The Notre Dame football team kicked off their preseason practices on Saturday, and Jack Coan ran the Irish’s first-team offense.
When the Notre Dame football team kicked off their fall camp on Saturday, one of the big questions was who would take snaps with the first-team offense. Starting quarterback is a position battle to keep an eye on heading into the Florida State matchup, but it seems like one player has a grip on the job.
That player is Jack Coan, a graduate transfer from Wisconsin who has been the presumed QB1 since arriving in South Bend. Coan comes to the Irish after a successful stint as the starter for the Badgers, leading them to a Big Ten title game, and showing incredible accuracy along the way.
Notre Dame football does have some quality players running the second and third teams as well, as Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner have both looked good this spring. Both younger players, Pyne and Buchner may have to sit and watch Coan lead the way in 2021, but that may not be the worst thing for their development.
Notre Dame football is in good hands with Coan
The Irish are a win-now program, and in Coan, they have a player who has been very successful in one of the better conferences in the country. The Big Ten is home to massive programs like Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, and he was able to lead his Badgers nearly to the top of that mountain two years ago.
The one exciting thing about Coan is the fact that he rarely makes mistakes, and within an offense with a dominant running back and tight end, he has enough talent around him to succeed. Also, the wide receiver group is turning heads this offseason, and there could be some elite talent on the outside as well in 2021.
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The Notre Dame football team has a tough schedule in 2021, and if they want to return to the CFP, they will have to beat some elite teams to do so.
Coan proved during his time at Wisconsin that he can certainly play within the offense, and while he may not be a quarterback whose statistics are going to jump off the page from week to week, he is one that can be trusted to make the smart play. Far too often quarterbacks try to do too much and it is to the detriment of the team, but Coan will prove to be a steady rock at the position for the Irish in his only season on campus.