They said it wouldn’t happen. He wasn’t going anywhere, he loves Notre Dame too much, and it doesn’t make sense to transfer only sit out a year when the job could be his in South Bend in 2021 once Ian Book leaves. Heck, maybe he was one injury away from being the starter next fall.
Well, it happened.
On Wednesday afternoon news broke that current redshirt freshman quarterback Phil Jurkovec has entered the transfer portal and will be leaving Notre Dame.
In the world of college football no transfer should be that surprising. Once it was announced that Ian Book was returning for his fifth and final season there were plenty of people who worried and were upset this could be the end for Jurkovec at Notre Dame. Ultimately, that is what transpired.
It’s a sad if not predictable ending for Jurkovec who joined a long list of Savior quarterbacks to pass through campus and not quite live up to their promise. Fans and scouts alike were dazzled by his skill-set coming out of the Notre Dame-friendly Pittsburgh suburbs with a package of the seemingly can’t-miss variety: tall, good runner, strong arm, terrific leader.
There were warning signs early on as Jurkovec’s throwing motion looked extremely quirky once he arrived on campus and threw in front of cameras. Did he try to change it himself? Did the Notre Dame coaches try something and then say they never did? Was he nursing an injury of some sort? Not much of this story made sense then nor does it make sense today.
Jurkovec’s first spring game last April had me ‘officially worried’Â as he looked extremely uncomfortable in the pocket taking 12 sacks and only mustering 135 passing yards on 26 attempts. Was that really a big deal? Maybe not but the development didn’t seem to come during the summer and into fall camp, when fans preached patience. Even when Ian Book was practicing fine but not really at a dominant level the reports from campus indicated that Jurkovec wasn’t close to threatening to take the job while continue to struggle with his accuracy.
It was easy to think about what Phil Jurkovec could be when he arrived. Now that he’s in the transfer portal it’s hard to make sense of how his two years at Notre Dame actually played out. https://t.co/rjbAVQ6g5G
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) January 9, 2020
The Pittsburgh native played bits of 8 games across 2018-19 accumulating pretty decent stats while largely leading conservative offenses in blowouts: 12 of 17 (70.6%) for 222 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, with 139 rushing yards on 24 carries. If you’re judging things based off those numbers alone he kind of looks like he’d be ready to blossom soon but it was a small sample size not really indicative of much progress.
Who knows what the future holds for Jurkovec but it should be noted quite strongly that his story is far from written. We’ll have to wait and see where he lands, if he’s given a waiver for immediate eligibility, and if he can develop at another school down the road.
What does this mean for Notre Dame moving forward?
There will be immediate concerns about a competent backup for 2020, although rising redshirt freshman Brendon Clark has shown brief glimpses of becoming that type of player in his short time on campus. The program also welcomes incoming freshman Drew Pyne for spring practice which will be a timely addition. Further, the vast majority of programs don’t have a good and experienced backup, we weren’t even sure Jurkovec was progressing to that level anyway, so this is a smaller issue in the larger picture when Ian Book is returning.
In reality, the Jurkovec transfer sets up a potential massive competition for 2021 as the currently committed Tyler Buchner is the next recruit to pick up the Savior tag and is scheduled to be an early enrollee on campus in less than a year. There should be some opportunities for the backups to see playing time this fall (Navy, Arkansas, Western Michigan, Duke, Georgia Tech should provide opportunities) but will it be enough for Clark or Pyne to pick up a the 1A starter label in the spring of 2021?
From an entertainment standpoint, at least this opens the door to an exciting quarterback competition during next off-season. It might be messy but the transition to a post-Ian Book world was always likely to be anyway, and frankly, it’s not a bad situation to have 3 young quarterbacks competing together when they all bring a little different skills to the table. Just as long as one quarterback wins in the end.
It only makes sense if he is not happy at ND or he somehow thinks he has no chance to beat out the guys behind him next year. I wonder if this had anything to do with Long’s exit.
How does it not make sense? 4 of the top 6 dual QB’s in that class have transferred. If QB’s don’t play, they find somewhere they can.
Phil could have stayed 2020 to get his degree, but he may be able to get a waiver. Even if not, by leaving now he sets himself up better in 2021 for his new school to know the coaches/plays/scheme/program better then transferring in 12 months.
