Notre Dame has named its starting quarterback.
Wisconsin graduate transfer Jack Coan will take field with Notre Dame's offense Sept. 5 at Florida State, Irish head coach Brian Kelly announced Saturday morning. Hours after the announcement, the man who will call plays for Coan and a key voice in making the decision dived into why Coan won the job.
“This was a clean slate when Jack came here," offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said. "We wanted to make sure the three guys competing all had ample opportunities to go and perform. All three have done things at a high level that give us a feeling we can win football games with them. The differentiator at the end was the consistent level of performance with Jack.”
Here are some other topics Rees addressed in his Saturday media session, which was his first of fall camp.
On Telling QB Drew Pyne That Coan Would Start
“Drew is a special kid. His energy, his love for Notre Dame and his teammates, it’s as authentic as it gets and it’s as contagious as it gets. The kid has a great way about him.
"No conversations like that are easy, but it speaks volumes to who Drew is that his response is, ‘This is going to push me to continue to get better. I’m going to support whoever is playing and be there for them, but I’m going to continue to push myself to get where I want to be.’”
On The Senior Wide Receivers
“In the summer program, we challenged them. There was a challenge to raise their level of preparation and commitment throughout the offseason program with [strength coach Matt] Balis and his staff. You’ve seen that pay dividends throughout camp. There are catches that Braden Lenzy is making through traffic that are impressive. Their attention to detail with what they’re trying to do has been the best it has been since I’ve been here.
"The strength and grit to push through certain days has shown up. I’m as encouraged and excited for a group that has worked that hard to get to where they are than they ever have.”
On Freshman WR Deion Colzie
“Deion has shown a lot of flashes. Getting him back into the mix of things as practice has progressed, you see the ability show up. Mentally, he’s a sharp kid. He has done everything we have asked of him, the training room as asked him to get him going. You see the raw ability. There’s a lot of range there, good speed and good understanding. The last two or three days when he has really been going, you’ve seen plays."
On The Offensive Line
“We’re starting to get to a point where the continuity up there has been important and has come along nicely. You insert Jarrett Patterson, that’s going to help. You insert a guy with the experience of Cain Madden.
"The insertion of two veteran presences up there getting everybody on the same page, it helps tremendously. We’re running the ball right now at the level we expect to, and we want to continue to push them and continue to make sure they work through the nuances of playing up front together.
“We see a lot of looks from coach [Marcus] Freemans’ staff. They do a great job of being multiple front-wise, showing us different packages. That’s only going to help this young group continue to grow."
On Patterson (Center) And Zeke Correll’s (Guard) Positions
“What’s going to make our offense best? What’s going to put our team in a position to be successful? When you have somebody that’s, to my money, probably the best center in the country, let’s keep the consistency there. Jarrett was coming off an injury. There was going to be rust. To come off an injury, have rust and move positions, that’s a lot to ask of a guy. For Jarrett settling at the position he has been great at, it will make the entire line better.”
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