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Notre Dame football: Early takeaways from 2021 spring practice

By Daniel Morrison

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: Head coach Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: Head coach Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame Football (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame football: Early takeaways from 2021 spring practice

There is a Real Quarterback Competition

Something that has been reported in the early stages of Spring practice is that, while Jack Coan does have the inside track for the starting QB job, it’s not being given to him. There is a legitimate open competition for it, and the push is being led by Drew Pyne. That’s another surprise in and of itself, as most people would have assumed if Coan did get pushed, it would be coming from incoming freshman Tyler Buchner.

As it turns out, Buchner is rusty and still acclimating to college speed, but Pyne is ready to go. He had Coan have been sharing reps with the first team, according to Brian Kelly, and the question now is whether or not he’s capable of taking the job.

The short answer is probably not. Still, the fact that Kelly is allowing this to be a real competition is exciting and as interesting as there is in a Spring where we have very little insight into practices. Of course, at the same time, this could be less about Pyne and more about Coan.

Coan is coming off an injury that cost him the 2020 season and he could be dealing with a lot of rust himself. Besides, even before he got hurt, Coan wasn’t putting up massive numbers at Wisconsin.

You just have to hope the competition is in the spirit of competition, or because Pyne is making himself impossible to ignore, and not because Coan isn’t as advertised.

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