6 Thoughts on a Thursday
Ryan Day has only had two quarterbacks since he’s been at Ohio State.
The first was Dwayne Haskins and all he did was throw for 50 touchdowns and become a first round pick. The second is Justin Fields, who threw for 41 touchdowns and is a projected top-10 pick in next year’s draft.
Day might be fortunate to have had two elite recruits throwing to elite talent, but no one can argue with those results.
When he is evaluating quarterbacks, the most important thing for him is for a quarterback to have one exceptional trait. You could argue that Haskins and Fields have more than one and that’s one reason why those two are so good, but having one exceptional trait is a good place to start.
Maybe it’s arm strength. Maybe it’s accuracy. Maybe it’s anticipation. Maybe it’s athleticism. It could be anything that a quarterback does exceptionally well.
If you look at those four things, I wouldn’t say Notre Dame’s Ian Book is exceptional at any of those.
His special trait is being able to make plays outside of the frame of the play and that is pretty important. It’s something that makes him better than an average quarterback and a guy who can actually win a game rather than not lose it. When he took over the quarterback job in 2018, I think he was viewed as more of the latter than the former.
After last season, he should be viewed as a playmaker as much as anything else.
He was one of five quarterbacks in college football who threw for 3,000 yards, 30 touchdowns, and rushed for over 400 yards. The other four were Fields, Trevor Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, and Sam Ehlinger.
That’s pretty good company to be in and I’m sure that it surprised some people that Book should be in the conversation as one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in college football, but he’s earned it. Those numbers don’t lie.
He can make plays with his legs outside of the frame of the play and keep the chains moving. He can keep drives alive by making throws outside of the pocket as well. It’s part of what makes him a good quarterback.
To be a great one, he needs to not miss as many plays that are within the frame of the play. That has to be the goal for him this season and it’s the only way he makes the jump to that next tier of quarterbacks. And it’s Tommy Rees’ job to get that out of him while not taking away from his ability to make plays when things aren’t working within the frame of the play.
That’s a lot easier said than done, but Rees has a much better shot at getting that out of Book than Chip Long did. That’s just one more reason why parting ways with Long was a necessary move for the program.
Notre Dame is going to have a good team again in 2020. They’ll only be a College Football Playoff team and have a chance to win a championship if Book becomes great at more than what he’s shown so far.
2. I appreciate PFF as a resource, but this is the kind of thing that deserves way more context than a tweet.
Book threw for 19 touchdowns against the blitz and obviously that’s good. But that doesn’t really say how he fared against pressure because Notre Dame’s protection was very good.
Against Louisville, Georgia, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and USC, Book was 9 for 31 (29%) when facing pressure for 100 yards (3.22 YPA) and two interceptions. (I did not track it against Michigan, but you can bet those numbers didn’t improve.)
No quarterback is going to be lights out when pressured compared to when there isn’t a pass rush in his face, but the 19 touchdowns is a bit of a misleading statistic without context.
3. It feels weird to say that a player who was redshirted last season and potentially has four years of eligibility left needs to have a big year, but it feels appropriate when mentioning running back Kyren Williams. Mostly because of the player who is a class behind him.
That would be Chris Tyree who has a versatile skill set similar to Williams, except Tyree has more home run speed. The fastest guy doesn’t always make the best back, but Tyree isn’t just a speed back.
Williams is a talented player who could legitimately play in the slot for Notre Dame. He needs to have an outstanding camp and start to this season to establish his role and not fall behind Tyree before he even gets his feet wet.
4. Tony Jones Jr. averaged 12 carries a game last year. Dexter Williams averaged the most carries during the Brian Kelly era with 17.56 per game in 2018.
This is why people counting out Kyren Williams or Tyree as the “feature back” are getting ahead of themselves. Neither would have to carry the ball 20 times a game. That’s never been the case in recent history.
Josh Adams only carried the ball 20 times or more four times in his career and three of those were exactly 20.
Whoever wins the job as the primary running back could average 12 carries a game plus a couple of catches. That’s not far fetched so 8-10 carries for either of these backs who are on the smaller side is a possibility if they earn their chances to play.
5. I feel terrible that Clemson receiver Justyn Ross is going to miss this season and possibly never play football again after they found a congenital fusion in his spine. He was set to be a high pick in next spring’s NFL Draft and would have been one of the best receivers in college football.
From a Notre Dame perspective, it’s a significant development on the field for when they face Clemson. The difference between putting Justyn Ross and Tee Higgins on the same side of the field and having both run vertical routes to not having either is massive.
That was an impossible situation to deal with. Now Clemson has neither to throw to with Higgins leaving early for the NFL.
There’s young talent on their roster so it’s not like Trevor Lawrence won’t have options. Joseph Ngata (12th in the 2019 ISD Fab 50) and Frank Ladson (45th) are rising sophomores who are going to get a chance to become stars, but even Clemson will feel the loss of a talent like Ross.
We’ll just have to wait and see how they are able to replace his production by the time November rolls around.
6. It’s a tense time in America right now, said Captain Obvious.
It’s been a tense time for awhile, but if a pandemic wasn’t enough, the protests going on around the country have only brought everything up 10 notches.
How Notre Dame as a school and how the football staff handles this current time is critically important. I know that goes without saying, but it needs to be reiterated because the football team is largely composed of young black men.
They are looking for leadership. They are looking for allies. As Daelin Hayes said in his inspiring message earlier this week, they are looking for action.
So while the statements made by Brian Kelly and other members of the coaching staff are important, those aren’t enough. There has to be more than that.
And it’s not just from coaches. It has to come from teammates as well.
These young men know who retweets or shares the messages they send out. They know who “likes” it and who doesn’t. They are aware of who is silent and who speaks to support them or stands beside them. They know when there is public relations spin and not concrete action.
Times are tense all over America and they are tense in football locker rooms. We only have to look at Drew Brees’ ignorant comments and the reaction of individuals on his own team to see how fractured things can become.
(Edit: The point of mentioning Brees' comments was that it ignored the feelings of the guys he plays with. They were ignorant of the feelings of those men. He's supposed to be the leader of those men and they were hurt by his comments. That's not something that can be argued as they have been extremely vocal about their feelings.
Just by him saying that, it divided the New Orleans Saints football team. What Mike Norvell said not matching up with what his actions were (lying about what he's done with the team) has divided FSU's team.
This is something that Notre Dame's coaches and players have to deal with right now. This is something that every football team has to deal with right now. It's a reality for everyone just like the pandemic is a reality for everyone. It's something that affects Notre Dame's football team so it is relevant in my opinion.)
The most recent example of Mike Norvell at Florida State misrepresenting his response to his team and being called out by his star defensive tackle is another example of how poorly things can be handled by a coach.
I don’t know what Notre Dame’s plan of action is for this other than the statements they put out. I hope there is more planned from them and they are in constant communication with their players. I also realize that they are also worried about all of the obstacles that come with getting players back on campus during this public health crisis, but this situation calls for the coaches and university to give equal importance to all that is going on right now.
That includes the response to Litchfield Ajavon’s poem he wrote, which was shared by the ndfootball instagram account. The comments had to be shut down because there were several ignorant responses to it. They can’t just let that go without speaking about it with the players.
http://instagr.am/p/CA_kRsVljro
Here’s what you, Notre Dame fans, can do in this situation.
When you see someone write an ignorant or racist response to something like that, call those individuals out who wrote them. If they are wearing ND gear or have Notre Dame in their Twitter bio, don’t let them get away with it.
Report them. Tell them to shut up. Just don’t let it slide and let them think it’s ok to spew hate. Don’t stay silent.
It’s only a small act of support for the players you cheer for, but it’s an important one.