Brian Kelly dreams about an overloaded roster next year, but he knows Notre Dame will not be so lucky. When the NCAA granted a universal eligibility mulligan for the 2020 season, removing the tumultuous and possibly truncated schedule from every player’s ticking clock, it created the alluring thought of Ian Book as a four-year starting quarterback behind an Irish line returning intact for a third season. If Kelly was being hyperbolic in describing that as a dream, he could be forgiven for at least daydreaming about that ideal in 2021.
“I had a dream the other night that all of the guys used the COVID eligibility and decided to all come back,” he said last month.