Notre Dame Football: Will Jack Coan be better than expected?

The Notre Dame Football program is replacing Ian Book this offseason, and his likely replacement, Jack Coan, has turned heads so far.

The Notre Dame Football team has a lot of work to do in terms of replacing veteran leadership, as they could have as many as ten players drafted in the 2021 NFL Draft. One glaring area that needs to be filled is at quarterback, where Ian Book has moved on after winning more games than any signal-caller in school history.

To replace Book, the Irish could go several different ways, including in-house talent from last season in Drew Pyne and Brendon Clark, or incoming true freshman Tyler Buchner. However, the more likely scenario is that graduate transfer Jack Coan will take over for Book, and all signs point to him possibly being better than expected.

Recently, the talented Pete Sampson from the Athletic tweeted out a statement from Notre Dame Football head coach Brian Kelly regarding Coan:

That is a tremendous statement if you are a fan of this Notre Dame Football team, as he put up solid numbers at Wisconsin, but never proved he could go deep. The Irish have some burners on the outside this season, and the fact that Coan has displayed better arm strength could open up this offense in a big way.

Notre Dame Football to lean on Coan in 2021

During his time at Wisconsin, not only did Coan lead the Badgers to a lot of wins, making it to the Big Ten title game, but he also established himself as a leader on and off the field. That is the kind of attribute that made Book such a tremendous talent in South Bend, the ability to lead men to victory.

Of course, Drew Pyne has also played very well this spring, and there are some rumblings that he could actually push Coan for the starting job. However, I believe that this is Coan’s job to lose, and based on what we saw from him the last time he was a full-time starter, you can expect the winning in South Bend to continue in 2021.