Tag: Jack Coan

Notre Dame has ‘no plans’ for transfer portal quarterback in 2025

Does this make you happy?

Amidst all the hoopla surrounding National Signing Day, one question remained for Notre Dame. Would it go to transfer portal for a quarterback again in 2025 given how it has done so in three of the past four years?

It was a fair question given that [autotag]Jack Coan[/autotag], [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] and [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] all have been handed the keys to the Irish’s offense fresh off playing at other universities. But [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] assured at his National Signing Day news conference that that wouldn’t be the case.

When asked whether the Irish have enough quarterbacks in the wings already, Freeman assured that they did, adding, “We have no plans on going to the transfer portal for a quarterback.”

That will be a big relief to a quarterbacks room that already features [autotag]Steve Angeli[/autotag], [autotag]Kenny Minchey[/autotag], [autotag]CJ Carr[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthony Rezac[/autotag]. And don’t forget about Blake Hebert, one of the many signees for the Irish earlier in the day.

Here’s Freeman’s entire news conference in which he gives this assurance:

Finally in 2025, we’ll get to see how good Freeman and his staff are at recruiting quarterbacks instead of obtaining them from elsewhere.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Urban Meyer questions Notre Dame’s recent reliance on transfer QBs

Is this a fair criticism?

[autotag]Urban Meyer[/autotag] once was Notre Dame’s receivers coach and might be the best assistant coach it ever had who never took over the program.

Now free from the pressures of coaching altogether, he can just talk about football on The Triple Option. It has to be so liberating knowing he doesn’t have people scrutinizing him every second of every day anymore.

While chatting with co-host Rob Stone of Fox Sports, the Irish inevitably came up. Meyer mentioned the program’s recent trend of bringing in transfers as starting quarterback and how teams doing that hasn’t led to many national championships lately:

[autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] is following [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] and [autotag]Jack Coan[/autotag] from earlier in this decade. While the Irish aren’t expected to win a national title this season anyway, it does make one wonder how confident they are in their ability to develop homegrown quarterbacks. We’ll see if they showcase that confidence over the rest of the 2020s.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

ESPN draft expert thinks Riley Leonard could be 2025 early-round pick

Hope it works out for Leonard and the Irish.

When ESPN NFL draft expert Jordan Reid released his 2025 first-round mock draft, it listed Notre Dame cornerback [autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag] at 13th. That’s not a surprise given the big plays Morrison is known for. Missing from that mock draft was new Irish quarterback [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag].

However, all may not be lost as far as Leonard being an early-round pick. In an appearance on “SportsCenter”, Reid indicated that Leonard will be someone to watch this year as far as increasing his draft stock to the point where he will become difficult for NFL teams to ignore:

This obviously would be a good thing for the Irish as it should indicate a successful season barring the complete collapse of another unit. All we know at this point is expectations are high with Leonard under center.

In a decade where the Irish have relied heavily on transfer quarterbacks like [autotag]Jack Coan[/autotag] and [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag], Leonard might have the most pressure. Here’s to seeing how he handles it.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Former Wisconsin QB Jack Coan joins new professional football league for 2024

Jack Coan is still playing quarterback for a professional football team in 2024:

Former Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan has found a home in the Canadian Football League for the 2024 season.

He enters the season, his third as a professional, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ third-string quarterback.

Related: Ranking the highest rated recruits in the history of Wisconsin football

The Roughriders’ began their 2024 campaign on Saturday, June 8 with a 29-21 win over the Edmonton Elks. Coan did not appear in the contest.

The multiyear starter for the Badgers turned professional after the 2021 college football season. He was starting under center for Notre Dame at that point after transferring from the Badgers after the 2020 season.

Coan went undrafted during the 2022 NFL draft and spent the 2022 NFL season on the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad. He bounced to the XFL for the 2023 season and has now found a new home in Canada.

The veteran quarterback threw for 3,278 yards with 23 touchdowns and 8 interceptions over 19 games in 2018 and 2019 with the Badgers. He led the team to a 10-4 record in 2019; two of the losses came against an all-time great Ohio State team and one against the Justin Herbert-led Oregon Ducks.

Coan’s numbers with Wisconsin in 2019 — 69.6% completion,  2,727 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions — were the program’s best from a starting quarterback since Russell Wilson’s legendary 2011 season.

The accomplished college quarterback has struggled to excel as a professional. It’s possible this stop in Canada is what he needs to kickstart his career.

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In honor of MLB umpire Angel Hernandez’s retirement, what’s the worst call in Wisconsin history?

What’s the worst call in Wisconsin history?

Major League Baseball umpire Angel Hernandez announced his retirement on Sunday night.

The news came as a surprise, though it was much-anticipated by baseball fans. Hernandez had gained a reputation as one of the sport’s worst umpires and became one of the most disliked figures by nearly every fanbase.

Related: Which Big Ten football team has the toughest 2024 schedule?

Hernandez’s retirement had many on X re-posting the worst calls of his career. There is no Wisconsin angle to that discussion, so we’re turning to an age-old question: what are the worst officiating calls in Wisconsin sports history?

