Despite the return of starter Ian Book, there were significant quarterback questions heading into fall camp, but in the last two weeks the position has become much stronger.

That doesn’t mean we have all the answers, but we’ve seen enough in the first two weeks to feel quite good about the position.

Does that mean Book is going to go out and break records, become the nation’s best deep ball thrower and lead the Irish to another undefeated season? No, I’m not saying that, and there are still questions about just how much improvement we’ll see from him.

But one thing is certain, thus far we have seen no regression from Book, and after the last nine seasons that’s a major step in the right direction. Book is stronger, he is still playing with an edge and his leadership has been lauded by the Irish coaches. He has limited turnovers and he’s continued to make the strides in camp that are to be expected from a veteran.

During Wednesday’s practice, the senior quarterback was at his best. The Irish starter completed 38 of 41 (92.7 percent) throws during competitive periods – which are any against a defense – after regularly completing around 70-75 percent for much of camp. On top of that, Book had that performance despite throwing more deep balls than we are used to.

Book was attempting and hitting the vertical throws he had been missing much of camp. While seeing Book hit deep balls was encouraging for Irish fans, it’s not what stood out to me as an evaluator. For me, the impressive part of those throws was the difference in mechanics that I saw.