Ian Book

Classroom

Ian Book graduated in December 2019 with a 2.963 cumulative GPA over his undergraduate career, majoring in marketing in the Mendoza College of Business, one of the nation’s top-ranked business schools. He is now a graduate student. 

Character

Book was selected as a team captain in 2019 and 2020, joining a group of just 23 other players in the 132-year history of Notre Dame Football who have served multiple seasons as a team captain. He has also served as a ‘SWAT’ leader (captains a group of teammates through spring and summer workouts and training). Book was a member of Notre Dame’s Rosenthal Leadership Academy, which develops and enhances strong leadership with programming for emerging and existing leaders. Student-athletes are nominated by peers and confirmed by coaching staffs. The program supports skill-building, self-awareness, commitment to institution and team goals, and empathy and perspective-taking, allowing student-athletes to consider issues beyond those that directly affect themselves. 

Community

Each of the past four seasons, Book has participated in the annual Shop With A Player Christmas event, hosting under-privileged youth from the local St. Joseph County to go holiday shopping. He has also volunteered with the Kelly Cares Foundation, running a football camp for women who survived breast cancer, and he joined the Notre Dame football team to play in a charity fundraiser softball game against local first responders. In high school, Book served as a host for “Evening of Dreams,” a Senior Ball for local youth with disabilities, and was a regular volunteer at the local El Dorado County Foodbank, serving as the “Poster Boy” for the annual Fill The Bowl event. He was the top fundraiser for the Sacramento Shrine Bowl (Shriners Hospital) in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, and was a volunteer at St. Anthony’s Foundation food shelter in San Francisco. 

Competition

Book is 26-3 (.897) for his career as a starter, which ranks second nationally among all FBS quarterbacks (min. 20 wins). His 26 wins tie for fourth among all FBS quarterbacks. He ranks second overall in Notre Dame records for total offensive yards (currently at 8,588, which trails only Brady Quinn’s 11,944). He is also second in Notre Dame all-time records in touchdown passes (64), QB rushing yards (1,245) and points responsible for (462). 

Book has quarterbacked the Irish to a 6-0 start in 2020, passing for 1,225 yards and seven TDs and rushing for 212 yards with five TDs, only being intercepted once. 

In 2019, he led the Irish to an 11-2 season, named the team’s Offensive Player of the Year. He finished the year 240-for-399 for 3,034 yards and 34 TDs, with just six interceptions. That season, he was one of just two FBS quarterbacks with at least 2,500 passing yards, 500 rushing yards and 30 TD passes in a season, along with Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts. 

Book took over as the starter in 2018 vs. Wake Forest, helping the Irish to a perfect 12-0 regular season and an appearance in the College Football Playoff. He was the first FBS quarterback to win his first five starts of a season with a completion percentage over 70% in each game since Russell Wilson at Wisconsin in 2011.