Tommy Rees’ second offseason as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator is one of reshaping. It began in spring practice, a luxury he did not have last year. It continues this summer and in fall camp, with a bit more urgency as the opener nears.
Rees understood he had an experienced quarterback, a dominant offensive line and skilled tight ends when head coach Brian Kelly promoted him in January 2020. His job last year was to figure out how to best use them.
Now, though, an offensive line exodus, the search for a new quarterback and turnover at receiver meant he needed to gain a better feel of the pieces he had before scheming and tailoring to them.
Six months into the offseason, he’s deep into that process. But it’s still not quite finished. Here are five questions Rees and Kelly will attempt to answer when training camp opens in August and their thoughts on how to go about them.
1. What Can Jack Coan Give Notre Dame?
Barring a surprise, Notre Dame will replace Ian Book with former Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan. He’s the first graduate transfer quarterback the Irish have taken in Kelly’s 12 seasons. He arrives with 18 career starts in the Big Ten and a Rose Bowl appearance on his résumé.
Coan was the Badgers’ wire-to-wire starter in 2019. He completed 69.6 percent of his passes with 17 touchdowns against just five interceptions. He piloted a run-heavy offense that mainly featured short, quick passes.
Coan threw downfield on just 9.4 percent of his pass attempts in 2019, which ranked 109th out of 113 Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks with at least 30 deep attempts. His average depth of target (7.5 yards) was 77th out of 80 quarterbacks who dropped back at least 350 times.
Can he facilitate an offense that’s more explosive, more vertical and keeps pace with some of the high-scoring attacks on Notre Dame’s schedule? The numbers might not scream yes, but Rees cautions against making assumptions based on his past.
