certain as to what exact day that will be, we’re still excited for the idea of it.

Before the ball is kicked though we need to keep informing you on those that will suit up in blue and gold this fall (or next spring).

In this edition we look at a young man who isn’t going to be starting any games in 2020 but will be working towards being the starter at his position in 2021.

We’re talking about quarterback Brendon Clark, a young man who has never shied away from a difficult path.

Stats and Information…

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Notre Dame commit Buchner Compared to 1st Round NFL Draft Choice

The future Irish signal caller, Tyler Buchner, has been compared to a rival school first round selection at quarterback.

Last year in March, California quarterback Tyler Buchner made his college decision. His selection delighted Irish fans, as the five-star player kicked off the 2021 recruiting class. Buchner missed the majority of his sophomore year after an ACL injury, but that didn’t stop Brian Kelly from accepting his verbal commitment. A return to the field in his junior year, only made Kelly’s decision to accept the pledge look fantastic: Buchner returned to his elite form.

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With yet another round of updates to the 2021 recruiting class, Buchner kept his five-star designation, and 247Sports took a look at each of those prospects. As the 28th overall prospect, Buchner will arrive in South Bend next year with extremely high expectations. National recruiting analyst Greg Biggins sees a bright future for Buchner as he “projects as a impact upper tier Power Five starter and future high-round NFL draft pick.”

Chance Linton, who assembled the piece, gave Buchner a second-round NFL draft projection. What was interesting, however, was the player comparison Linton gave Buchner, former USC quarterback Sam Darnold. The former rival QB threw for 7,229 yards with a 57/22 TD to INT ratio in 27 career games, 24 starts. It’s high praise to be compared to the third overall pick of the 2018 draft.

When Buchner arrives on campus, if his ranking stays in the same area, he will be the highest-rated quarterback recruit to enroll at Notre Dame since Gunner Kiel in 2012.

Buchner will have an opportunity to contribute as a freshman. With senior Ian Book playing out his eligibility, a fierce competition for the starting spot is expected. Brendon Clark will enter 2021 as a third-year player, while Drew Pyne will be on his second season in South Bend.

Buchner will battle both for the starting spot, and, as the highest rated of the three, he might just be able to beat his competition and make an impact early in his Irish career.