Notre Dame Football: Ian Book named one of ESPN’s Top 50 players
By J.P. Scott
Quarterback Ian Book was the lone representative for Notre Dame football on ESPN’s list of college football’s 50 best players in 2019.
We’ve been over this before — when it comes to Notre Dame football — there is only love or hate. If you are reading this, you probably love the Irish. One national outlet who has been stingy when it comes to dishing out love to the Irish in recent years is ESPN.
Notre Dame got a little love from the “Worldwide Leader” this week.
ESPN released its list of the best players in college football for the 2019 season — 50 of them in total. Irish quarterback Ian Book made the list, coming in at No. 33.
Eleven quarterbacks made the list altogether, and Book was No. 9 amongst that group. You can look at that a couple of different ways. It speaks volumes about he quality of the position group in 2019 that over a fifth of the Top 50 players in the country play quarterback.
On the other hand, is Ian Book — a guy who completed 68.2 percent of his passes in 2018 and led his team to a College Footbal Playoff berth — really only the ninth best quarterback in college football?
Once again, Shea Patterson seems to be getting more love than Book, and we can’t figure out why. Patterson is ranked No. 26 overall and No. 7 amongst quarterbacks. From a statistical standpoint, this doesn’t make much sense.
Patterson completed 64.6 of his passes for 2,600 yards, 22 touchdown passes and seven interceptions in 13 games, giving him a 149.8 quarterback rating in 2018.
Ian Book — in just ten games last season — completed 68.2 percent of of his passes for 2,628 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He had a rating of 154.0.
It’s tough to tell what the powers that be at ESPN are thinking, but they are not alone. Shea Patterson’s name gets tossed around a lot when talking about players to watch in 2019. Book is largely an afterthought — which is strange, considering the program he plays for.
Next. The puzzling case of QBs under Brian Kelly. dark
In any event, both players will have a chance to prove whether or not they belong in the Top 50 — as well as who is the better player — starting in just a couple of weeks when the 2019 college football season gets underway.