Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2021 5 FAN FORUM TO OUR READERS We are pleased to welcome a new column to the pages of Blue & Gold Illustrated. "Irish Echoes," written by promi- nent Notre Dame football historian Jim Lefebvre, will appear in each issue and celebrate the players, coaches, games and stories that have made Fighting Irish football notable over the decades. Jim has a long background as a journalist and author. His books Loyal Sons: The Story of The Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Cham- pions and Coach For A Nation: The Life and Times of Knute Rockne were both honored by the Independent Pub- lisher Book Awards. He has been published in The Chi- cago Sun-Times and numerous online football publications. In 2017, Jim co-founded the Knute Rockne Memorial Society, which he serves as executive director. The Rockne Society presents the an- nual Knute Rockne Spirit of Sports Awards. This year's event is Sept. 24 in Chicago. More information is available at www.RockneSociety.org. We hope you enjoy Jim's columns and encourage you to contact him with any ideas for stories on Notre Dame history you'd like to see ex- plored. He can be reached at jlefeb- vre@blueandgold.com. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com FROM THE WEB When fall camp opened on Aug. 7, there was no shortage of interesting topics surrounding the Notre Dame football program. At the forefront, though, was the quarterback competition. The Irish must replace three-year starter Ian Book, who left with a 30-5 record as Notre Dame's all-time winningest quarterback and led them to a pair of College Football Playoff appearances. The competition between graduate transfer Jack Coan, sopho- more Drew Pyne and freshman Tyler Buchner that began in the spring carried over to the start of fall camp. Here is a sampling of what Irish fans had to say on BlueandGold.com's message board prior to Coan being named the starter Aug. 14: GroggyGrizzly: You can either mark or mock my words … I will be shocked if there isn't a bunch of drama at this position this season. Maverick1: There won't be … Coan will be the starter and unless he gets hurt, or really stinks it up, unlikely, he will be the starting QB the entire season. Rockne1988: We all know Coan will be the starter unless he gets hurt. The only way I see under Brian Kelly that a freshman starts is if it was a Trevor Lawrence type. PreTill1: The first time Coan struggles, it will start. He is going to start in my opinion and he is going to have points where he struggles. Thus, I think it's also inevitable. Maverick1: As the great Lou Somogyi used to say: "the most popular player is the backup QB." Ryno1134: I think Coan starts and Buchner will have a short yardage/goal line package. Mizzo37: Coan will put up surprising numbers IMO. dcirish1213: It's Coan's job to lose. He wouldn't have trans- ferred to ND If he didn't think he was going to start. Now whether he struggles remains to be seen because that will open the door for Pyne and Buchner to duke it out. I'm still underwhelmed by Pyne's spring game, thought he had the best opportunity to show his skill set and have that extra chip on his shoulder by being snubbed of the starting position in the offseason, but he looked awful in my opinion. Buchner is going to be electric and I hope he gets starter reps. His talent is too much to ignore and could elevate the offense to that elite status if he pans out. All the teams winning championships have top-notch QBs these days. Buchner is the only one with that potential in my opinion. playfunkymusic: Agreed Ty will be electric. GCND: Let's get the OL clicking as a unit and it'll be a lot easier for any of the QBs to put up some surprising numbers. JOIN THE CONVERSATION! GET A 60-DAY FREE TRIAL WITH CODE IRISH60 Graduate transfer Jack Coan (above) was viewed as the Fighting Irish's unquestioned starter by most fans, but some are intrigued by the talent of freshman Tyler Buchner. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER