There’s no more doubt. No more leaving the door cracked open. No more sentences about Notre Dame’s potential opening night quarterback that must include “if.”
Jack Coan is the Irish’s QB1.
Head coach Brian Kelly made it official in a Saturday morning Tweet.
“All three quarterbacks distinguished themselves in the spring and preseason camp,” Kelly’s tweet read. “Clearly, each has the skills necessary to lead, but Jack proved to be more consistent and therefore, going into our opener, gives us the best chance for success.”
The announcement ends a quarterback competition that began in January after Ian Book’s departure and lasted through spring, but felt more like a formality as summer progressed. Kelly admitted after the first day of fall camp the team had “a pretty good sense of where this is going to go.”
Not because primary challenger Drew Pyne scuffled, but because Coan’s performance since arriving and his experience at Wisconsin was simply too much to usurp. He came to Notre Dame in January as a graduate transfer with 18 career Big Ten starts. He’s the first transfer quarterback of Kelly’s 12-year tenure.
Coan started all 14 of the Badgers’ 2019 games and entered 2020 as the starter before a foot injury wiped out most of his season. His ailment opened the door for sophomore Graham Mertz — the highest-ranked quarterback recruit Wisconsin has ever signed — to filch the starting job. He kept it even amid some bumps. Coan, in turn, entered the transfer portal to find a better opportunity to start in his final college season.
Notre Dame offered exactly that.
The Irish needed to replace Book, who left with a 30-5 record as Notre Dame’s all-time winningest quarterback and led them to a pair of College Football Playoff appearances. He ranks second in program history in several career passing statistical categories.
Coan threw for 2,727 yards with 18 touchdowns and five interceptions as Wisconsin’s starter in 2019. He completed 69.6 percent of his passes and averaged 8.0 yards per attempt. The Badgers went 10-4, won the Big Ten West division title and played in the Rose Bowl.
Notre Dame’s other quarterbacks, meanwhile, have thrown a combined seven passes.
Wisconsin’s 2019 offense centered around 2,000-yard rusher Jonathan Taylor, who had just 19 fewer carries (320) than Coan had pass attempts (339). The Badgers ran the ball on more than half of their offensive plays. Coan piloted an efficient attack that ranked 29th nationally in yards per play (6.3) and fifth in the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI).
Wisconsin was, though, largely a quick-strike offense in 2019. Coan threw deep (20 or more yards downfield) on just 9.4 percent of his pass attempts, per Pro Football Focus, which ranked 109th out of 113 Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks with at least 30 downfield attempts. His average depth of target (7.5 yards) was 77th out of 80 quarterbacks who dropped back at least 350 times.
When Coan did throw deep, he was successful. His 50 percent completion rate ranked sixth nationally.
How that will translate to Notre Dame’s offense isn’t yet totally clear. His responsibilities in the Irish’s offense will be different than those he had in Wisconsin’s. But it’s clear Notre Dame trusts him to lead the offense.
“To just look at Jack Coan’s stat line from Wisconsin and say he’s a certain guy because of the system he was in would be a very lazy perspective,” offensive coordinator Tommy Rees told BlueandGold.com in June. “He’s very talented. I’ve been a lot of guys who have played at this level and he throws it as well as anyone I’ve been around at Notre Dame.”
In tabbing Coan as its starting quarterback, Notre Dame replaces one fifth-year senior with another. That class designation carries leadership expectations, which Coan has met since arriving. He was a SWAT team captain for offseason workouts. He was one of 20 players who director of sports performance Matt Balis named an “ultimate warrior” at the end of summer conditioning drills.
“He’s seen by his peers as a warrior,” Kelly said. “Somebody that is on time for every workout. Is there. Is committed. You can count on him. He’s a guy who you want lined up next to you in the foxhole.”
And he will line up with the starting offense at Florida State on Sept. 5.
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