Wimbush And Irish Locked In
Brandon Wimbush isn’t one to show much emotion when things are going good or bad. It wasn’t a surprise to see the junior quarterback stay level-headed when the College Football Playoff rankings came out, but the 6-foot-2, 228-pounder did admit the team was fired up to see the first batch of rankings.
“Everyone is pretty excited,” Wimbush said on Wednesday. “We have to appreciate it and be aware of where we are, but understand there is so much to be done. When the rankings came out, we were obviously stoked about it.”
Under his leadership, Notre Dame hasn’t wavered in its confidence this fall, and Wimbush doesn’t expect his Irish to fall into the trap of the outside hype.
“This team is really consistent with our mindset dating all the way back to January,” stated Wimbush. “This success won’t alter our focus the rest of the season.”
A large part of the success for the Irish offense this fall has been the offensive line. The Notre Dame front has been dominant, and it starts with left guard Quenton Nelson.
“It might have gone viral on Twitter, the video against Georgia,” recalled Wimbush. “He picked up a blitz from the opposite side of the line of scrimmage. It speaks to his preparation, awareness, and physicality. He’s a dominant player.
“He’s also from New Jersey, so I think really good players come from that state. Q has proved to be one of the best, if not the best guard in the country.”
With his offensive line giving him time to throw the ball, Wimbush’s game has taken off over the last few weeks in the passing game. The game is starting to slow down, and the New Jersey native is getting more and more comfortable with what he’s seeing.
“I don’t throw that ball at the same time as I did last weekend,” Wimbush said of his touchdown pass to tight end Durham Smythe last weekend. “We have grown, and our chemistry has been built. I’ve understood the route more, and the defense NC State was playing. We knew where the void was going to be and we did a good job of exploiting it.
“It’s the biggest thing for a quarterback to understand the voids in a defense and which routes can fill those voids.”
So what does a quarterback look for before the snap?
“A lot of people have no idea what a quarterback is looking at pre-snap and post-snap,” explained Wimbush. “That can ultimately put you in a position to be successful. That’s on the quarterback and his preparation skills and the coaching staff to put us in the right positions.
“I have to see if everyone is set, the front, whether it’s a three or four-down front or if they are doing something they’ve never done before. Then you go to the coverage. You don’t know if they are playing something else because they might be disguising something.
“Post-snap, you have to keep your eye on your movement key, and he’ll tell you something. You have to understand where everyone else is going to be off one of your movement keys.”
The key to the Notre Dame offense has been running back Josh Adams. The Heisman Trophy candidate has rushed 132 times for 1,169 yards and nine touchdowns, and according to Wimbush, NC State was just letting him have yards.
“I think Wake Forest is going to try to put more guys in the box and it’s on me to take advantage,” said Wimbush. “You really can’t defend what we have on the offensive side of the ball.
“It was late in the game, and they were still running the same defense with one linebacker in the box. It was absurd because our front five is pretty dominant. You saw the hole they opened for Josh.”