Notre Dame football: 3 offensive players who must step up in 2021

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May 1, 2021; Notre Dame, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Jack Coan (17) takes the snap in the first half of the Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /

Notre Dame football: 3 offensive players who must step up in 2021

No. 1: Jack Coan

One of the bigger battles to watch leading into the Florida State game will come at quarterback, where graduate transfer Jack Coan is trying to stave off both Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner. For Coan, he has the talent, and the resume to get the job done in his only season in South Bend, as he once led the Wisconsin Badgers to a Big Ten title game.

However, this is not Wisconsin, and the players behind him are loaded with talent and would like nothing more than to take his job. Not only does he have to win the job, but then he has to step up and fill the shoes left by Ian Book, who was a playmaker for the Irish, and someone who willed this team to victories time and time again.

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - NOVEMBER 07: Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly is interviewed by ESPN College Gameday hosts Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor during a live broadcast from Notre Dame Stadium before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Clemson Tigers on November 7, 2020 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images)

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Overall, this offense has the potential to put up points in bunches, and a lot of the play-calling will go through both Kyren Williams and Michael Mayer. However, for this offense to run, Coan, or whoever the starter is will have to step up in a big way, while making the kind of plays that Ian Book used to when called upon.

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