Notre Dame's 2021 QB Depth Chart Could See A Dramatic Shift Thanks To NCAA Rule
The 2020 season has more questions than answers as Labor Day gets closer. With a season up in the air for 60% of the Power 5, the NCAA announced that there would be an eligibility freeze. This means any fall athlete will maintain their eligibility no matter how much they play in 2020.
This could completely shake up the 2021 quarterback depth chart for the Fighting Irish.
IAN BOOK
Fifth-year senior Ian Book is the no-doubt starter coming into 2020. With Phil Jurkovec gone and now slated to start at Boston College, its unlikely we hear fans calling for backups Brendon Clark and Drew Pyne. Book enters what was expected to be his final season trying to make a push for NFL attention; however, depending on how everything shakes out, we could see Book back in 2021.
Most early draft projections have him as a late-round draft pick. Irish Breakdown publisher Bryan Driskell gave him a 5-7 round grade, and Bill Bender at Sporting News has him as the 10th best college QB.
While things can change and Book can take a big step forward, he would need a huge year to make a leap into the round 2-3 range. When the season ends, and if Book is still looking like a day three NFL Draft guy, he could decide to come back to Notre Dame and play one more year. That would collide with another quarterback fans have been waiting for and would likely result in another leaving.
COMPLICATED QB ROOM
If Book returns in 2021, that would result in Book, Clark, Pyne and 2021 commit Tyler Buchner all being on the roster. That room is going to get crowded, quickly.
While that would be a loaded QB room for 2021, it would also likely mean that someone wouldn't be sticking around much longer. Reports have been that Clark has been looking good in practice and doing a good job picking up the offense. Pyne was a four-star quarterback that was a Top 250 overall and Top 10 for pro-style quarterbacks out of high school, and he's made a strong impression already in his first fall camp.
Then there is Buchner.
Buchner has been the quarterback many fans have been clamoring for the last 16 months. He is a Top 50 overall prospect and the number three dual-threat in his class according to 247Sports. Many believe he could start as a true freshman and is the clear future at the position. So that leaves a ton of questions on who is sticking around and who is headed out the door for playing time.
Clark and Pyne keeping Buchner down was going to depend a lot on one of them being able to win the job in 2021, and then hopefully playing well enough to keep Buchner on the sidelines. If Book returns that means Buchner gets a full year to develop and then goes into the 2022 season with none of the other quarterbacks having an experience advantage on him, at least in regards to starts.
Pyne could be the odd man out in this situation. Similar to Jurkovec, he could be a talented player that just can't crack the starting lineup because of timing. Looking at the recent NCAA decisions, Pyne would not only maintain eligibility, but he would also likely get a waiver. It would be yet another QB that would be transferring out of Notre Dame in the Brian Kelly era. However, this strange situation wouldn't be a guarantee that it ends in disaster.
Another way to look at it is Clark could be the player that is more impacted by a potential Book return in 2021. With a year on Pyne, and Notre Dame's penchant for playing the older quarterback, Clark would have a great shot to win the starting job in 2021 while Buchner was still a freshman. That would mean Buchner would have to unseat a starter in 2022. Should Book return, however, Buchner and Clark would be on a more level playing field.
If Notre Dame does retain all four quarterbacks going into 2021, there would be two young guys that could learn and wouldn't be forced into action. It would also give them one of the deepest QB rooms in the entire country.
Between the talent and competition, Notre Dame would have to be able to find their future star, but that is more of a pipe dream over a real possibility. With only a few years to chase their dreams of the NFL, you can't blame a kid for going after playing time. The NCAA has made player movement incredibly easy and the players have taken advantage. The transfer quarterback is commonplace in college football today. With the eligibility freeze, the transfer portal is about to get real active around the country. Notre Dame will likely be no different.
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