Sean Payton once said Ian Book reminded him of how he played in high school

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The Saints drafted quarterback Ian Book in the fourth round and head coach Sean Payton said that he thinks Book showed he’s a “real good competitor” while at Notre Dame.

Payton added that he doesn’t think Book’s style of play is reminiscent of the way Payton played in high school. That came up at his press conference because of something Payton said on The Dan Patrick Show in March.

Payton was asked which quarterback in this draft class reminds him of how he played in high school and said, via Luke Johnson of NOLA.com, “that kid at Notre Dame is pretty scrappy. He’s pretty interesting to watch on tape.”

When asked about that over the weekend, Payton said he didn’t recall the comment, wouldn’t make that comparison, and wasn’t dropping a hint about the team’s plans.

“Listen I read that, I can’t remember even making that comment,” Payton said. “He doesn’t remind me of me. I wouldn’t have drafted me. So he’s done a great job at Notre Dame. We’ve seen a lot of his tape, obviously and watched a lot of film on him. Dan had to bring his name up because at that time, generally the host is kind of moving the direction of an interview. But no, it would have been so hard to even project where we were this weekend from that interview.”

Payton played three games for the Bears as a replacement player during the 1987 strike. Book will be hoping for a more expansive playing career now that he’s got his NFL shot.