Reviewing the Redshirts is an off-season series meant to resurrect discussion around the current Irish freshmen who did not play in 2016.
There were 11 players who retained a year of eligibility this past year and today we look at a lightly regarded quarterback coming out of the shadows during his first spring with the football team.
QB, Ian Book
Hometown: El Dorado Hills, CA
Height: 5-11 1/2
Weight: 200
247Sports Composite Ranking:
3-star, No. 20 Pro-Style QB, No. 58 CA, No. 522 USA, 0.868 score
Need at Position: High
Expected Spot on the 2017 Depth Chart: Backup
Roughly around week 4 of this past football season the chatter began to make the rounds. “There’s a pretty good chance neither Malik Zaire or DeShone Kizer are on the roster next year,” it was said in various ways.
Well, here we are and no one benefits from this more than Ian Book.
If you recall, the Irish waited patiently while chasing the likes of Shea Patterson, Jacob Eason, and Malik Henry in the 2016 class. Once those quarterbacks ended up elsewhere (Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida State respectively, although Henry has already transferred) Notre Dame was back to square one in “take a quarterback or don’t take a quarterback” debate mode.
In early August 2015 with fall camp just around the corner the Irish flipped Ian Book from Washington State after a quiet visit to South Bend. It wasn’t seen as much of a coup at the time largely because Book was supposed to be a mere buffer between Zaire/Kizer/Wimbush and the hopeful commit of in-state 5-star Hunter Johnson. However, Boise State had offered Book when then-OC Mike Sanford was still with the Broncos so there was some comfort and familiarality with his skill-set.
Fast forward to today and Hunter Johnson didn’t commit to Notre Dame, Sanford has moved on to coach Western Kentucky, and there’s no buffer between Book and Wimbush.
Here are my comments on Book from just after he signed with Notre Dame last February:
Book looks really polished and ready to develop in a college offense. I’d thought he’d be more raw but was surprised with the tools among his arsenal. His arm strength isn’t great but should be serviceable. He sells play-action really, really well and looks very comfortable in a spread offense. Book excels with the read option and hopefully this continues at the next level. He has good quickness, vision, and cutting ability in the open field. Not super fast but someone who should be a weapon as a runner. I like that he’s not afraid of contact. Footwork and fundamentals within the pocket look solid and he doesn’t waste time escaping the pocket when he needs to and really throws well on the run. Book has a calmness with the havoc going around him that I really like. Seems more than competent with his accuracy. A lot to like here. Maybe not a future NFL player but someone with the tools to be a very good college quarterback.
When Book committed in the summer prior to his senior season the film up to that point was pretty ordinary. Most agreed it was a bit of a reach by the staff but it didn’t matter because of the buffer situation. Of course that type of thinking doesn’t trickle down to the recruits because Book turned in a very strong senior season at Oak Ridge: 244 of 346 (70%) for 3,049 yards, 779 rushing yards at 6.0 per carry, 42 total touchdowns, and 5 interceptions.
Now, there’s still uneasiness about the fact that he’s one play away from being the starting quarterback at Notre Dame. Nonetheless, Book’s senior season appeared to show that he’s capable of being more than just a place holder.
The big question for Book is how big of a jump he can make during the spring because many are interested to see if incoming freshman Avery Davis ascends to the backup role sooner rather than later. Both are very short for quarterbacks, and while Davis is going to have an athletic advantage as a premier option-read quarterback coming out of a top notch league in Texas, we saw the recent Under Armour All-American game cast some doubt on Davis’ throwing abilities.
If Book can show some core competency throwing the ball this spring he may lock up the backup role for 2017 which would include him in tons of reps in practice whereas Davis could be the odd man out with minimal reps. Then again, we could see Book and Davis split reps in practice no matter what, that also wouldn’t surprise me.
The 2016 Redshirts:
QB Ian Book
RB Tony Jones
WR Deon McIntosh
OG Parker Boudreaux
OT Tommy Kraemer
OT Liam Eichenberg
DE Ade Ogundeji
LB Jonathan Jones
S Spencer Perry
S D.J. Morgan
LS John Shannon
Not gonna lie; I had to do a double-take to confirm that he doesn’t have a teardrop tattoo.
This dude is a killer.
On thhe field.
Being a little guy, he had to kill someone the first day of fall practice to ensure he got respect and wasn’t messed with.
I live this series Eric. I look forward to your perspective on these guys every year.
I concur. This IS my favorite series every year, followed by the commit roundup after NSD. I am not big on analyzing games, we win or we lose, sometimes I throw stuff. After such a rough year, I am hoping for a change and red shirts and recruiting gives me that hope change will come. I am still here lurking Eric, I just don’t comment until this series usually.