player or the most athletic guy. Academics are huge as is the fit with the rest of the team. You can't just bring anyone in to ND and hand them the QB job and Coan is a very good fit in a lot of ways. I think we're lucky to have had a guy like that available.
2.) I've never posted at NDNation and do not read any of their stuff. This is pretty much the only message board I frequent because I think it's great.
3.) For the record, I never said a pass first offense was ineffective. I only said that it is clear to me that Alabama with Najee Harris running behind that line had one of the best running attacks in college football. Whether they used it 70% of the time or 30% of the time (they actually used it 53% of the time), it was there and Saban has always put a premium on a high level of excellence and physicality and toughness up front and an ability to run the ball against anyone. Harris ran the ball more times for more yards, a higher average and twice the number of TD's than Williams. I also made the point that their running game being as good as it was is pivotal in making everything else they did so effective.
I actually like a lot of what Alabama does and we definitely need more elements of their passing attack, pre-snap motion, RPO's etc... That's what Saban said has changed and I agree with it. However, if you'd like ND's offense to mirror what Alabama does, then who do you think would do a better job mirroring what Mac Jones did than Coan? Mac Jones is actually quite similar to Coan in many regard. Both are 6'3" and 215-220. Both are pocket QB's that can run forward for yardage if the seas part for them but are not scramblers.
What Mac Jones did this year is to basically make the appropriate reads and get the ball into the playmakers hands on time and to do so with a very high level of efficiency. You don't think Coan is capable of that? In 2019, he completed 70% of his passes for 2750 yards, 18 TD's to only 5 INT's and had a QB rating of 151. And that is with weapons that are far below than the talent we will have next year. If there is anyone that is capable of playing the Mac Jones for us next year, it is Coan.
My hope is that we maintain the level of rushing attack we had this year and that, with the bevy of dynamic and explosive weapons we will have on the outside (Davis, Austin, Lenzy, Johnson, Sparks, Styles, Tyree, etc...), we'll be able to add the elements we were missing this year. I think Coan is an excellent option to facilitate that style of offense and get the ball into the playmakers hands and, yeah, I think we're lucky we have him.