NOTRE DAME, Indiana — University of Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Ian Book and senior offensive lineman Robert Hainsey have been named candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. Just 30 candidates total are selected across all FBS programs.
The award recognizes senior student-athletes who choose to remain at their academic institution to earn a degree, and focuses on competition, academics, character and service. Notre Dame joins Iowa State and Memphis as the only schools with multiple candidates on the list.
Both Book and Hainsey were named captains for the second-consecutive season, making them the 23rd and 24th Notre Dame Football student athletes to serve multiple seasons as a team captain. Both players have also served as ‘SWAT’ leaders, captaining a group of teammates through spring and summer workouts and training.
Additionally, Book and Hainsey were members 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.
Ian Book
Book is 27-3 (.900) for his career as a starter, which ranks second nationally among all FBS quarterbacks (min. 20 wins). His 27 wins tie for third among all FBS quarterbacks. He ranks second overall in Notre Dame records for total offensive yards (currently at 8,965, which trails only Brady Quinn’s 11,944). He is also second in Notre Dame all-time records in touchdown passes (65), QB rushing yards (1,312) and points responsible for (468).
Book has quarterbacked the Irish to a 7-0 start in 2020, including a win over then-No. 1 Clemson, passing for 1,535 yards and eight TDs and rushing for 279 yards with five TDs, only being intercepted once all season.
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.
Robert Hainsey
A four-year starter, Hainsey is a member of one of the best, if not the top, offensive lines in college football. He has been named ACC Co-Offensive Lineman of the Week once already this season, and over his career, he has started 29 games. In 2019, he was named Notre Dame’s Offensive Lineman of the Year for a season in which he did not allow a sack on 423 snaps (252 pass plays) and conceded just two QB hits and six QB hurries, even as his season was cut short due to injury after starting the first eight games.
In 2018, Hainsey started all 13 games in a season that saw Notre Dame make an appearance in the College Football Playoff. The offense totaled 5,721 yards of total offense with 3347 passing yards (8.0 avg) and 2,374 rushing yards (4.4 avg), with the Irish outscoring opponents 408-237. As a freshman, Hainsey saw action (and started one game) for an offensive line that won the coveted Joe Moore Award, given annually to the “toughest, most physical offensive line in the country.”