Book coming back for 2020 pretty much made Jurkovec’s career path change. Clark and Pyne are a lot more “Book-like” than Jurkovec for accurate short-game passers, which is where the offense is seemingly headed anyways. If Phil stayed he’s probably the Wimbush to Buchner’s (hopefully improved) Book anyways. But even then, we’ve seen that it is not realistic in this climate that an elite QB recruit will wait 3 full years without the opportunity to play, so that alone means it makes sense Jurkovec departs if he can’t get on the field.
And, that said, Jurkovec shouldn’t get playing time over Book, so it’s what it is as Joe Pesci and De Niro repeat to each other a million times in The Irishman.
From a playing time perspective it seems to hinge heavily on the waiver for 2020. Like you say, he could stick around another year and get a Notre Dame degree /and/ second string snaps /and/ still have 2 years of eligibility at the end of that.
To leave I’d think you have to be either really confident in the NCAA [hahahahaha] or unhappy with something other than playing time. I’d discount the idea that he thinks he’d be beaten out by Clark/Pyne/Buchner; in my experience that’s not how players think about competition.
“he could stick around another year and get a Notre Dame degree /and/ second string snaps /and/ still have 2 years of eligibility at the end of that.”
The bigger point though is that’s a non-starter for an elite QB recruit to stick around a program for 3 years without getting on the field.
“I’d discount the idea that he thinks he’d be beaten out by Clark/Pyne/Buchner; in my experience that’s not how players think about competition.”
For sure, but Jurkovec probably also sees that the way they have coached him that he’s closer to Clark than he is to Book and that there’s no guarantee in 2021 that Phil is playing, even if he would be in the driver’s seat for QB1 based on experience. Or maybe he doesn’t see or care about that and just wants a place where he gets on the field quicker, I think we’re in agreeance a lot boils down to the NCAA waiver that we don’t know about yet.
But 2021 is an impossibly long time away for a top-5 QB recruit who has already waited 2 years. Those guys don’t stay stagnant in this day and age.
Gambit, perhaps he thinks he’s the next best but he couldn’t get any assurances from Kelly that he was the next in line. The gap between Jurkovec- Book may be much larger than the gap between Jurkovec-Clark in the coach’s minds.
The problem of it not making sense isn’t that a top QB is leaving. I agree that happens.
The problem is this:
If he waited until Book leaves and starts = 2 years of starting.
If he goes elsewhere sits out a year and starts = 2 years of starting.
So you can’t say he’s going somewhere else to get more PT.
So the only way this makes sense is if he doesn’t like it at ND or that he thought he couldn’t beat out the guys behind him. Now a third reason has been added (I hadn’t heard of its possibility before) that he could get an extra year to play if he gets a waiver.
“But 2021 is an impossibly long time away for a top-5 QB recruit who has already waited 2 years. Those guys don’t stay stagnant in this day and age.”
But the point would be without the waiver he’s waiting the same amount of time if he stays or if he goes. QBs don’t just leave just to leave. They leave to get on the field faster than they would if they stayed.
“So you can’t say he’s going somewhere else to get more PT.”
Sure you can. You’re seeming to take Jurkovec starting 2 years at ND as a given just because he’s the most senior member in the QB room. That’s no guarantee, and probably the opposite from what Jurkovec has been coached to hear.
https://www.si.com/college/notredame/football/notre-dame-football-whats-next-qb-position-after-jurkovec
My point was with that line that he wasn’t going to get any more than 2 years anywhere else. And also why I gave one of the options that he’d be leaving is that he didn’t think he could beat out the younger guys.
It does seem a little odd. He did red-shirt his freshman year, so he’d be the unquestioned backup and heir-apparent heading into next year with three years of eligibility remaining. Instead he’s rolling the dice on immediate eligibility to compete for a job somewhere else either this year or next year with only two years of eligibility.
His development on campus has been a little disappointing, the weird hitch in his throwing motion hasn’t really improved through two years. Tough to say how much of that is coaching and how much of that is the player.
It’s too bad he’s not sticking it out, like a lot of the recent losses to next year’s team it isn’t fatal, just raises more concerns, so stay healthy Ian, and good luck to PJ wherever you end up.
Here are some QBs who are currently in or have in the last couple months been in the transfer portal:
Jamie Newman
KJ Costello
Felipe Franks
Jake Bentley
Those are all very solid QBs! And there’s no reason to think that the transfer portal will not be similarly situated next year given its only increasing prominence in CFB. Point being: we’re probably going to be able to have our pick of ex-starting QBs this time next year. Assuming Jurk doesn’t turn into a superstar, this could conceivably end up with ND having a *better* QB room in February 2021 than they would have if he stayed.
