Coach | 2022 QB Gavin Wimsatt "Fits" What Notre Dame Is All About
As far as Jay Fallin is concerned, Gavin Wimsatt has it all.
“Physically, he has every gift you could want in a quarterback, he has every talent and skill you could want in a quarterback,” the Owensboro (Ky.) High School head coach says of Wimsatt, his star 2022 signal-caller.
“He’s got an incredibly powerful arm. He can throw it as far and hard as any kid I’ve ever been around at his age. He also has tremendous accuracy to go along with his strength. He’s between 6-3 and 6-4 and just over 200 pounds now. He’s very strong.
“Despite his length, he’s very flexible and able to move through that range of motion, so he’s super athletic, very fast and able to run almost equally effectively as he can throw the ball. When you watch his highlights, what jumps out at you first is his arm, but he’s also an incredibly talented ball-carrier in his own right.”
Wimsatt also serves as Owensboro’s punter and is capable of 50, 60-yard boots, according to Fallin.
“He’s just a really incredibly gifted athlete with a very well-rounded game, but what makes him special is who he is as a person and his attitude,” the coach continues. “He’s very humble, which is very hard to find in a kid who has a superstar level of talent. He’s very, very humble, team first, he cares about the team success as much or more than his own success. He does not have a selfish bone in his body.
“He’s just a good kid, always has a smile on his face. He comes to football practice every day excited to play and practice and work hard and get better and compete, no excuses. No attitude, no drama, never whines, is always ready to work, always in a good mood, yessir, no sir.”
When Owensboro was knocked out of the playoffs in the state semifinals the day after Thanksgiving last fall, Wimsatt reported to basketball practice that weekend. Hoops season would get cut short because of COVID-19, but Fallin says Wimsatt had every intention of going straight from basketball to track, where he would run and jump all while doing spring football practice as well.
“He’s a three-sport athlete, great student, great kid,” his coach says.
Notre Dame clearly saw most – if not all – of what Fallin is talking about as the Irish made Wimsatt one of two quarterbacks in the Class of 2022 to receive scholarship offers on Monday night.
Wimsatt already had offers from schools like Nebraska, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, TCU and Missouri among others, but Fallin is confident Notre Dame is a school the rising junior will take a long, long look at.
“It’s Notre Dame, what more needs to be said?” Fallin asks rhetorically. “In my opinion, it’s still a Top 5 college football program. What kid growing up playing football doesn’t dream of an opportunity to play at Notre Dame? He was ecstatic when I spoke to him.
“He’s hoping that – like all of us – sometime soon the Coronavirus will be behind us. He’d love to get up to South Bend and get on campus and visit to get to experience what Notre Dame is all about and see what kind of a fit he could be in that program.
“From my perspective, Gavin’s a great student and a great young man. He fits a lot of what Notre Dame Football makes you think of as a fan, doing things right on and off the field. I definitely think they’ll have a great opportunity in pursuing Gavin. I know he’s thrilled to be recruited by Notre Dame.”