Notre Dame will go as far as Brandon Wimbush takes them
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will only be a national title contender if Brandon Wimbush can show drastic improvement as a passer.
The last time the Notre Dame Fighting Irish won a national title in football, the 49ers were the dynasty in the NFL, the Yankees were amid a terrible run of bad seasons and the New York Rangers were still in a Stanley Cup drought.
It’s been a long time since they played in the Orange Bowl and won the 1989 National Championship. Since then, they’ve had a rocky road which included some seasons with high hope that were dashed early.
They’ve been trounced in bowl games by far superior opponents like Alabama and Ohio State. They also had one national title run ended by a player who committed an act that was against the rules and was ineligible to play in said game, the “Bush Push” game.
This year, they could be in the midst of a run to the College Football Playoff, except for one issue — their quarterback didn’t exactly have a good season last year. Last year, Brandon Wimbush had five out of 12 games in which he completed less than 50 percent of his passes, and he only had one game over 65 percent. That’s terrible, but he’s been working on it.
Wimbush is both self-aware and humble enough to know when he needs to fix some things, and he’s been working on fixing his mechanics this offseason. That’s important for the team, because another season like that, and they’d be out of the title race early.
According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, Wimbush told quarterback instructor Taylor Kelly of 3DQB he felt off:
"“When I watched him and talked to him, his whole thing was, ‘I know what I’m doing. I just don’t know how to fix it. I feel off.”"
A more accurate Wimbush could make this Irish offense much more dangerous. The combination of his athletic ability, arm strength and experience already make him a dangerous weapon.
If he’s able to shore up his mechanics so that he feels confident in the pocket and can see his completion percentage increase, that would only pose a bigger threat. If Notre Dame wants to be a true title contender, they’ll need Wimbush to be at his best, period.