Notre Dame football: 3 reasons the Irish made the right decision at QB

The Notre Dame football team officially has a starting quarterback, as Jack Coan was named the starter for Week 1 on Saturday.

Brian Kelly announced through Twitter on August 14th that Jack Coan would be the starting quarterback for the Notre Dame football team in their Week 1 game against Florida State.

This, of course, is what most people expected to happen. Coan was brought in as a graduate transfer from Wisconsin, to have him start, and the plan was that he would act as a stopgap between Ian Book and the next long-term starter.

The next long-term starter would presumably be the true freshman Tyler Buchner, Drew Pyne, or possibly even 2022 recruit Steve Angeli.

Coan gets the job after losing his at Wisconsin following an injury that he suffered at the start of last season. The year before that, though, Coan took the Badgers to the Rose Bowl, before losing to Justin Herbert and Oregon.

That season, Coan was solid, as he threw for a 69.6% completion percentage, 2,727 yards, and 18 TDs in 2019. That is comparable to Book’s 2020 season when he threw for a 64.6% completion percentage, 2,830 yards, and 15 TDs.

So, while Coan had two more games in 2019 than Book did in 2020, the two have similar seasons, at least from a statistical point of view.

Of course, Coan was the expected starter, but he did face a quarterback battle this past Spring and the first week or so of Summer practice. It’s a job he had to prove that he deserved, so let’s take a look at why Coan is the right choice to start.