Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 MARCH 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Absolutely, Because Notre Dame Needs Him To By Todd D. Burlage To start, this is not an indictment of recent Notre Dame ros- ter addition Jack Coan, now the only one of five Irish scholar- ship quarterbacks to have ever started a college game. Coan — a graduate transfer from Wisconsin and, to many, the presumed 2021 opening-day Irish starter — made 18 career starts for the Badgers and played in both the Big Ten Championship Game and the Rose Bowl at the end of the 2019 season. Résumé noted, Coan adds a necessary been-there, done-that dynamic to an Irish QB roster that includes the inexperienced foursome of junior Brendon Clark (37 career mop-up snaps), sophomore Drew Pyne (25 career snaps), along with true freshmen Tyler Buchner and Ron Powlus III. Coan's success this season, especially through September, will correlate directly to Notre Dame's success. That said, be sure that both Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and Irish offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees fully realize that Buchner — the No. 6 dual-threat QB in the country per Rivals — is the most gifted of the five quarterback options, the future of Notre Dame football, and his time is now. As a mid-term enrollee, Buchner has seven months to hone his craft, find his footing and carve his place for the fall as a reliable dual-threat comple- ment to Coan, who is a traditional drop-back quarterback. Buchner as the opening day starter? Probably not, especially given that COVID-19 stole his senior high school season in 2020. Buchner as a valu- able 2021 situational option who Irish opponents need to prepare for every week? Anything otherwise would be a shame. History Not On Side Of Freshman QBs By Lou Somogyi I don't disagree about the opportunity to groom Tyler Buchner in 2021 as the future at quarterback. Ian Book was the three- year starter from 2018-20, and Buchner likewise could be in 2022-24, with Jack Coan the bridge in between. With superpowers Clemson and Ohio State on both the 2022- 23 regular season schedules — plus road outings at USC and North Carolina in 2022 — going into those years with limited (if any) meaningful game experience at signal-caller would not be ideal. Yet while it makes sense in theory, there are other realities. First, remember how current offensive coordinator and for- mer three-star Tommy Rees was "supposed to be" the place- holder between five-star Dayne Crist and the more electrifying Everett Golson? Rees ended up starting 31 times, the most in the Brian Kelly era at quarterback. Remember how three-star Book was "supposed to be" just an insurance policy in between top-100 recruits Brandon Wimbush (2015) and Phil Jurkovec (2018)? Book ended up with the most starts at quarterback under Kelly (35), with a school-record 30 wins in that role. Sophomore Drew Pyne fits the Rees/Book model of not having great stature but strong football IQ. He was ranked No. 118 overall nationally by Rivals in 2019 while Buchner was No. 114 in 2020, although Buchner didn't even have a high school senior season. Second, every Kelly quarterback recruit since Rees in 2010 has been red- shirted (Wimbush as a sophomore in 2016), be it five-star Gunner Kiel in 2012 or three-star Book in 2016. History could change in 2021, but I won't bet on it yet. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WILL FRESHMAN QB TYLER BUCHNER MAKE A NOTABLE IMPACT IN 2021? Notre Dame head baseball coach Link Jarrett has to be feeling a bit like this is his first year on the job, even though it's technically his second. Jarrett took over a flatlined Irish program before the 2020 season, one year after Notre Dame had gone 24-30 and finished near the bottom of the NCAA in batting average, runs scored and fielding percentage in 2019. The Irish immediately responded to their new skipper, winning 11 of their 13 games — includ- ing the final seven in a row — before the season was shut down last March because of COVID-19 concerns. The 2021 schedule has yet to be finalized, but the Irish will have gone almost an entire calendar year without playing a game when the season opens later this month with a tournament at Louisiana State University. Jarrett, a two-time Southern Conference Coach of Year during his seven seasons coaching UNC Greensboro before coming to Notre Dame, met with the local media on Feb. 5 to talk about the strengths and concerns of his team, his takeaways from fall practice, and how his players and staff han- dled the extended down time because of COVID-19. BGI: How would you assess your team's fall work- outs? Jarrett: "We had a very competitive and complete fall schedule, obviously no outside teams, but we got to all of our private workouts. And with a bunch of new players, that was very important. "We got to implement a lot of our foun- dation last year, but with such a drastically shortened season we needed this fall to be productive and I felt like it was." BGI: What would you consider a strength of this team? Jarrett: "Pitching depth. We have eight left-handed pitchers — anybody would love to have that. We have it. Piggybacking onto that, there's not tremendous starting elite-caliber stuff. "But we have plenty of options with how we man- age [the staff]. Our bullpen matchups are going to be very critical." BGI: How would you evaluate the offensive side of things? Jarrett: "We have some offensive variety. I feel like we have some speed, but inside of the speed, I feel like we have guys that understand how to run the bases and that gives you some variety in the playbook. "We have a mix of left-handed hitters, right- handed hitters, switch hitters, which is always some- thing you like as a coach." BGI: Your team got off to such a great start last season, do you think that momentum can carry over with so much time off? Jarrett: "I think part of the mo- mentum is the philosophy and understanding of what we're try- ing to do. Momentum rides on your ability to play consistently within the talent that you have and I expect that to continue. I like our momentum. "Guys are confident about what's going on. I am very fortunate to have gotten a foundation in place of what we're doing last year and getting to know what each of the players need." BGI: Given the strange circumstances during your first season here, where do you feel like the program is? Jarrett: "It was hard to have to stop in the mid- dle of what was going on [last spring], no ques- tion. But thank goodness we got into the season a little bit and got a taste of what we were trying to do with the program, with the personnel, kind of the playbook, and how to mange the staff. "So hopefully we can pick up and continue rolling." — Todd D. Burlage Five Questions With … BASEBALL COACH LINK JARRETT JARRETT Buchner enrolled at Notre Dame in February and will have an opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback job. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM