Notre Dame: 2020 Quarterback Preview
Former Notre Dame great Brady Quinn entered his final season at Notre Dame with 8,447 total yards (passing, rushing) and 62 total touchdowns. The yards are more than any quarterback in program history.
The only quarterback to come close is returning starter Ian Book, who enters his final season at Notre Dame with 7,150 total career yards and 65 touchdowns. Only Quinn entered his final season with more yards, and no quarterback entered with more touchdowns.
Now, to properly understand this, what I’m referring to here is players that were returning to Notre Dame. Jimmy Clausen, for example, would have entered his final season with more yards and the same number as touchdowns, but he chose to leave for the NFL. DeShone Kizer also would have entered his senior season with the same number of touchdowns, but he trailed Book in yards.
The expectation is that Book will build on his strengths, improve his weaknesses and be a key part of Notre Dame getting over the final hump as a program. But Book isn’t the only quarterback to keep an eye on this season. Let’s break down the entire depth chart heading into the 2020 fall.
DEPTH CHART
IS THERE ANOTHER LEVEL FOR IAN BOOK?
From a pure statistical standpoint, returning starter Ian Book has had an impressive career already. Notre Dame is 20-3 in games started by Book, and he enters his final season with 6,118 career passing yards, 1,032 rushing yards and 65 total touchdowns. Book has also competed 63.5% of his passes.
Book has the tools to be an outstanding college quarterback. He’s athletic, his arm is strong enough to make all the necessary throws to shine and he’s got a lot of experience. There are technical aspects of his game that need work, but that will be a topic for a different day.
When I preview Book specifically the discussion will get more in-depth on what he must do to lead Notre Dame to the promised land, but barring injury there is little doubt that Book will have a statistically productive season yet again.
Book improved his deep ball throwing in 2019 but his quick and intermediate game took a step back. If he can continue improving as a deep passer, get back to the precision thrower he was in 2018 and become a better decision maker he has all the tools needed to be the kind of quarterback that can lead Notre Dame back to the College Football Playoff, but this time with a chance to compete.
IRISH MUST GET CLARK READY EARLY
Book was able to stay healthy in 2019, but that hasn’t always been the case for quarterbacks at Notre Dame the last decade. That means Notre Dame quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees needs to make the investment in the young players now, and not wait until their number is called. The best coaches can coach the entire roster, not just the starter.
If Rees does that in 2020 his first objective will be to get sophomore Brendon Clark mentally ready to play and then to clean up some of his technical inconsistencies.
Clark has the physical tools to be a very productive starting college quarterback, but right now his role is as the backup, and he has ideal backup quarterback traits, other than a lack of experience. What I mean by that is when a starting quarterback gets injured in the middle of the game I find it best when the backup is a guy that has unique traits that you can use to exploit the defense early, and Clark has those.
The Virginia native has a powerful right arm, but he’s also very athletic and a capable runner. Those are both ideal traits to build around, especially the runner part, because if he’s thrown into the game for an injured Book the coaches can use his legs and big arm to call plays early to get him comfortable, get him confidence and give the defense something to think about.
Clark will need to catch up quickly, and not having spring practice this year might hurt him and Drew Pyne as much as any players on the roster.
DON'T SLEEP ON PYNE
Pyne is an intriguing prospect, and with Tyler Buchner committed in the 2021 class it seems many Notre Dame fans have already moved on from the freshman, but that would be a mistake.
Pyne does not have physical tools that are going to blow people away when they watch his film, so I get why Pyne is being so overlooked. What I loved about his high school film and career was how competitive Pyne is, but also how advanced he was with his mental understanding of the game. Pyne is a smart quarterback that understands how to play the game.
His anticipation, timing, accuracy and moxey are all college ready. Pyne can make up for not having a huge arm with those traits, but his arm is still good enough to make a lot of throws, and he’s yet to really get into the college strength program, and as he gets deeper into that we’ll see a bit more zip.
Pyne is also a quality athlete with impressive pocket presence and mobility as a prep player, and if that translates to college he’ll adapt quickly to what Notre Dame wants its quarterbacks to do. When the starting job is open for competition again the other quarterbacks on the roster are going to have a very, very hard time fending Pyne off.
BIGGEST QUESTIONS
1. Can Ian Book become a better big game quarterback?
2. How quickly can Brendon Clark get up to speed mentally, thus allowing his impressive physical tools to shine?
3. Can Drew Pyne build up his body enough to compete early on for the backup role?
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