Notre Dame football: 3 biggest offseason questions facing Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish in 2021

1. Who replaces Ian Book as the Irish’s starting quarterback?

Let’s be real. Filling Ian Book’s massive shoes at quarterback will be incredibly difficult for the Irish. Though he was not the most prolific passer during his college football run, he was the stabilizing force to the entire offense. Brady Quinn may have spun it slightly better than him in school, but Book is the unquestioned best Irish quarterback of the 21st century. He was outstanding for them.

But with Book turning pro this offseason, there is uncertainty at the quarterback position for the first time in years. Who will end up replacing Book this season, and beyond? The obvious candidate to do so is former Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Jack Coan. He did not play last season and lost his starting job in Madison to Graham Mertz. Coan is expected to start Week 1 for them.

However, there are two returning players from last year’s team who could be in the mix for playing time as well in junior Brendon Clark and sophomore Drew Pyne. Clark would arguably be the best returning player to keep Coan from getting the starting job. Maybe Pyne takes a step up as well this winter? Outside of those three college veterans, we may need to see who the freshmen are.

We touched on Tyler Buchner earlier as a potential impact freshman from the 2021 recruiting class. He is Notre Dame’s No. 3 recruit from this past offseason cycle. However, Ron Powlus III has decided to re-classify and come to Notre Dame a year early. If he is anything like his namesake father, Notre Dame fans should be thrilled about getting a legacy into their quarterback room.

Overall, Notre Dame is likely to reach the College Football Playoff for the third time in three years this upcoming season. Losing a player like Book how meant so much to this team is too much of a hole to fill. Factor in Notre Dame needing to go 12-0 to have any shot of getting in as a national independent leaves them absolutely no margin for error. However, they are still a top-tier team.

What does Notre Dame have to do to get back into the College Football Playoff this season?

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