The Fighting Irish started the season with a four star, top 50 player at the quarterback position and are ending the season with a three star, top 600 player at quarterback, and it was the latter that took the team to new heights and made the undefeated regular season truly possible.
Ian Book was the 517th rated player in his class by 247 composite, and was given the obligatory moniker of “game manager” who could come in and help the team win a game as a backup if need be while the true starter was hurt, or otherwise unavailable. If Book’s rise should tell us anything, it should be to celebrate all the signings at the quarterback position because we really have no idea where that player or that position is going.
Brendon Clark
Clark is rated very similar to Book, a three star and ranked 506th in the nation. He also has a similar skill set, with a strong arm (2,327 passing yards, 35 touchdowns to one interception as a senior) and very good athleticism (774 rushing yards and 17 rushing touchdowns). He’s 6-2, 225 pounds, so nice size for his style of play, and led his team to a state championship this season.
My favorite thing about him while watching his film is the total command he plays with. Obviously, it’s easy to be in command when you’re better than everyone, but he very clearly takes everything onto his shoulders, which is a trait you want in a quarterback. He’s not just good when things are going great, he’ll go and make a play if it isn’t their by design.
Clark also held offers from Clemson, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Duke, and Maryland.
Read up on our full film evaluation of Clark from earlier this year.
Johnny Manziel, Marcus Mariota, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield were all 3 star QB recruits. That’s four of the last seven Heisman Trophy winners.
QB is a difficult position to project. You can measure how big, strong, and fast a kid is. You can analyze a kid’s decision making by watching film. You can evaluate his mechanics and accuracy. But it is really, really hard to accurately assess things like focus, coachability, leadership, confidence, work ethic, ability to grasp the new concepts and responsibilities of higher level QB play, and drive (just the desire to reach your goals). Can he thrive as “the guy?” Can he prepare at a higher level each and every week? Is he going to watch film in his dorm room while other guys are at Corby’s or playing video games? Is he going to get better each and every week? There isn’t any film you can watch to answer those questions.
I think Kelly has a done a great job in recent years recruiting QBs of high character, and I think those guys can develop beyond their star level. Rees, pre-meltown Golson, Kiser, and Book all exceeded expectations. Wimbush handled losing his starting job with absolute class and was able to help the team when it needed him. There have been some hickups, but I think I trust Kelly’s assessment of QBs more than I do the recruiting services.
I’ve watched this kid for the last two years and he is the real deal, he dominated a very tough region and threw only one interception against 35 touchdowns. They can call him a 3 star all they want but this kid is definitely closer to a 5 star.