Brandon Wimbush Learning On The Run, And Pass, At Notre Dame
Normally, a 303-yard total offense output by a quarterback while directing six touchdown drives in a 49-20 victory on the road over a Power 5 Conference school would be relatively immune to criticism or scrutiny about his play.
Not necessarily for Notre Dame junior signal-caller Brandon Wimbush. Redshirted last season and taking only about two-dozen snaps in mop-up duty as a 2015 freshman, the former four-star from Teaneck, N.J. (St. Peter’s Prep) has seen doubts circulate about his effectiveness despite romping for a school record 207 yards rushing and four touchdowns by a Fighting Irish quarterback.
That’s because he completed only 11 of his 24 passes for 96 yards. In today’s spread offense world, completing less than 50 percent of one’s passes and at a clip of only 4.0 yards per attempt is rare. Moreover, Notre Dame’s 94.60 pass efficiency rating after three games rank 124th among 129 FBS teams (60 teams are at least at 140.0).
Downfield throws against BC often sailed, and putting some touch on shorter throws needs to be refined. That naturally prompts angst among some Notre Dame faithful.
“Should the Irish just go to a power/option offense like in the days of Lou Holtz with Tony Rice at quarterback?”
“You’re not going to be a great offense/team if you don’t have balance.”
“How ready is sophomore Ian Book to take over — or could he at least rotate in as the ‘passing’ QB.”
Interestingly, accuracy appeared to be the least of Wimbush’s issues while leading St. Peter’s Prep to a state title as a senior that made him such a coveted recruit. He flirted with nearly breaking the national season record for completion percentage (minimum 275 attempts) by completing 72.3 percent of his tosses for 3,187 yards, 37 touchdowns and only four interceptions.
“I have absolutely no questions about his ability to play at the highest level at Notre Dame and help us win a championship,” said Irish head coach Brian Kelly of Wimbush during his Tuesday conference this week in which his QB was a popular topic. “Accuracy I think is a product of being comfortable within an offense, an offense that has changed a little bit from what he was used to running. It also has to do with really only having one receiver that has established himself in the program for a period of time. He's working with some new receivers. So I think just some patience and you'll see him throw the ball with a higher accuracy rate.
“It has nothing to do with mechanics as much as he needs to settle. When he was settled, had his feet set, he threw a beautiful ball to Durham Smythe… He just has to anticipate them a little bit better. That's building a relationship with your receivers, trusting it.”
Just like all the iconic predecessors at the position for Notre Dame have in the past. Sometimes the passage of time makes it easy to lose context about how growth is involved for all at this level. Let’s just look at a few examples the last five decades:
Joe Theismann (1969)
As a junior with previous starting experience, the future NFL MVP, Super Bowl champ and College Football Hall of Fame member opened the season 6 of 12 with three interceptions and one TD in a win over Northwestern. A week later at Purdue he struggled even worse while going 14 of 26 for 153 yards in a 28-14 loss.
He threw a school record 18 interceptions in only 219 attempts. For perspective, consider that in 2006 senior Brady Quinn (more on him later ) went 226 straight throws without a pick.
In the 1969 season review in the student magazine Scholastic, the assessment for the 1970 season was “don’t be surprised if No. 7 (Theismann) isn’t the starter,” especially because a freshman named Jim Bulger was reportedly impressing in the practices.
Tom Clements (1972)
He too opened his career completing 4 of 11 passes for 42 yards and two interceptions in the opener, and then in his next road game (at Michigan State) he went only 9 of 18 for 82 yards and another interception.
In a home loss to Missouri — which lost 62-0 the previous week to Nebraska — Clements was 7 of 17 with two interceptions. The season concluded with a 40-6 loss to the Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl in which the now more seasoned QB was 9 of 22 for 103 yards and three more interceptions.
Somehow the Irish won the national title the next season with Clements leading the way.
Joe Montana (1975 & 1977)
His first two starts as a 1975 sophomore resulted in home losses in which he was 5 of 16 with three interceptions, and he led only one touchdown drive. That year he completed 42.4 percent of his passes — and an astounding eight of his 66 attempts were picked off.
After sitting out 1976 because of a separated shoulder, his first two starts in 1977 resulted in him going 8 of 23 with three interceptions in a 16-6 win at home versus Michigan State. A week later against Army on the road he was 7 of 17 with two more interceptions.
Good thing they stuck with him even though he was a little off rhythm at first.
Tony Rice (1988)
As a sophomore a year earlier while making six starts, Rice’s completion percentage (42.7) was nearly identical to Montana’s in his first year — and then in the first two games of 1988 he was 5 of 21 (23.8 percent) while also leading only one TD drive.
Good thing Lou Holtz didn’t give up on him, because of the final 10 games Rice’s pass efficiency rating became one of the best in school history, including a phenomenal 10.0 yards per attempt.
Brady Quinn (2003-2004)
Now holding most of Notre Dame’s career passing marks, the future first-round pick barely completed 50 percent of his tosses his first two seasons of action while posting below average passing efficiency ratings.
After the initial paying-one’s-dues process, he became one of the more celebrated QBs in the college game with back-to-back Top 5 finishes in the Heisman balloting.
Jimmy Clausen (2007-08)
The deadliest accurate quarterback I’ve seen in 46 years of following the Irish, we should not even include Clausen’s freshman campaign (3-9) because of the dumpster fire the entire operation was that season.
However, even as a sophomore in 2008 — and despite nine starts as a freshman — Clausen was a work in progress while tying Theismann’s 18-interception total in a season.
The Irish lost his first road start that year 23-7 at Michigan State. In his next road start, at North Carolina, Clausen began sharp, but when the Tar Heels adjusted in the second half and dropped seven into coverage, he was flummoxed (his first throw in the second half was a pick six that helped result in the loss).
Later in a 17-0 defeat at Boston College during a 6-6 regular season, he was 26 of 46 for only 226 yards (5.0 yards per attempt) — and four more interceptions.
Yes, this tends to be a pattern with quarterbacks going through development as starters, and Wimbush is no different. Whether he will reach the same level as the others is still to be determined, but history shows that to make rash judgments on any new quarterback learning the starting ropes is premature.
After all, putting up 303 yards total offense himself isn’t bad while scoring 49 points.
“He willed himself into finding a way to be successful on Saturday,” Kelly said. “He's got that kind of will and want and desire to win. I love coaching a guy like that.
“If teams are feeling as though playing man-to-man and turning their back on the quarterback is the way they want to defend us, he's going to run a lot. … Having said that, if we see more zone coverages, he's going to have to be able to throw the football, too. We've got to continue to grow as an offense in both those phases.”
Growth and patience are always part of “The Process.”
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