Notre Dame Football: Comparing Ian Book to His Irish Quarterback Predecessors

One Foot Down | September 21, 2018

Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 3-0, which means the coach is naturally addressing rampant speculation that starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush will soon cede his position to backup Ian Book.

What do we know about Book, a 6-foot, 203 pound junior? The El Dorado Hills, Calif. product has run 206 plays at Notre Dame, or 734 fewer than Wimbush, a senior, has.

Here is Book’s stat line so far, in comparison to previous Irish quarterbacks through their first 206 plays:

Notre Dame Quarterbacks, First 206 Plays

Quarterback	LOVECCHIO	HOLIDAY	QUINN	DILLINGHAM	CLAUSEN	SHARPLEY	CRIST	REES	GOLSON	ZAIRE	KIZER	WIMBUSH	BOOK
Quarterback	LOVECCHIO	HOLIDAY	QUINN	DILLINGHAM	CLAUSEN	SHARPLEY	CRIST	REES	GOLSON	ZAIRE	KIZER	WIMBUSH	BOOK
Run	151	158	99	121	107	100	108	102	113	135	115	120	129
Pass	55	48	107	85	99	106	98	104	93	71	91	86	77
Yds gained from run	604	699	531	492	122	146	490	437	464	778	653	925	742
Yds gained from pass	420	246	488	462	496	576	764	763	683	676	783	443	457
Total	1024	945	1019	954	618	722	1254	1200	1147	1454	1436	1368	1199
First downs	46	47	42	41	34	34	47	53	58	39	62	48	58
First downs by pass	18	16	20	19	25	21	23	34	28	17	32	17	23
First downs by QB run	7	13	4	1	2	3	4	1	3	5	9	10	9
% of 1Ds accounted for	54.