During the spring I highlighted 6 snaps from the loss to Clemson where Ian Book needed to calm down and trust himself more in the pocket. His skill-set is such that his optimal performances happen when he’s able to deliver the ball accurately, on time, while allowing pass catchers to continue down field without breaking stride. When Book is able to do this and mix in the occasional dagger of a run he’s at his best.
Here’s a snippet from my article against Clemson that is still pertinent for Book after the first game of 2019:
One Path to Significant Improvement for Ian Book – April 9, 2019
More than arm strength or accuracy I think his ability to improve with pocket presence–especially to buy an extra second for a receiver to come open–will greatly affect his chances at completing passes deep down field…Maybe more importantly, making smart decisions in the pocket will make Book a better runner–and although it’s not talked about a ton–make up for the fact that he’s listed at 6’0″ and allow him to see better down field. I thought as the season progressed Book became too sloppy and quick-triggered as a runner–meaning he took off too quickly and often into areas of the field where he was angled off by the defense…We don’t need to worry too much about Book’s quick-decision making and accuracy when his first option is open. It’s when he’s pressured–or thinks he’s pressured to be more precise–that Book will need to get better finding receivers or running to open space.
I was able to highlight 7 snaps from the Louisville game that show how Book still needs to improve in the pocket. While Book eventually settled down in his overall game and led the Irish to a somewhat comfortable win his pocket presence was not promising against Louisville while coming off an off-season of supposed work on this deficiency. He’s been comfortable setting his feet in the past and we’ll see if we can figure out why he struggled once more against a lesser opponent. Full game video HERE and also at the bottom of this post for reference on each snap.
Snap #1 (16:40)
This was from the second drive of the game that resulted in a 3 and out once Louisville marched down the field to tie the game. The Cardinals only rush 3 and the Notre Dame line easily handles the pressure. The Irish Illustrated podcast actually talked about this snap for a few minutes recently.
The problem isn’t Book taking off when the defense drops 8 players. The biggest problem is that Book only waits 1.68 seconds before running and as you can see the Cardinals have the field covered pretty well to stop a quarterback run.
Now, in Book’s defense the routes here don’t help him out very much. Four of the five potential receivers (if he showed a little more patience) would be bunched up together and short of the first down line. Maybe they get open against the zone coverage and pick up a first down, maybe not.
Still, we don’t know how well Louisville would’ve covered the running back out of the backfield or the lone receiver to run past the sticks. Book didn’t give this play time to develop before taking off with his feet and being tackled short of the first down.
Snap #2 (39:45)
Into the second quarter with the game tied up at 14 we have our second snap to discuss. To add context to this play there was an earlier snap where Book faked a hand-off to Jahmir Smith and the young running back was unable to cut back across his QB and effectively block a free blitzing defender.
On this snap, another edge rusher comes from Book’s right although Hainsey moves well enough that he effectively blocks Jahmir Smith into the defender. Even though the defender falls to the ground it appears to spook Book who doesn’t complete his drop and takes off running immediately.
Left tackle Liam Eichenberg is beaten to the inside which was not a good effort. Had Book stayed put in the pocket he eventually would’ve had to confront that defender or possibly take a hit while he was throwing. Center Jarrett Patterson is also walked back a little too much on this snap, as well.
Put together, Book bails right after play-action and runs right into a sack as tight end Brock Wright doesn’t stay on his block long enough, unaware Book is running right at his direction.
Snap #3 (55:20)
Late in the first half the Irish are facing a big third down in their own territory. Louisville rushes 4 with their ends moving quickly up-field. Both Eichenberg and Hainsey do a good job re-directing the rushers with Book stepping up into the pocket with two quick hitches.
Patterson gets ripped past by the Louisville defensive tackle but Jahmir Smith is right there to provide a quality block from the backfield. The problem for Book is that immediately after his second hitch he’s off running again. Did he not trust Smith to pick up the block and bailed again?
Also, notice again 3 out of the 4 routes are extremely short with the crossing route being heavily favored (it seemed like) on a ton of snaps. Those routes take a little bit of time to develop, time that Book didn’t give himself. You can imagine if he hits Claypool to his left you like his chances of picking up that first down.
Instead, Book runs and only gets 2 yards as the Irish would be forced to punt.
