Notre Dame Football: Starting Brandon Wimbush is a No-Brainer

After a rough practice at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, questions continue to arise at Notre Dame Football Quarterback, Brandon Wimbush.

It’s the cool thing to do these days for Notre Dame Football fans: Endlessly debate who should be the starting quarterback. At Slap the Sign, we’ve been steadfast in our support of Brandon Wimbush. We’ve even projected improved passing numbers for the second-year starter. Unfortunately, though, that support hasn’t been met with unanimous approval from the Irish faithful.

On Saturday, the Irish football team held practice inside Notre Dame Stadium with the media present. Once again, Wimbush’s performance has put him under the microscope.

Wimbush is looking to improve on a successful 2018 campaign. Yes, you read that correctly: Successful. Any first-year quarterback with the chops to lead his team to a 10-win season can say they’ve had a successful year.

Where Brandon wasn’t successful was his passing accuracy. By now, it’s been talked about ad nauseam that Wimbush has routinely made deep throws look easy and short throws look difficult.

Pete Sampson of The Athletic, had this to say about Wimbush’s Saturday performance: “What I didn’t see coming was the possibility Wimbush would start training camp the same way he finished last season, where the hard throws look doable and the easy throws look wild.”

To add to Sampson’s assertion, video from Saturday’s practice from Irish Illustrated seemed to confirm what Sampson saw:

In all, Sampson’s comments and this video have Notre Dame fans apprehensive about the state of the Irish offense ahead of the one of the most-hyped season-openers in Notre Dame history.

What we have to realize is this: Brandon Wimbush has made many vast improvements this offseason that makes him the best choice to start the season as Notre Dame’s quarterback. It’s that simple.

While there is evidence that Brandon’s short-ball inaccuracies aren’t completely cured, there is evidence that they’ve improved. And that’s not the only improvement that Wimbush has made.

Repeatedly, the Irish coaching staff has shown support for Wimbush, citing improved mechanics, leadership, and a general better understanding of the offense. Recently, Brian Kelly made a strong point as to why Wimbush will certainly improve heading into 2018: A better understanding of Wimbush as a quarterback.

Courtesy of ND Insider, Brian Kelly made this point about having a better understanding of the Irish quarterbacks: “We went into last season not knowing either one of them and had to play to their strengths and weaknesses as the weeks unfolded. We have a greater understanding of Brandon and what he can do for us, so we knew where he’s going to be effective for us throwing the ball.”

Was Brandon Wimbush going to become Notre Dame’s most accurate passer overnight? Absolutely not. To suggest he would is silly. But has he undoubtedly made improvements ahead of his second season as the Notre Dame starter? You bet he has. Those improvements are the reason he’s the starter heading into the season and the reason he will have improved production in the passing game in 2018.