Notre Dame Football: Improvement possible for Brandon Wimbush
With less than two months left until Notre Dame football takes on the Michigan Wolverines to kick off 2018, Brandon Wimbush has a lot of pressure to excel. has a lot of pressure to excel.
Notre Dame football had one of the better rushing attacks in the nation in 2017. That was led by the dynamic rushing duo in the backfield between ultra-athletic quarterback Brandon Wimbush and star running back Josh Adams. While Adams was a legitimate Heisman contender for most of 2017, Wimbush struggled down the stretch.
Once opponents figured out that all they had to do to stop the Fighting Irish offense was make Wimbush beat them over the top, things got a lot tougher for the Notre Dame passing game. Talented teams such as the Stanford Cardinal and Miami Hurricanes came about as a direct result of a lacking air attack.
That’s also what forced Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly to put Ian Book in at quarterback instead of Wimbush in some games down the stretch. Book excelled in the Citrus Bowl win over the LSU Tigers too. That all came when Wimbush had issues moving the Notre Dame offense down the field against a solid LSU defense.
Entering the 2018 campaign for the Irish, the quarterback battle is one of the most followed of all in the nation. Wimbush and Book are battling with incoming freshman four-star quarterback recruit Phil Jurkovec for the starting gig. At least to start the regular season, Wimbush should hold the edge over Book and Jurkovec.
The overall stat line Wimbush posted last season was impressive at first glance. But, his completion percentage left something to be desired, to say the least. Any time a quarterback racks up 30 total touchdowns compared to just six interceptions, he should be the starter the following year.
Yet, you would have to watch Notre Dame football to get the real picture of what that looked like last season. Wimbush started the season out in great fashion but started to stumble in the grueling stretch of Notre Dame difficult 2017 schedule. He tossed more interceptions than touchdowns combined in the losses to Miami and Stanford.
However, all is not lost for this talented dual-threat quarterback. Wimbush will be given the chance to excel for the Notre Dame offense over the course of a full season starting off this fall in a key Week 1 matchup against the Michigan Wolverines.
If Wimbush can build some confidence and learn off the mistakes he made in the final games of the 2017 regular season, he could be a more efficient passer in 2018. Arm strength isn’t the huge issue for Wimbush, and he might need another year of adjusting to the position.
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Wimbush has some talent to rely on in the receiving corps between Chris Finke, Miles Boykin, and Michael Young. The pieces are in place, including a solid ground game once again, for Wimbush to succeed. We’ll see how he fares early in the season if Kelly gives him the opportunity.