Snap #4 (1:02:30)
This snap comes immediately after Louisville fumbles in their own territory. With the game still tied this seemed like a great opportunity for Notre Dame to turn the momentum right before halftime. Plus, in a change from the game plan to this point, it looks like Chip Long dials up a big play for Book.
The receivers are running deep for a touchdown kill shot!
Louisville brings a slightly delayed blitz from a linebacker for a 5-man rush and Notre Dame does a good job of picking everyone up. Again, Book hitches up into the pocket and right when you’d expect him to settle his base and wind up for a throw down field…he takes off running again.
This time, he tries to cut back inside and fumbles the ball off tight end Brock Wright.
Snap #5 (1:21:10)
This is one of those snaps where in real time you wouldn’t find much fault with Book. He ends up picking up 3 yards on 2nd and 4 which is technically a successful carry. Let’s look closer though.
Louisville rushes 4 and Book is provided perfect protection. He goes through his drop back and after 3.3 seconds he begins to run toward the sideline eventually pump faking to two completely blanketed receivers. The biggest sin here of course is that Book doesn’t even look to his left.
If Book shows even two-tenths of a second more patience in the pocket, Tony Jones comes wide open out of the backfield in the middle of the field. An easy toss to the running back picks up the first down, instead the Irish fail to convert on 3rd and 1 after running into an 8-man box with only 6 blockers. Another punt.
Snap #6 (1:33:30)
Here’s one snap that I just couldn’t wrap my head around. On first down the Irish keep 7 players into block and sell play-action really well. This sucks nearly the entire Louisville defense toward the line of scrimmage and Book has 3.5 seconds to throw the ball.
For some reason, he keeps his vision to the left looking toward Javon McKinley. To his right, Chris Finke is actually clapping (1:33:36) for the ball! If Book looks his way quickly, Finke only has one man to beat (the deepest defender on the field) for a potential 75-yard touchdown.
With so much time, eventually a defender gets past Jarrett Patterson, Book tries to spin away, and fires the ball out of bounds after getting outside the tackle box.
Snap #7 (1:49:20)
Our final snap may be the most frustrating even though it resulted in a positive play. Louisville only rushes 3 on this third down play and yet again Book can’t keep his shoulders square at the end of his drop. He seems to sense a rusher coming from his right way out wide and turns away even though Hainsey has the defender stoned.
The receivers are running routes but Book doesn’t even bother giving any of them time to work.
Book was quick enough to run for the first down, only barely. You have to wonder how productive this type of play would be against stronger defenses and the answer is likely not that much.
Recap
What’s wrong with Ian Book?
It seems to me it’s a collection of different factors. One, I don’t think he trusts his teammates as much as he should in terms of believing he has quality protection and it’s affecting his ability to run the offense properly. Two, I don’t think he trusts others to make plays as much as he trusts his running ability. In other words, if his first read isn’t wide open he’s turning his attention to escaping the pocket very quickly, regardless of perceived pass rushing pressure. Three, I’m not sure Book is great at going through his reads yet and on Monday this was likely compounded by a new-look Louisville defense throwing some different looks at him, especially what appeared to be a ton of flooded zone coverage on the short routes when the Irish typically ran only short routes.
I think it’s fair to question if Book is really that good or wonder how high his ceiling will be this season. It’s also fair to wonder if we’ll see him improve a lot more once the likes of Armstrong, Kmet, and Young get healthy and Book trusts his teammates more. Until they come back, so much rests on Book’s ability to run the offense in a manner that shouldn’t be beyond his seasoning at this level. He really needs to move in the pocket commensurate with his experience and complete relatively easy second and third reads when they are open.
If I am Chip Long and Brian Kelly it seems obvious to me that Book needs to simultaneously be more patient in the pocket but also be more aggressive throwing the ball. He needs to be willing to take a hard shot in the pocket if it means making a big throw. He needs to be okay throwing an interception if over the long run it means forcing defenses to respect his ability to make tough throws into tight windows.
Book can tuck the ball a lot and finish the season with only 5 interceptions. I just don’t know if that is going to help the offense do much, especially against the toughest opponents. If I’m gameplanning against him, I’d see the Irish center Jarrett Patterson won’t hold up physically every snap and Book is spooked by the mere presence of pass rushers on the edges of the line. If the quarterback won’t throw the ball and wants to run for 2 or 3 yards while exposing himself to more hits I’d take that all day if I were Georgia or Michigan.
