2020 Season Likely Last for Ian Book, QB Accepts Senior Bowl Invite
Yesterday, senior quarterback Ian Book accepted an invitation to play in this year’s Senior Bowl. The Senior Bowl is an exhibition game at the end of the season that only seniors are invited to play in. The game is played so they can show off their skills in front of NFL scouts. In a normal year there would be no one second-guessing Book accepting the invite because this would be his last year. Thanks to Covid19 and the cluster that it has caused on 2020 and college football, the NCAA is allowing another year of eligibility to all fall athletes. So, Ian Book could come back for a 6th season if he wanted to.
As a Notre Dame fan that sounds awesome, and I would love one more year with Book as the starter. If we are being honest though, I see zero reason for Book to come back. Book has done everything he could have done during his time as a starter. Book is all over the Notre Dame record books – the Irish quarterback is currently 3rd in career passing yards, and by the end of the year will be 2nd behind Brady Quinn. Then, there are career touchdown passes, where he is currently 2nd behind Quinn. The difference between them is 27 – I don’t see Book catching Quinn in this category. The last big category is Wins, and Book is one behind Quinn. Brady Quinn went 29 and 17 as a four-year starter, Book is currently 28-3 as a starting Irish QB. To recap, out of the 3 big quarterback records at Notre Dame, Book will find himself in the top 2 in both passing yards and passing touchdowns and will leave South Bend as the winningest quarterback.
I am not going to get into what kind of NFL player Book will or won’t be. I am just looking at his time with the Irish. Book has dealt with all of the different critiques and as proved them wrong time and time again. He has done everything he could have with the his time at Notre Dame, and it is time to move on. Sure, he could come back and smash all of Quinns records; but there is also the chance of getting hurt too. Book has done it all during his 3 years as a starter – it is time to take the next step, and at a school full of great history, Book will go down as one of the greatest.