A college football legend with a Super Bowl ring, Ian Book speaks on ‘crazy’ life
Ian Book played high school football games under intense pressure as a teenager, lessons that molded him — and provide ample speaking-engagement material.
In short, he never flinched at the moment because cool does not buckle under heat.
Book’s path to stardom originated in El Dorado Hills, where he was a record-setting passer for the Oak Ridge Trojans. He had a remarkable career as the winningest quarterback in the history of Notre Dame. And Notre Dame is a big deal since it has about as big of a brand as you can think of in sports with a global reach.
As a speaker at Notre Dame football clubs across the country, including Thursday night in Folsom, 27-year-old Book shares his story as something of a long shot who made it in big-time college football. And he made it into the NFL despite questions about his 6-foot frame and data that show that only about 0.02% to 0.08% high school players ever reach this grand stage.
Book will talk passionately about his prep days in the Sacramento region, of how high school ball can be the greatest time of a person’s life, that the gridiron journey will end, but life pursuits do not. As he dives into these one-hour chat sessions with a room full of Notre Dame enthusiasts decked in Irish blue and gold, Book will remind that he has always had a soft spot for those colors. Oak Ridge also wears blue and gold.
Book to Thursday night’s audience might recall trying to evade tacklers bent on tearing him to bits when he played the ferocious Grant Pacers in Del Paso Heights. He won that 2013 game, his coming-out party as a sophomore. Book last week in a Notre Dame event in San Francisco recalled his collective calm on a Saturday afternoon showdown that same season between his Trojans and the Jesuit Marauders in Carmichael. He was so cool that he asked his mathematics teacher, Steve White, on the sideline during a timeout how he fared in a quiz the day before.
Never mind that the game was on the line. This was a quarterback chill as chill gets.
Turns out, Book aced the quiz, and then aced the Marauders with a dramatic overtime rally, passing for nearly 400 yards and five touchdowns, as his legend grew.
“I tell that story about Jesuit, how to stay calm, and that’s who I was,” Book said Tuesday in a lengthy chat with The Sacramento Bee. “Steve White reminded me, ‘You know, we’re in overtime here?’ The biggest thing was I was always even-keeled. You play the game for fun and can take it seriously.”
Book’s story starts with the image of appreciating football as much as a kid enjoys a trip to the dentist.
As an 8-year-old, Book’s introduction to quarterback play was not a pleasant one. On his first snap in a game, he was crunched, engulfed by opposing forces, his face planted into the turf. It took teammates a moment to pry the grass and dirt out of his facemask. He initially thought, “Nah! This isn’t it!”
”I was crying, a third-grader, but my dad said I’d be fine,” Book told The Bee in 2020.
Notre Dame, NFL and now a speaker who dabbles in real estate
Book said he lived the dream as a college player who seized his moment. Everybody, he will say, has a chance to seize their moment.
Notre Dame did not lose a single home game in South Bend with Book at quarterback, and the Irish went 30-5 overall with him at the controls. He is a beloved figure in that part of Indiana, where he lives during the season (he lives in El Dorado Hills the rest of the year), and does regular engagements. He is a man of the Notre Dame people.
Said Book: “I had the childhood dream, playing at Notre Dame, getting drafted into the NFL, got to a Super Bowl, then got to another one and won it (as a reserve in 2024 with the Philadelphia Eagles). That was a crazy five years.”
That crazy span included getting selected in the fourth round of the 2021 draft by the New Orleans Saints, signing a 4-year deal, starting a game, then getting waived the following summer. He signed and was waived by the Eagles. Book became part of the assembly line of players coming and going in a business heavy on change. But he didn’t flinch or complain. What a nice way to make a living, even if it was out of a suitcase.
In early fall 2023, Book signed with the New England Patriots, to the practice squad, and got waived five days later. In the early weeks of 2024, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Book and released him in late summer of the same year. He was signed to the Eagles practice squad in the winter of 2024, and as a member of the practice squad, was awarded a championship ring after the Eagles beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX.
Book had a tryout with the Denver Broncos last May. Now at the ripe old age of 27, Book said this week that he may be done as a player. The rest of his life? He’s just warming up. He married Kendall Book (née Moore) in summer 2024, with the celebration held at Notre Dame of all places.
A graduate of Vista del Lago High School in Folsom and from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Kendall Book will be on site for the Notre Dame Club of Sacramento’s session on Thursday night. She and her family regularly attended that venue over the years. The event goes from 6-8:30 p.m. at St. John Notre Dame School in Folsom, a dinner buffet at Gallagher Hall titled, “Love Thee, Notre Dame with Ian Book.”
Nervous? Book doesn’t do nervous.
“I’ve played in front of 95,000 people,” Book said with a laugh, recalling Notre Dame games. “It’s one thing to go up and talk about something, but this is something I know — my story.”
Book added, “I think I may be finally done as a player, though I train every single day. If an NFL team called, I’d be on a jet in a minute. (Kendall) gets nervous about that. Now that I have my head above water, I’m doing some real estate, and I really enjoy speaking.”