The more I think about it the more I think the biggest culprit from Monday was overconfidence. Falsely believing Irish receivers would quickly get open, it’d be easy to run past the Cardinals with the ball in their hands, running into stacked boxes on third and short because we’d blow Louisville off the ball, and Book escaping the pocket because a ton of yards would be available with his feet if his read wasn’t perfect.
I don’t know how else to explain refusing to look at a veteran receiver like Finke being wide open in favor of staring down super inexperienced Javon McKinley other than believing things were going to be super easy against Louisville.
Mix that with Book making his first season-opening start with emotions running high after becoming The Guy all off-season, being named a captain, and knowing an increased burden was falling on his play-making due to injuries and I understand a jittery start could be possible in a fashion that might not be repeated in the coming weeks. Or maybe we have an accurate quarterback who can’t remain comfortable in the pocket enough to take advantage of his ball placement.
Thanks for writing this up, Eric. Concerning to see the same issues against a much less talented team than Clemson, don’t you think? Elsewhere I’ve read people assert that this pattern has been developing since the Pitt game last year, and that we’re seeing a trend of less effectiveness, efficiency, and poise from Book ever since then. What do you say to that?
One of my favorite things to bring up is that no one improves in a linear fashion, especially quarterbacks. I don’t think the Pitt game happened and suddenly Book was figured out or he’s leveled off since then. He had some really big moments in a lot of games from last October and November.
Of course, things are getting tougher as more tape is out there and opponents adjust. Sometimes he’s met that challenge, other times not.
“Book can tuck the ball a lot and finish the season with only 5 interceptions. I just don’t know if that is going to help the offense do much, especially against the toughest opponents.”
I think this is key. You see a lot of QBs who finish the season with good on-paper stats like Jarrett Stidham last year (61% completion, 18 TDs, only 5 ints), but the offense doesn’t benefit as a whole because the QB isn’t being aggressive and actually hurting the defense in different ways. I think that’s the worst case scenario for Book this season where he’s playing too passively and not using the weapons around him.
Last year, Book used to have at least two or three throws a game where he wouldn’t even check the coverage to see if his target was covered and he would get picked off occasionally. Like Eric said, I will take that as long as the defense knows he can make the throw if he needs to. I think Book will be fine and he might even be great this year, but I’m hoping this was a wake-up call for him and Chip Long.
Maybe Long and BK need to issue a mandate to Book for the NM game that he is not allowed to run (similar to the Wimbush experiment early last season). This could push him to stand in the pocket and progress through his reads…and if he truly is a better passer than Wimbush, this might be helpful for Book
Wow, I was just thinking the exact same topic…My thought was you can’t have a tiger change his stripes too much (and see saw how the Wimbush experiment went to test his passing ability- it failed). I personally wouldn’t even plant the bug in Book’s head that he HAS to play one way or another. It might not be totally smooth but he did just lead an offense to put up 35 points and 423 yards and 60% on the road with his #1RB, #2WR and #1TE all out of the game, so I don’t see it as hugely problematic just yet.
(If he was Wimbushian with like 300ish yards , 50ish% and 20 points a game at home against poor teams, different story and that changes the calculus a lot)
I get that everyone should want Book to tweak and be more patient and calm down a bit and implement a lot of what Eric wrote above, sure, emphasize that. But I wouldn’t think a “no run, period” mandate is going to actually fix anything, gotta let the players play to their strengths at some point.
It is more problematic that 13 starts in he’s still antsy and not ID’ing his secondary reads or feeling more comfortable in the pockets or dealing with pressure. That is a real problem, to be sure, but I don’t see it fixed by eliminating running. I’d just focus on coaching him up still to tweak his game, not order he take a big part out that still moves the chains and keeps drives alive to this point.
This is where I am at, too. You can’t put the handcuffs on him.
I think I would be ok if he kept his head up to throw until the last minute. The problem is he is pulling and running way too soon. As good a runner as he is, he is not a Wimbush when it comes to running.
