I love Ian Book. Proud of him. Great ND kid. Got the absolute most out of his ability. Great leader. Great teammate. Unfortunately, his inability and unwillingness to throw a deep ball with any arc over 4 years was the limiter for the Irish offense. He always rarely ever "threw a guy open", anticipate and lead a receiver. 30-5 is amazing and good enough to beat many, many teams. The INT with Mayer open downfield far too typical and a killer.
QB play is the last barrier from Notre Dame being a championship contender and this is not a news flash. The fact Kelly and his staff can win games with Book and Tommy Rees types indicates that coaching is just fine and actually incredibly impressive.
OL and Tight Ends are beyond excellent. RBs have taken a great stride forward with Kyren and Tyree. WRs like Floyd, Claypool, Fuller and Boykins show that ND can get WRs. Johnson, Colzie, Austin and the next group hopefully will be solid. This year was more of an aberration with McKinley and Skowronek.
DL, LBs and front 7 have improved dramatically. CBs have had a solid tradition in the past several years and the future is bright there. Hamilton and an upgrade from Crawford at safety makes the defense salty as hell.
But in today's college football you have to have a QB that can throw the deep ball. Both as a threat to stretch the field and for quick momentum changing one play scores. As well as ND runs the ball, play action on deep balls will be and should be easy money in the future.
43-8 and 2 CFP appearances in the past 3 years have been incredible. The next step is our Trevor Lawrence type of QB. Or at least someone that doesn't underthrow every deep ball or throws them flat far too often. Or most importantly won't pull the trigger to threaten downfield. A deep incompletion is not the end of the world.
ND is moving in a great direction. One of these QBs competing has to stand out and win the job. But finding the next great college QB has to be priority 1,2 and 3. The rest of the roster is ready.
QB play is the last barrier from Notre Dame being a championship contender and this is not a news flash. The fact Kelly and his staff can win games with Book and Tommy Rees types indicates that coaching is just fine and actually incredibly impressive.
OL and Tight Ends are beyond excellent. RBs have taken a great stride forward with Kyren and Tyree. WRs like Floyd, Claypool, Fuller and Boykins show that ND can get WRs. Johnson, Colzie, Austin and the next group hopefully will be solid. This year was more of an aberration with McKinley and Skowronek.
DL, LBs and front 7 have improved dramatically. CBs have had a solid tradition in the past several years and the future is bright there. Hamilton and an upgrade from Crawford at safety makes the defense salty as hell.
But in today's college football you have to have a QB that can throw the deep ball. Both as a threat to stretch the field and for quick momentum changing one play scores. As well as ND runs the ball, play action on deep balls will be and should be easy money in the future.
43-8 and 2 CFP appearances in the past 3 years have been incredible. The next step is our Trevor Lawrence type of QB. Or at least someone that doesn't underthrow every deep ball or throws them flat far too often. Or most importantly won't pull the trigger to threaten downfield. A deep incompletion is not the end of the world.
ND is moving in a great direction. One of these QBs competing has to stand out and win the job. But finding the next great college QB has to be priority 1,2 and 3. The rest of the roster is ready.
