Ian Book never played with Drew Brees, but that doesn't mean the method and madness of the all-time great's preparation is lost on him.
He's just learned it secondhand from the quarterbacks who did that before him.
"I just really learned from that quarterback group who learned from Drew. I know he had a strict process that he followed every day that Taysom learned from and Jameis learned from, and I just learned from those guys," Ian Book said after his rookie season on SportsTalk with Bobby Hebert and Kristian Garic. "We want to do what Drew could do because it worked from him. You talk about someone that was just locked in all the time and that’s all I hear about with Drew."
Listen to the full interview with Ian Book below. Can't see the embed? Click here.
The young quarterback was speaking from the Panini NFL Rookie Closeout Event in Los Angeles, after a season that saw minimal action, but did feature a start due to COVID issues in Week 16. Despite the circumstances and result, Book said he views the opportunity as a positive.
Onlookers can infer the negative, but he's focused on how he can improve from that game. It was a struggle, resulting in a 20-3 loss to the Dolphins with a pick-6 on Book's second throw.
"The outcome isn’t what we wanted, and like I said earlier there’s 100,000 excuses, but I’m never gonna complain for getting an opportunity," Book said. I’m actually really happy that it happened. You learn a lot more by doing than you do by watching. Honestly it’s a confidence-builder for me, which might be crazy to some people.”
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Book and Hill are set to return for the 2022 season and backup Trevor Siemian has been signed to a reserve/futures deal, but Winston is set to become a free agent, adding to the mystery of that room's future. The Saints must also make a decision as to their next head coach and/or play-caller, following the abrupt retirement of Sean Payton following the season.
But Book is quick to credit Payton and OC Pete Carmichael for instilling that nature of grinding and preparation in a young player, similar to what he's learned secondhand about the Brees method.
"Learning about how really to prepare the right way has got Sean and Pete Carmichael written all over it. They grind. They know how to grind. Just both really smart guys I learned a lot from," Book said. "I was a little bit shocked, but just happy for Sean and know he’ll go do some great things.”
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ON BRIAN KELLY AT LSU
The new Tigers head coach is Book's former coach from Notre Dame. When LSU announced the hire, Book sent a message to Kelly welcoming him to Louisiana, and Kelly was in attendance at the Caesars Superdome for Book's NFL debut. So what does the Saints QB think about what his former coach will bring to Baton Rouge?
“He’s done a good job of supporting me and I appreciate him. Everyone says that LSU is looking for someone to come in and organize and really run that team, and I think he can do it.”
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“Always being on top of everything and having guys buy into a process. And doing something really CEO-like, really running it from top down. So that’s his biggest thing. He did that with us at Notre Dame and it worked.”
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“He’s gonna get everyone to buy in. He’s gonna get them all to believe in each other and go out there, it doesn’t matter who they’re facing, they’re gonna feel that they can go play for their head coach and he’s going to do all that he can to prepare them. It’s similar to coach Payton in terms of the guys at LSU are going to win that game during the week because of the hard work they put in. … They’ve got a good head coach who’s going to lead them.”