I also agree with the point above. He is too afraid of negative plays. No INTs is a sign of no chances. He needs to take those and give those receivers a chance to catch the ball.
Ahh, here comes that second year BK quarterback regression, right on schedule.
Seeing Joe Burrow play like a completely new QB last night made me sad. I can’t remember the last time we had a QB just show up extraordinarily better than he had been the prior season.
(Of course, maybe it’s just a result of playing a Big 12 defense.)
So……like how Malik Zaire looked against Texas?
I have to say he looked amazing last night…close to perfect–although Texas’ DB’s were dazed and confused all night. Ehlinger was damn good too. Lots of elite looking QB’s this year.
But not at Michigan 🙂 🙂
Jeez, we went 12-0 last year, mostly with this guy at QB. He threw for 60%, ran and passed for one TD each, had three very key starters out, behind a brand new center who was only just OK, behind a line that was unable to get 1 or 2 yard openings on key 3rd and 4th down situations, a just-average left tackle, rookie RB in Smith and rookie TE in Tremble looking pretty untrustworthy in blocking for him, with one bad drop by Williams early in the game that would have put Book at 65% and 300 yards in total offense. Misfit WR in Fink (an otherwise excellent Slot) who as far as I could tell was never open except for the play showing him clapping his hands in the flat.
Irish score 5 TD’s, all in the red zone, 100% TD’s in red zone trips. Book has several key runs generating first downs or scores, totaling 80-90 yards on the ground himself.
The whole team pretty much played under their talent level for much of the first half. Second half was much better for just about all of them, including Book.
I get a bit tired of the Clemson game being thrown at Book–Clemson’s Dline had three guys (!!) selected in the first round after that game. They totally dominated our Oline, such that neither Book nor Dexter was effective against them.
No disrespect to anyone here, but maybe we should pump the brakes a bit before declaring Book no good or unable to progress, before we end up with another Golson-like melt down, aided and abetted by Brian Kelly’s penchant for getting negative thoughts in his QB’s head?
I don’t see us making the playoffs this year, not due to Book at QB so much as we have nothing like the elite game changing talent (especially on offense) that I see this year at Bama, Okie, LSU, Clemson, tOSU. I haven’t even seen Georgia yet, so I can’t comment on them at this point. We just aren’t in that league….still. But I think we’ll have a good year and I’m hopeful we can get to a New Year 6 bowl.
Side note, looks like Wimbush lost the starting job at UCF.
I think this is fair, and I think Eric is fair. I think the problem is that the ND embedded media was hyping this guy like he would be a surefire top-10 national QB, when his ceiling might not even be that even if he comes back next year. He’s a 11-20 QB kind of guy, which is pretty good! But, yeah, not enough to drag a team to the playoff by himself, which it kind of seems like he’d have to do at least on offense (or, to be a bit more precise, him+Claypool).
I have watched UGA (wife’s a grad), and they just have different caliber of players out there. They have a true freshman WR who looks *awesome* (basically looks like A.J. Green is back at UGA). I believe he was a 5-star all-everything, which does not surprise me one bit.
I actually thought the internal media hype for Book was pretty muted until those last August couple practices.
I think the sense was that ND had one of the better QBs in the country, and the early August practice eh-ness was a surprise to the media, and then they turned they hype all the way back up when he had that one great practice they all saw. There was certainly talk that he was at or near the second tier of QBs nationally (i.e., the non-Tua/non-Trevor next tier), and I think that was always overly optimistic unless that tier is pretty big.
Yeah, how big are the tiers is really the question. Book is probably tier 2 if they are really large tiers, and maybe in the third tier if they are smaller.
I would call him third tier because there are some guys who are definitely better than him today, and then there are some other guys who might be passing him by. In the former category, there’s Fromm, Herbert, King, Khalil Tate, and Ehlinger, and in the latter there’s Jalen Hurts, Justin Fields, Purdy, Burrow, maybe even that new USC QB (though I realize sample size is small there), plus I’m probably forgetting somebody or somebodies. And then there are guys who are close and at least arguably better (Costello, Huntley, etc.).
Point being: he’s a fine QB, but he is not a difference-making Playoff-by-himself dude.
