Notre Dame Football: Brandon Wimbush holds keys to Irish breakthrough
Notre Dame football has obvious quarterback issues, but Brandon Wimbush doesn’t have to be perfect to turn the Irish into national title contenders.
Year after year we see transcendent passers elevate their teams toward the top of the pack, but it doesn’t take a perfect quarterback to bring home a title. Although quarterbacks have won the seven of the last eight Heisman Trophies, the profile of championship winning passers is a mixed bag. For every Deshaun Watson there’s a Jalen Hurts. Jameis Winston followed in the footsteps of AJ McCarron.
Every quarterback from a national title winner does have one thing in common, however, they make the offense flow effectively. That’s the crux that will determine the legitimacy of Notre Dame’s national title aspirations this coming season.
Brandon Wimbush was up and down in 2017. A pedestrian passer, Wimbush completed 49.5 percent of his passes for 1,870 yards. He didn’t turn the ball over much but was far from Heisman worthy in his 11 appearances last season. He exceeded two passing touchdowns once, during a 52-17 bludgeoning of Miami (OH).
Nevertheless, Wimbush did excel somewhere — on the ground. The slippery rusher carried the ball 141 times for 803 yards and 14 touchdowns. Combined with his 16 passing touchdowns, Wimbush tallied 30 scores. That’s enough to get the job done, and five more touchdowns than eventual national championship-winning quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Somewhat surprisingly, his best situational completion percentage came on third downs, where he completed 60.3 percent of his passes. Moving the chains will be Wimbush’s primary objective. If he can keep the offense on schedule he’ll open up opportunities for guys like Tony Jones Jr. and Dexter Williams on the ground.
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Wimbush doesn’t have to be excellent. He doesn’t even have to be great. He needs to find a way to complete the easy throws and move the offense down the field. That’s going to take some improvement, but it’s definitely within the range of possibilities for the troubled quarterback in 2018. Then, if things go well, Notre Dame can start to entertain the ideas of a national title once again.