This Guy Plays Notre Dame Football: #7 Brandon Wimbush

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Team has a bunch of players on the roster. We want to talk about all of them here at OFD. We roll along with our player profile series with none other than QB1 himself.

#7 Brandon Wimbush

Brandon Wimbush does not need much introduction. When you start at QB for the Irish, practically everyone knows who you are. Brandon is a rising senior (a junior eligibility-wise). With technically two years left, we will see what Brandon would like to do. If he continues on his projected path, we might be looking at this being his final season at Notre Dame.

As we all saw, the 2017-18 season was a breakout season for Brandon. He became the starting QB, and he took that position in stride. Mostly, he left us very happy with his overall poise and skill. Yes, there were some shaky moments in the end of the season. His injuries to his foot and also hand as well did not do him any favors last season. Those did not help some criticism that he faced especially in big games toward the end of the season (notably, the games against Georgia, Miami, and Stanford). He had HUGE games against USC and NC State, however. He did need to develop and looked like a deer in the headlights sometimes. Regardless, he helped lead the team to 10 wins and a January bowl win. Brandon looks to continue to add success here in the 2018 season.

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3 Things to Know About Brandon Wimbush

1. Brandon has been in a bit of a QB battle with Ian Book for the starting role. We’ve even had to deal with some ludicrous hot takes on this. This stems from Brandon’s injuries last year and his overall confidence level when Book took over to win the games against UNC and then the Citrus Bowl against LSU.
2. Wimbush completed just shy of 50% of his passes last season for 1870 yards while also losing zero fumbles last year. That last stat is probably in part to our ridiculous offensive line with two, Top-10 draft picks, but that is still impressive.
3. Last season, in the game against NC State, Brandon broke the single-season record for rushing TDs by a Notre Dame quarterback. In that game, he recorded his 11th rushing TD, and he ended the season with 14 in total.

YouTube Hot Fire

He got it done with his feet and with his passes.

Country, Condiment, or Canon

Identifying the player as either a country, condiment, or member of the Star Wars Canon.

Han Solo. If Tony Jones, Jr. is Chewbacca, then he needs his main guy guiding him. That main guy and role belongs to Wimbush and his quarterback role. (Yes, I know Pat Rick suggested this, so I want to explain further).

Wimbush also shows the leadership needed. He is good at his job, and he shows tenacity. Brandon can drive the Millennium Falcon, but he needs support. Even though Brandon is not as arrogant as Han is, he still can have the skills to back up that confidence. Like Han, he needs his support system to help him and to keep him grounded. Luke and Leia helped him not to get too caught up in himself, and be there for the betterment of the team. Like Han, Brandon can come in to save the day, but he is best when he is part of the team. Wimbush seems to be a team guy, so that helps immensely.

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2018 Forecast

After last year’s season, Brandon Wimbush showed that he had the skill to be a great QB. He did not execute as well as he could, and to some people he lost some credibility. I agree that he has to develop his game more, and he needs to let the big stage not get to him too much. However, I see that he will be better in those aspects this coming season.

As for all of the talk in spring ball and the aerial circus in the Blue-Gold Game from both quarterbacks, I think that Brandon needs to be QB1, and I believe that he will be. He has a bit more of that x-factor to be able to succeed at QB. He can, especially with his rushing attack as well. Coming into this season, we need someone with experience who can truly lead. With the O-Line lacking a couple of outstanding players and with no Josh Adams, there might be less of an emphasis on the run game. It could be used, and that is where Brandon could help especially in tougher situations and busted plays. Regardless, Brandon needs to continue with his success from last season. Ian Book is a capable backup, but we don’t need to be running a two-quarterback offense. Brandon needs to take charge and make sure that we all know he can hone his skills to get us up there with those elite offenses again. I believe he can do it, but only time will tell.