Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book continues to fly under the radar
Ian Book led Notre Dame to their first College Football Playoff berth last season, but still isn’t being taken seriously as an elite quarterback for the Irish.
Ian Book was a three-star prospect coming out of Oak Ridge High School in California and was ranked as the 517th best prospect in the class of 2016. He’s used to flying under the radar and having people underestimate him.
Book wasn’t supposed to be the quarterback to lead an undefeated team to the College Football Playoff. He was supposed to backup former four-star Brandon Wimbush until at least his senior season. Things change quickly in college football. They did for Book in the first month of last year.
In the second and third games of 2018, Wimbush led a sputtering offense to narrow wins over Ball State and Vanderbilt. They failed to score more than 24 points in either game. This prompted the change from Wimbush to Book and a march to the Playoff.
Book threw for 327 yards and scored five total touchdowns in his first start, a victory over Wake Forest. He ended up throwing for 2,698 yards and 19 touchdowns while completing 68 percent of his passes. The season ended with a humbling loss to eventual national champion Clemson and their quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
Lawrence, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Georgia’s Jake Fromm, Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Texas’ Sam Ehlinger have been at the center of the quarterback conversation entering the season. Book is flying under the radar again with many overlooking him.
Maybe it’s because while Notre Dame did make the Playoff last season, no one really took them as a serious contender. The 30-3 waxing by Clemson shows that.
But now, with a full season under his belt Book could be set for a bigger year that could get him some serious looks from NFL scouts. If Book has another great season and Notre Dame is in the mix for another playoff berth, it will be hard for people to forget about Book when talking about the elite college football quarterbacks.
Book unlike his predecessor in Wimbush, has much better arm talent, talent that can rival some of the best quarterbacks in college. Despite Notre Dame always being accused of being overrated, overhyped and talked about too much, there’s not much hype with the talented Book.
If his encore can get wins against a schedule that includes trips to Georgia and Michigan on top of rivalry games at Stanford and vs. USC, and that could change just as quickly as Book’s career outlook did last year.