The first step of Notre Dame’s post-playoff retooling process is complete.
A Blue-Gold spring game and 14 spring practices were the preliminary information-gathering sessions about the 2021 roster, its ceiling, its holes and its options for replacing nine NFL draft picks and a few other important departed starters. The program heads into a late-spring hiatus with plenty to mull over.
At the top of that list is where it goes at the game’s most important position. A grad transfer, a sophomore with three career passes and a freshman with 13 career high school starts are the contestants to replace three-year starting quarterback Ian Book, who notched a school-record 30 wins as a starter and was a fourth-round pick this year.
Head coach Brian Kelly has not named a starter and won’t until training camp. Instead of establishing certainty, the spring game was fodder for imagining more possibilities. That’s not a bad thing. It just means more layers to unpack. Here’s an attempt at doing so.
The first of 10 BlueandGold.com post-spring position breakdowns starts with the quarterbacks.
On The Roster
Scholarship players (5): Jack Coan (Grad), Brendon Clark (Jr.), Drew Pyne (Soph.), Tyler Buchner (Fr.), Ron Powlus III (Fr.)
Walk-ons (1): Cole Capen (Sr.)
Coan, the 18-game Wisconsin starter, arrived on campus early this year as the favorite. He exits with that status still intact. But the competition to start seems more, well, competitive than it was in late March. Coan is still ahead of the pack, but the distance between him and the others isn’t a chasm like many assumed it might be given the context of the room. That’s a credit to Pyne and Buchner, who made real progress from January to May.
Coan and Pyne split first-team reps throughout spring and were on opposite teams in the Blue-Gold Game. Buchner mainly took second-team reps, but played the second half of the spring game and led the only two touchdown drives. He was 6-of-9 for 140 yards with a 7-yard rushing touchdown.
Meanwhile, Coan played nearly the entire spring game and went 18-for-32 for 197 yards and interception. Pyne played the first half and was 11-for-23 for 146 yards. He was intercepted once.
Powlus’ reps mostly came with the third-team offense. Clark missed the spring due to injury.
Post-Spring Outlook
Even without naming a starter, Notre Dame gained some clarity on its quarterback picture for this year and beyond.
First, the Irish should feel good about Coan’s ability to make the offense function. He may not be an obvious draft pick, but he is still plenty of good things. His pocket comfort is obvious. His feel for pressure, how to avoid it, his willingness to stay in the pocket and his penchant for delivering throws under pressure feel like an upgrade from Book’s.
No, Coan is not the improviser, runner or athlete Book was, but he’s mobile enough to slide away from rushers in the pocket and scramble when it’s necessary. His willingness to push the ball, his anticipation and patience as a passer are valuable.
Even if Pyne doesn’t overtake Coan, his arrival as a trusted No. 2 who can keep things afloat is a meaningful development. Notre Dame didn’t have that behind Book last year. The thought of an injury to him was harrowing.
Pyne, if he is the backup, is an injury away from needing to run the offense. His progress this spring suggests it won’t short-circuit if he’s in the game. He’s accurate, willing to go through progressions and aggressive without being reckless. He mobile enough to incorporate some quarterback runs and to think he can improvise with his legs when it’s needed.
Buchner, of course, was the spring’s most captivating development. He spun throws and scrambled amid a soundtrack of overt fan obsession. His physical tools, which offensive coordinator Tommy Rees touted earlier this spring, were evident. Buchner has the starter kit of a future star. He looked more ready than anticipated to be a 2021 star, even if that’s still unlikely and a big ask. He has played just one year of high school football, after all, and didn’t have a senior season.
Does his progress in his first few months mean he will see the field this fall? Perhaps. It’s not a clear yes, but the idea of him playing in 2021 felt closer to unrealistic than plausible four months ago. That’s no longer the case. Maybe there’s a package of plays for him if he can add a dimension to the offense. Maybe his offseason ascension reaches the point where he’s ready to help Notre Dame win this year as the starter.
Either way, Buchner’s first few steps as a college quarterback are a positive for the program’s quarterback future. So is Pyne’s steady rise. Coan, in all likelihood, will be around for only a year. He feels like the best option in the present. Buchner or Pyne, though, can turn 2021 into a look at the Irish’s quarterback present and future if the can make Coan’s experience advantage less pronounced by besting him in other areas.
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