Anthony Brown the BC starting quarterback was in there too.
But if Buchner early enrolls in 12 months from now, is he the answer to be ND’s Tua/Trevor? Not sure if he’ll have that success but it seems like he’s getting that type of push but that’s a great point that if needed the portal might give a soft landing next year if it’s needed.
Buchner is not getting the Lawrence level of hype (literally only Trevor Lawrence and Jimmy Clausen have gotten that level of hype), and is more closely rated to where Phil was at this point in his career than where Lawrence/Clausen/etc. were. I would not plan on Buchner coming in and being elite from day 1.
Ron Powlus is wondering why he’s not on your short list of QB hype.
I wasn’t talking about Buchner getting Lawrence-hype levels tying a parallel to his recruit rankings, I was saying he could be ND’s Trevor Lawrence in the sense of potentially starting as a true freshman as Lawrence did as well. Which, I really do expect more and more, especially if the rumors of Buchner EE’ing in 12 months and having all spring 2021 to learn and impress comes to pass.
I see. My point is, by recruiting rankings, in terms of production it’s much more likely he’s our Bo Nix than our Trevor Lawrence (and, in fact, Nix finished higher ranked than where Buchner is now). Which is fine! But, to my original point, it’s likely we’ll be able to pluck a grad transfer off the transfer portal who is better in 2021 than freshman-level Buchner.
Perhaps so. I’m kind of hoping Buchner can be more of a Sam Howell than a Bo Nix, but I suppose we will see how it goes. (That could also be a big ask, being as Howell’s raw stats are in context more impressive than Lawrence’s freshman year considering quality of teammate). Grad transfer could def be in the cards and there is no shortage of QB talent in the portal, that’s a good point by you.
I see no reason to tie Buchner’s readiness to his specific recruiting ranking. He’s likely to be moving up the charts, anyway.
Also, Kelly has not recruited a grad transfer at QB during his time at ND, and there’s not really any reason to believe that this will change next spring. Or that whoever is out there would definitely perform better than one of the guys already in our pipeline.
I mean, sure there is. True freshmen usually aren’t particularly good. Trevor Lawrence is a significant exception, but he was also an all-time recruit while in high school.
Just because we haven’t seen somebody play does not mean that we should assume they will be better than a known quantity; rather, one should probably assume the opposite until proven otherwise. Jamie Newman and KJ Costello are very, very likely going to be better in 2020 than any of the quarterbacks in ND’s pipeline will be in 2021. As will be, very likely, the 2021 versions of Jamie Newman and KJ Costello.
To be clear: I’m actually pretty optimistic about Clark! It’s just that Jamie Newman will probably be a top 5-10 QB next year (I’d take him over Book!), and KJ Costello is probably the next tier or tier after that. If ND is in the position to get someone like that next year, they probably should.
Not that I want to derail this discussion or anything, but I can’t get over the fact that you would take Jamie Newman over Book. He was…not very good against P5 competition. Perhaps bad would even be a better descriptor. He completed less than 50% of his passes in 4 of his past 5 games. And his running wasn’t some game changer; he rushed for more than 5 YPC in 2 games all season. Give me Book every time.
https://www.pff.com/news/college-top-10-college-football-quarterbacks-returning-2020
I guess I was putting a lot of stock in that, and that I only watched Wake before they started losing, so my availability bias is probably throwing me off. QBR is much less favorable to Newman.
Ha fair, only started watching Wake after they started losing! I turned them on for that Clemson game, caught the end of the Syracuse OT game (he got hurt before I even turned it on), then saw them lose to MSU in the bowl game.
1. You’re talking about the portal right now, not a year from now. There’s really no guarantee that QBs like that would necessarily be available next time around, assuming that you even think they’re all that great (spoiler alert: I don’t).
2. I didn’t say that a true freshman would be starting. If Clark or Pyne win the job, they’ll both have at least a full year in the system.
3. I’m not sure we want to set the precedent of being a school that doesn’t ‘promote from within’ at the QB position. It may in fact represent some degree of short-term improvement, but I guarantee that we’ll get hammered for this on the recruiting trail and it may have an adverse impact with future quarterback prospects.
I don’t know if we will ever know the true story or all the facts. Perhaps Kelly even agreed to give him the waiver. or give him the waiver if he doesn’t go to a team on the schedule next year.
At the end of the day, this is the transfer of a back-up QB out of the school. A highly touted one, but still a back-up. I am sure he thought he would be the starter in 2020 and 2021, Buchner could then succeed him, but he decided if he couldn’t start in 2020, far more likely they go immediately to the freshman and develop him rather than a senior with one year left.