Notre Dame has clubs dotted across the country. Book will in the coming weeks and months speak to Notre Dame clubs in San Diego, Los Angeles, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Kansas City, Dallas, Chicago and Philadelphia. He has much to discuss in a fireside-chat format that includes a question-and-answer segment.
“I feel like my message and story can be good for high school kids, for parents, of never giving up, of getting an opportunity and doing something with it, of dreaming big,” Book said. “I worked hard. I got my chance. I wasn’t supposed to play at Notre Dame. It’s all because of how hard I worked.”
Book wasn’t originally going to Notre Dame
The irony here is that Book wasn’t even supposed to be at Notre Dame. That’s a big hook to his story that he shares at Notre Dame clubs.
Before his senior season at Oak Ridge, Book verbally committed to coach Mike Leach and Washington State, and Book valued his word. But at the urging of his parents, Kim and Rick, Book took a recruiting visit to Notre Dame. His parents joined him. He didn’t want word to leak out that a Washington State commit was suddenly spotted in South Bend.
Book and his parents rented bikes and tooled across the Notre Dame campus, and then it struck him. With the backdrop of Touchdown Jesus on a pleasant summer evening, Book was moved by the moment.
“There were fireflies in the air, and I’d never seen that,” Book said Tuesday. “They were twinkling. It hit me: ‘This place is different.’ I didn’t know if I was even good enough to play for Notre Dame.”
Book said one moment that he can remember having frayed nerves was the anxiety of calling Leach. Book was in his family car, the cell call on speaker, his heart racing, his reputation on the line.
“I was so scared, 17 years old, and I told Mike Leach that I was decommitting, and there was silence,” Book recalled. “I thought he might start screaming. He asked where I was going. Notre Dame. He said, “I get it.’ That was awesome.”
Book added, “That’s part of my story. I did not want to decommit from Washington State. It’s really changed over the years. There are kids now who commit to Georgia and then wear an Auburn shirt to school. I tweeted, ‘Go Cougs!’ when I committed and gave my word to Mike Leach. My parents said I should at least visit Notre Dame. It all worked out.”
Book’s next play: Life
Book has a full plate. He has his speaking engagements. He works out daily in preparation for an NFL call that he knows may not come. He is a husband. He is a quarterback specialist for locals in El Dorado Hills — mechanics, mental approach, the works. He’s also considering football broadcasting work.
And he still works with his Notre Dame teammates. Book is part of a real estate investment group based in South Bend called Golden Legacy Partners. It includes Book and four of his Notre Dame offensive linemen. Book is the firm’s director of investor relations. His one-time mates in the trenches who are up to their shoulder pads in this venture are Josh Lugg, Tommy Kraemer, Cole Mabry, Liam Eichenberg.
“That’s a big reason I went to Notre Dame — for the rest of my life,” Book said. “After college, we never had that itch to join a massive firm, starting from the ground. We used to talk in the locker room at Notre Dame that we’ll all play in the NFL, maybe for a week or a month or a year or two or more, but whoever is done first will start this firm. We’re boots on the ground.”
The Notre Dame Club of Sacramento was established in the 1970s, serving as the Sacramento-area chapter of the Notre Dame Alumni Association. During the season, club members meet at MoJo’s Tap & Kitchen in Sacramento to root on the Irish.
“What can I say about Ian — I’m his biggest supporter besides his wife and family,” said Katie Kilbane, the president of the Notre Dame Club of Sacramento. “He’s very thoughtful, genuine and kid, and also extremely humble. He’s an excellent leader, which is why he was a team captain for two seasons at Notre Dame.”
Kilbane added, “What I will remember the most of his time at Notre Dame is not what he did on the field, but what he did off of it. He was always the last man out of the stadium, and he made sure he signed every helmet, football, jerseys of the kids that stayed waiting just to see and meet him. He lights up when he’s around kids.
“It’s important for people in our area to see everything that has been accomplished by one of our own, and that when you put your mind to something when you have a goal, that you can also accomplish it.”
Eric Cavaliere, Book’s high school coach at Oak Ridge, said the man has not changed. He has not forgotten his roots.
“Ian continues to just be the same person he has always been - humble, polite, respectful - and very unassuming considering he is Notre Damn’s all-time winningest quarterback. I see Ian a few times a year, and it is always very easy to catch right up where we left off and talk about anything from football to what his brother is doing these days, being a newlywed.”
Cavaliere added, “One time I was walking down the street past a restaurant window and Ian happened to be there inside with a bunch of his friends. I waved, gave a thumbs up and kept walking down the street, and the next thing I know, he’s jogging out of the restaurant and down the street just to say hi. As a coach, ultimately we are trying to help shape young people to be good human beings - teach them the character traits that will benefit in all walks of life - and Ian is such a good example of exactly that. We are very proud of Ian Book, and that goes well beyond his accomplishments as a football player.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 5:00 AM.