Notre Dame Football: Should Brian Kelly trust Phil Jurkovec sooner rather than later?

All the buzz surrounding Notre Dame football this spring has been about Phil Jurkovec’s progression. Should Brian Kelly soon trust the redshirt freshman?

Clemson has Trevor Lawrence, Alabama has Tua Tagovailoa and Notre Dame has Phil Jurkovec. Those three quarterbacks were thought to be the future of college football and each saw their team make the College Football Playoff in 2018, but Jurkovec was the only one not starting.

Great programs have made adjustments and tough decisions like Nick Saban benching Jalen Hurts for Tagovailoa and Dabo Swinney sticking with Lawrence over Kelly Bryant.

Sure, both guys have since transferred from their respective programs following the changes, but each respected what their coaches had to say regarding the starting job. They understood it was best for the team and they moved on with their own personal goals intact.

Notre Dame is in a tricky position, though.

The Irish have Ian Book returning for his senior season after redshirting Jurkovec, who was a top-100 recruit in the 2018 class. Book passed for 2,628 yards and 19 touchdowns with just seven picks and a 68 percent completion rate. By all accounts, he was a solid starter for a 12-1 team which was walloped by Clemson in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

In that game against the Tigers, Book’s inability to connect on the deep ball was evident. He was just 17-for-34 with 160 yards and an interception. He struggled against the Clemson defense and was sacked six times.

Before that game, he didn’t face a truly elite defense. In fact, before the playoff semifinal, the best defense he faced was Pittsburgh’s which ranked 59th in total yards. After that, USC was 60th, Northwestern was 64th and Stanford was 78th. Everyone else ranked in the bottom third nationally in total defense.

Is Book just a product of facing poor defenses? It’s hard to say, but he still completed a high percentage of passes, which is all you can ask for.

But it may be time for Kelly to trust his redshirt freshman. The hype surrounding him last season was real, but it wasn’t the right time as Book was leading the Irish to an unbeaten regular season. Why replace a guy who wasn’t costing the team games? But then he faced a real defense.

Top teams in college football make changes, even if they’re difficult. Book is a good quarterback who would likely be a decent starter at an average program, but Jurkovec has the higher ceiling and stronger arm.

While I don’t think Kelly’s ready to make that move, if Book struggles early in 2019 — like Bryant did at Clemson — we could be seeing the start of the Jurkovec era.