Brian Kelly discusses value of Wisconsin intel from Jack Coan
A monster matchup takes place this weekend, as Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on Paul Chryst’s Wisconsin Badgers from Solider Field in Chicago. While the game should be one of Saturday’s most entertaining, it strikes a special chord for Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan.
For three seasons, Coan was the Badgers’ starting quarterback. Then, the quarterback went down with a foot injury in camp during the summer of 2020 — and Graham Mertz never relinquished the job.
Fast-forward, Coan transferred to Notre Dame after gaining an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic. Now, Coan is off to a blazing start this season, while Mertz is yet to throw a touchdown pass.
After spending so much time in Wisconsin, Coan learned a thing or two. Still, Kelly isn’t leaning on Coan to deliver inside information on the Badgers.
“You don’t get too much intel from those things,” Kelly said this week, when asked if the former Badgers quarterback could help Notre Dame prepare for the game. “I’m not a big believer in that, like: ‘Hey, do you know the signals?’
“You’ve got to play the game. Jack is a competitor. He loved his time at Wisconsin but this is a new chapter for him. [Coan] is very mature, level-headed. He wants to beat Wisconsin, but he wants to beat the following week Cincinnati.
“I think we can make it as much as we want and make it a story. In the building, it’s not that much of a story.”
Coan may not be provided the Fighting Irish with information unbeknownst to everyone outside of Madison, but Saturday’s game still has a little extra juice for the quarterback.
Coan: ‘It’s definitely going to be weird’
After spending so much time in Wisconsin, Coan made relationships that will last a lifetime in Madison. Of course, it’s going to be odd for the quarterback to go against the university that he used to call home.
“It’s definitely going to be weird,” said Coan, who went 12-6 as a starter for the Badgers, via ESPN. “It’s going to be a lot of my friends I’m going to be playing against, guys I still talk to today. But at the end of the day, it’s just another football game and I like to think I won’t get more excited for one game than the next.”
At the end of the day, a football game takes place amidst all the memories that’ll come flooding back for Coan. Moreover, his former head coach isn’t focused on the return of his former quarterback — the focus is on the Fighting Irish.
“Obviously we have respect for Jack and appreciate who he is as a person and player here,” said Chryst. “But it’s Wisconsin versus Notre Dame.”
Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin may be promoted as the Jack Coan bowl, but it means so much more than that to each program.