I agree Book’s not the difference maker ND needs at QB to make the playoff, although last year I’d have to say he really was, but was seriously a mark down from Tua, Murray, and Lawrence in the final four. Fromm would have been ahead as well if GA had made the playoffs. We haven’t had one of those in many years IMO.Those guys end up at the truly elite programs, and we get at least a tier down.
I live here in Tucson, so I see Tate a lot, I’d take Book over Tate. My top tier would be Tua, Lawrence, Fromm, Hurts, with maybe a greatly improved Burrow and small sample size Fields belonging if they keep it up. Ehlinger too, I guess. Herbert has the physical stuff but seems unable to win their truly big games, even with leads into Q4 (Stanford last year, Auburn this year.
I prefer Book over Costello on their records so far. But Book is no Tua etc. I hope he’s a very good college QB this year, as he was last year, and I believe he will be. But he needs more help than we can actually put on the field at receiver and running back.
Agree to disagree on Tate, though I acknowledge he is the most questionable of those that I think are definitely better than Book. But no coach in America would take Book over Herbert.
I don’t disagree much with anything you said except…
The OL was not dominated by Clemson. They held up surprisingly well with most of Clemson’s damage coming late in the second half after the game was in hand. Dexter also had a decent success rate on the ground. Ian Book was hands down the worst player on the field.
Additionally, you have both Book and the OL a grade of C for the Louisville game. The line played quite well, I thought. Two of the sacks were directly Book’s fault, and the third (where Jahmir Smith was put in a bad spot to block) was Book missing two wiiiide open receivers on a RPO that likely would’ve been an easy touchdown. The run game bogged down once Louisville didn’t worry about keeping their safeties back.
I’m sure you’re well aware no one has said Book is no good.
Well, I appreciate that we have a difference of opinion and that neither of us are football professionals. You have a much higher opinion of the line play I saw vs Clemson, and it’s hard to say Book was the worst player on the field. Hyperbole? I could start with Dante Vaughn and Book wouldn’t be near the bottom of the heap. Olines that aren’t dominated usually can help a team get more than a field goal over 60 minutes IMO.
With respect, while you haven’t come out and said Book is no good, you’ve been hyper critical of him while highly forgiving of line play that’s been pretty spotty.
Again, opinions by amateurs, both of us. That plus $4 will buy a Starbucks. If we ever actually meet I’ll buy.
There’s literally nothing amateur about this site. You may disagree with the vast majority of articles here, but they are more well thought out and written than anything else out there.
To call these guys amateurs is just trolling.
Yeah it’s unnecessary and wrong to throw call analysis you don’t agree with amateur multiple times, completely nullifies the reasonable point that perhaps the QB is being a little overly critiqued. Then again, everyone in the whole world was harsher on Wimbush (whose bigger, faster and a higher rated recruit) so it’s not a bias against Book, just a fact he hasn’t been as steady as anticipated.
But you are just an amateur commentor and Kiwi is a professional harumpher. That and $4 will get you an Imbossible Whopper
Plus one for correctly pointing out my non professional commenting status. Made me laugh.
Well, for each of you guys hyperventilating about my post above (Geaddas, Hooks, and Underthrown), I never said Eric or the site is unprofessional–read it again, folks–I said “neither of us is a football professional”. If I’m incorrect in that I apologize, but so far as I know Eric does not make a living playing or coaching football (i.e. is a “football professional”), and neither do I.
By football professional I mean just that–making a living playing (i.e. NFL player) or coaching (a la Saban, Kelly, Dabo, Belichick etc. My brother too, who coached with some of these guys, put guys in the pros, a number of them all pro). I defer to football pros when I have a differing opinion. My brother always wins football arguments 🙂 )
As for Eric and this site, I have great respect, and I consider the site the best ND site. Period.
I’ve followed Eric at the previous site and now this one, not sure how many years, but many.
So for the record, I meant no disrespect to Eric at all, but I do disagree with him from time to time. I’m pretty sure he knows both parts of that sentence to be true.
-1 for misspelling Impossible…really took the kick out of it
Eric might have been the very first person covering ND Football that I saw call for Ian Book to start. If anything, I would expect him to be biased IN FAVOR of Book.
Book threw 34 passes, only completing 50% of them for 160 yards with 0 TD and an INT, against Clemson. He also fumbled. He was awful that game.
