Notre Dame football: Ian Book has up-and-down debut for the Saints
By Brad Weiss
Former Notre Dame football star Ian Book played the entire second half in his preseason debut, posting an up-and-down effort for the New Orleans Saints.
The Notre Dame football program announced on Saturday that Jack Coan would be the player to take over at quarterback for Ian Book, who left the Irish with more wins than any other quarterback in program history. While the task will be tall for Coan, who is a graduate transfer from Wisconsin, Book has a tall task ahead of him as well.
A fourth-round pick of the New Orleans Saints, Book is trying to earn his role with the team as a rookie, and there have been some ups and downs along the way. Still, he has drawn rave reviews from head coach Sean Payton, and with how undecided the quarterback position is in New Orleans, he appears to be in a great spot to begin his NFL career.
On Saturday, he was allowed to showcase what he could do, as he played the entire second half for the Saints, and just as his spring and summer have been, it was a mixed bag. Book’s first NFL pass was a 35-yard completion, and he did finish with 126 yards on 9-of-16 passing, but just like Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill, he also threw a pick.
As a whole, Book did enough to warrant the team looking at him as the No. 3 quarterback right now.
Notre Dame football star earning a spot in New Orleans
It has been a pretty successful summer for Book so far, and he appears to be ahead of Trevor Siemian for the No. 3 job right now. He will have to continue to work in practice and show a little more in-game action, but for a player making his NFL debut, the Saints have to be happy with the way he commanded the offense.
For Book, this was a solid start to his NFL career, and by him playing the entire second half, it is clear that Sean Payton is trying to get a good look at him. Neither Winston nor Hill stood out for the Saints, who had six turnovers in the loss to the Ravens, so that quarterback battle is still wide open.