I've been posting on this board for over 10 years with a lot of people here .. when have i ever been mistaken for some homer who goes on and on about a player's greatness? I'm just shocked that after these past 7 games there's not more hype/more appreciation for this player.
The ND media and ND fans still talk about Ian Book like he's merely a good player/complimentary piece. The defense has been dominant all season, but until Ian Book took over, and ND started averaging 40+ ppg, the outlook of BKs career, and NDs 2018 season was completely different. Book literally has the entire offense on his back (with a group of WR that had very little experience/prospect pedigree/or success prior to him starting), and he's just pulling/carrying this group with everything he has.
The offense is night and day difference with Book at the helm. He has such quick read/reaction/release/pocket presence that i don't think anybody at the college level is going to be able to consistently stop him. And as great as Ian Book has been, he still hasn't really had a game where he was firing on all cylinders for all 4 quarters.
ND went from ranked 80+ on offense to ~15 since he took over, and the team overall rank went from 20th to 6th.
A QB makes all the difference in the world (good ones are EXTREMELY difficult to find/develop) and Ian Book is easily in the discussion after Tua with the best QBs/best players in the country.
Everybody just assumes Book is returning next year .. we should all be preying to god that he doesn't pull a Troy Niklas and bounce to the NFL after a major breakout season.
Brian Kelly/ND is doing EVERYTHING they possibly can to keep the hype down on Ian Book. Just wait until this kid goes bananas johnny manziel style vs a defense full of future day 1 draft picks in the playoff.