There are two obvious ones that will lead everybody’s list: Duke forward Justice Winslow touching the basketball in the 2015 national championship game, and Wisconsin wide receiver Danny Davis being called for a phantom offensive pass interference to decide the 2020 Rose Bowl vs. Oregon.

Both are hard to argue with.

Winslow’s clear touching of the basketball was missed by officials and sealed Duke’s win over Wisconsin in the sport’s biggest game. A reversed call would not have guaranteed a Badgers victory, but it would’ve gave them a chance.

The OPI call on Davis, meanwhile, ruined Wisconsin’s game-winning drive at the end of the Rose Bowl. It isn’t the national championship, but its the biggest game Wisconsin football has played in over the last 20 years.

I’m convinced that final drive results in game-winning points without that penalty.

There are likely countless others to consider, but none were worst calls on a bigger stage than these two mentioned.

 

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Ranking Wisconsin’s best moments against Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan teams

Ranking Wisconsin’s best moments against Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan teams

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is gone to the NFL.

He took the Los Angeles Chargers job Wednesday night, leaving the Michigan program after a legendary tenure.

Harbaugh had been flirting with the NFL for years. Two years ago it was the Vikings, last year it was the Broncos. Now it’s the Chargers that finally get him to jump.

He departs Michigan with an 89-25 record, three straight Big Ten titles, three straight College Football Playoff appearances and a national championship.

This is obviously a Wisconsin football site. So we came together to rank Wisconsin’s best moments against Michigan during the Jim Harbaugh era. Believe it or not, there were plenty:

Tanner Mordecai joins former Wisconsin QB Jack Coan with passing mark set against LSU

Tanner Mordecai joins former Wisconsin QB Jack Coan with passing mark set against LSU

Wisconsin quarterback Tanner Mordecai is having a day against LSU. At the time of writing this, the Badgers lead the No. 13-ranked Tigers 31-28 entering the fourth quarter. Mordecai is up to 303 passing yards and three touchdowns on the day, having undoubtedly his best day as a Wisconsin Badger.

Believe it or not, Mordecai today became the first Wisconsin passer with 300+ passing yards since September 7, 2019, when Jack Coan threw for 363 yards against Central Michigan.

There are several more instances of this happening between 2010 and 2019 leading into Coan as a starter, including Joel Stave setting the mark three times and Russell Wilson twice. But from Coan to Mordecai, which included 34 games played by Graham Mertz, the Badgers never had a 300+ yard passer.

Mordecai is ending his short Wisconsin career on a high note today as the program moves into 2024 and welcomes in former Miami QB Tyler Van Dyke as its new signal-caller. Careers aren’t made in bowl games, but Mordecai’s performance today should be applauded for years to come.

5 Stars: The best and the worst of Notre Dame’s win over Stanford

Once again, a lot of good for the Irish

The Irish really didn’t need to do much to defeat Stanford, as long as they played an average game, it should be a Notre Dame win. That’s exactly what happened, although you could argue that it wasn’t an average game for the Irish but a very good regular season win. There once again wasn’t too much to complain about, but here are the best, 5 stars, and worst, 1 star, performances for the Irish against the Cardinal.

Marcus Freeman isn’t sure who will quarterback Notre Dame football next year

An interesting answer from Freeman on the who the Irish will turn to at quarterback next year

Two of the last three seasons, [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag] has used the transfer portal to find its starting quarterback.

Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Jack Coan[/autotag] and Wake Forest transfer and current Irish quarterback [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] clearly were great options, but each of them only had one season in South Bend. Naturally, questions about who will take over next year will happen.

Irish head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] was asked that question and his answer was fairly simple, he’s not sure. Multiple in-house options like [autotag]Steve Angeli[/autotag] and [autotag]Kenny Minchey[/autotag], with [autotag]CJ Carr[/autotag] on the way, give Notre Dame credence not to look for a new starter in the portal. That doesn’t mean that Freeman won’t consider it.

It’s an answer that many would question, but considering the lack of experience currently behind Hartman, going into the portal to find another potential starter isn’t the worst idea. At this current moment, we have no idea which quarterbacks will look to move on, but Freeman keeping his options open is a very smart idea.

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Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

Badger Countdown: Former UW number 17 finishes first season in XFL

Former Badger number 17 is now in XFL

The 2023 college football season is closing in and the Badgers are now 17 days from their opener against Buffalo on Sept. 2 at Camp Randall. Their former quarterback Jack Coan, who wore number 17 in Madison, just finished his first year in the XFL.

Coan spent four seasons in Madison, recording 3,278 passing yards and 23 touchdowns over 22 games with the Badgers, most of which came in 2019. He finished his collegiate career with 3,150 passing yards and 25 scores in his final campaign in 2021 with Notre Dame.

The quarterback went undrafted in the 2022 NFL Draft and he spent the 2023 XFL season with the San Antonio Brahmas, compiling 1,471 yards and six touchdowns over eight contests.

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