Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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22 MAY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY ANDREW MENTOCK D uring spring break, many of Ian Book's Notre Dame class- mates jetted off to the warm climates found in popular va- cation spots, such as Cancun, Mexico, Las Vegas and Miami. Instead of tropical havens, though, the two-year starting quarterback had another destination in mind: Omaha, Neb., the home of former NFL quarterback Sage Rosenfels and his three children. While in town, Book stayed at Rosenfels' home, where the pair talked about life and the game of football. "He even helped me cook," Rosen- fels said. "I told him, 'One day, you're going to be in your 40s not playing quarterback anymore, and you're going to be raising kids, living in the suburbs and making dinners.'" Book's time in Omaha may have provided him with an early intro- duction to life as a family man and retired football player, but his real purpose there was to use some of his allowed time away from South Bend to get some work in at a local perfor- mance facility and study game film with Rosenfels. LEARNING FROM AN NFL JOURNEYMAN A former collegiate and profes- sional quarterback, Rosenfels spent 12 seasons in the NFL with five differ- ent franchises, including two separate stints with both the Miami Dolphins and the Minnesota Vikings. During that time, he learned from some of the best minds in the NFL regarding offense, such as Kyle Shanahan, Jason Garrett, Matt LaFleur, Norv Turner, Gary Kubiak and others. Today, he's a radio host, a writer for The Athletic and a coach with QB Collective, a group of NFL coaches and world-class experts working to- gether to train the nation's most tal- ented young quarterbacks. Book and Rosenfels were put in touch through a mutual connection in Book's pri- vate quarterback coach Will Hewlett, who is also part of QB Collective and has worked with Book since he was a freshman in high school. "[Book and I] worked for about two and a half days," Rosenfels said. "We watched a lot of film and we did some throwing, including some under center stuff that they don't do a lot of at Notre Dame. Rosenfels (left), who spent 12 years in the NFL, worked with Book (right) in Omaha, Neb., during spring break. PHOTO COURTESY SAGE ROSENFELS SAGE ADVICE Ian Book spent his spring break learning from 12-year NFL veteran Sage Rosenfels