I don’t know what, if anything it says about Kelly or the program. I will say there is an awful lot of material on ND Nation for Notre Dame, our blogger to have some fun. It is almost as if we lost to Bowling Green.
Though it wouldn’t be a senior with 1 year left, but with 2 years left and he would still start two years just 2021 and 2022.
Can head coaches just agree to give players waivers? I’ve never heard of that and would think it’s a very slippery slope and that coaches wouldn’t want that ability because then essentially they are forcing players to sit out at other schools all the time.
Schools can grant waivers. ND has in the past. I recall one school the student appealed to the faculty senate and they overruled the coach. I think we either voluntarily gave one or were forced to for Vanderhoes.
No, a school cannot grant a waiver to play immediately. Only the NCAA has final say over whether a player can play immediately. It may have formerly been up to the school, but it is not anymore.
The waiver you may be referring to is the fact that schools used to be able to block a player from simply transferring to another school in general. Not even transfer and start right away; ND could have blocked any player from transferring to Michigan and receiving a football scholarship if we wanted to. I don’t think that’s the case anymore either.
Mikey is correct, but just to add a little more color: transferring outside of a graduate transfer has always resulted in the sit-one-year requirement without a waiver from the NCAA. Pre-2018 there was a rule that allowed coaches to block transfers on certain grounds, which was usually because the team was on their schedule in the next couple years. That rule has been removed and the departing coach/program no longer have any say in where a transferring student goes.
Theoretically post-2018 the NCAA was going to be more generous in granting transfer waivers for reasons such as coaching changes, which is why there’s at least a chance that PJ can get one given that his OC just departed.
Wow really? That’s going to change the landscape of college football if transfer waivers will be granted because of coaching changes (and coordinators ones at that!).
Maybe people will stop pretending that football players are students who care about the university they attend.
Can you say more about transfer waivers for coaching changes? I don’t think I know about that.
I believe it was proposed that a player could transfer if their head coach left or was fired. I do not think this proposal actually passed. So as it stands now, I don’t think Jurko could get a waiver for that reason.
However, I think he still has a strong case. It has been rumored that Long was let go because he was a dick, and that he possibly mistreated players. If that is the case, that would likely fall under the “mental health/hardship due to egregious behavior” waiver rule, even though Long is now gone.
This reminds me of Gunner Kiel. Super big recruit, savior. Didn’t play. Transferred to a lower level school. Had a nice little career. We ended up with Tommy Rees in a major QB role. History repeating itself. We haven’t had a major academic scandal in a while, so that’s my prediction for this summer. Book is suspended for publishing his graduate thesis (no one in the NCAA has ever heard the word Thesis before so assume he is making money off publishing a children’s book). NCAA tells us to forfeit every win in school history when they realize we have other students that have done “these-isses” and then shook football players’ hands. TFR comes down from the booth and straps on the pads. 5 years later we make the playoffs
Crawford officially returning for his sixth year. Good Friday afternoon pickup.
We have had a number of quarterbacks transfer, but the only one who had a successful season after his transfer was Kiel. And that was after his transfer to Cincinnati where you’ve got to figure that he faced a lower level of defenses (still, you do have to wonder what would have happened had he stayed and been available to play when Golson got suspended for the year).
My point is that I don’t side with the people who say PJ wasn’t given a chance. I just don’t see a reason why the coaches wouldn’t play the best quarterback, short of the coaches being simply mistaken. In the latter vein, the fact that the QB’s who have transferred from here haven’t lit up the world is, I think, indicative of the fact that the coaches were not mistaken.
I do wish PJ the best in wherever he lands. I am sorry he’s not staying to get an ND degree.
Great point. Plus people have to be aware that this happens everywhere. Highly rated QBs don’t always turn out to be even very good. And when they aren’t as good as we expect they tend to transfer to a place with less competition. And as you note even then it usually doesn’t work out for them.
PJ is headed to Boston College. BC and ND don’t play in ’20 or ’21, but if PJ sticks around for his fifth year he’ll play one more game in Notre Dame Stadium.
https://twitter.com/WZBCSports/status/1216092925588856838?s=20
Wow, that happened fast! I sure hope there wasn’t some discussion between BC and him before he entered the portal. That would not be cool.
Word is his girlfriend goes to BU.
Which coupled with the BC QB situation and change of coaching, must have made it a quick decision process.