I do remember Eric was well ahead of the curve in calling for Book to start, and was surprised, and really pleased when Kelly made the move and it was successful. That was prescient of Eric. I wasn’t happy at all with Wimbush, but didn’t think Book was anything more than a 3 star benchwarmer before he took over. Hat tip to Eric, happily.
As for Book being awful vs Clemson, look past the stats and watch the game again. Clemson’s defense made the Irish look bad, including Book but with others as well. IMO that would include our Oline. Was Dexter awful because he didn’t score a td or break of a long run? I don’t think so.
What specifically do you disagree with regarding Book’s lack of patience in the pocket that wasn’t covered in this article (first season-opener, pressure of being captain with injuries at other positions, etc.)?
I’m already on board with Book not being surrounded by great talent at the moment and cutting him some slack. But, and this is a big but, it’s worrisome when he’s not performing very basic function of playing quarterback because it’s the one thing that will for certain make sure the talent surrounding him is going to look poorer.
Book is still good enough to overcome a lot of those lack of fundamentals but pointing out his struggles in some basic areas shouldn’t be waived off so quickly, and I’m certainly not going to scapegoat the offensive line when they had a very good night in pass protection.
I watched a lot of college on Saturday. If the QB only waits 1.1 seconds before starting to run, he can’t get through his reads and he certainly isn’t allowing receivers to come open. The number of times Lawrence, Ehlinger, the LSU QB moved in the pocket and hit a secondary receiver or a late opening receiver would greatly improve our passing game.
In fairness to our WRs, you can’t get open in 1.1 seconds. It just won’t happen.
Those are fundamentals that Book needs to master. I think the problem is the Clemson game is still in his head, and he thinks he has to do everything. He can’t. Nobody can. Even a Lawrence or a Tua distributes the ball to playmakers. Patience and trust. Book developing that will be the difference between our most likely destination of an NY6 bowl game and a 9-3 or 8-4 year.
I noticed that too, especially with Lawrence, his feet are so calm and he’s willing to hang in there.
I kind of wonder if playcalling/design is a problem for ND. They have that RPO which means a quick decision that seemingly they’re skewing towards the run most the time. So it’s like he’s already so ingrained to pull the ball and possibly run that even in pure passing calls he’s ready just to take off and get a small gain instead of risk a pass. (Probably didn’t help the confidence when the RB dropped a catchable ball too and Armstrong was out.)
Not sure if that’s really a problem or if it just helps to think it’s a problem but to me in an ideal world run more 4WR pure “spread” concept, ditch the RPO/play action type stuff. More towards what LSU is doing, which I feel like is what we all hoped this ND offense would resemble.
I’d like to see that too.
I really winced when Young and Kmet went down. I think those were big blows, then with Armstrong down, that was the coup de gras, since he’s a very good threat out of the backfield. That all resulted in Fink playing WR, weakening the slot position as well as not really having a WR on the field in the person of Fink.
I notice that Louisville won something like 42-0 Saturday, playing a weak team, but Satterfield is a very good coach and I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up better than many of us expected.
I totally agree with your assessment, DC.
The main thing we are in disagreement about, Eric, is the level of play by the line. Yes Book was impatient at times, noticeably so, but I wouldn’t say the line had a good night overall in protection. That’s our basic opinion difference. I don’t think he trusts them, and that’s why he took off so often, and maybe isn’t a believer in Fink as a WR or Wright as a receiving threat, so if Claypool doesn’t look open quick he bailed. Just guessing about what’s in his head, but its plausible to me.
Having said that, things looked much better in the second half, by both the line and Book, as well as the defense.
So peace, and the offer to spring for the coffee still stands if we ever meet. I’d like that, by the way.
“I don’t think he trusts them [the OL], and that’s why he took off so often…”
When you get good protection that’s the quarterback’s fault. And I don’t drink coffee 😉
See, there’s the problem right there. Not enough caffeine.
I think it is both trusting the line and trusting the receivers to get open. I think this is what Kelly meant by going through his fundamentals.
If he doesn’t see his primary read (maybe he gets his secondary in the drop back) and he sees a lane, he takes off.
I agree with your analysis that it is a problem. I am not sure how to fix it. But that is why Kelly, Long and Rees get the big money and I sit at a desk all day.