Notre Dame football: Reuniting with Phil Jurkovec?

Could Notre Dame football reunite with the former quarterback for the Irish, Phil Jurkovec, now that he has entered the portal?

Phil Jurkovec had his ups and downs with Notre Dame football. Still, he transferred after his 2nd season to take over the position at Boston College. During the 2019 season for Notre Dame, in parts of 6 games, Phil had solid numbers in very minimal passing attempts. He went 12 of 16 for 222 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Seemingly beaten out at the position by Ian Book, who had another year left in South Bend, Phil hit the road for Boston College.

Does reuniting with Phil make sense for the Irish? If you’re a bigger fan of pro football than college, you may have heard of Jurkovec as a top NFL draft prospect a few years back. Since then, the numbers haven’t been ideal. Lifetime Jurkovec has a 59.7% completion percentage, with 5405 yards passing and 37 touchdowns to 17 interceptions. He is also reasonably productive on the ground churning out 568 total yards and 9 touchdowns.

Looking back at his recruiting profile on 247Sports, his lead recruiter out of high school was Mike Sanford, while Tommy Rees was secondary. With Sanford gone, Rees would be the main point of contact in any transfer talk with Phil. Was the relationship left intact after Jurkovec departed, or was it an irreparably broken bond? Something to keep an eye on moving forward.

Frankly, and with all due respect to the young man, I don’t want any part of a reunion. It seemed abrupt how he left the program and has had some choice words about Notre Dame football, and the university itself, since. Outside of that, he has dealt with some serious injuries over the past couple of years, which is a recurring theme in his football seasons.

I trust Tommy Rees and coach Freeman to make the right choice, but it would be a resounding no if I had my vote. However, I trust this duo to make the right decision on who to bring in because there will be a new face in the room next year via the transfer portal.