From Regression to Progression
As the season creeped toward a conclusion last year, there was an obvious regression with Brandon Wimbush. It wasn’t just one category. Whether it was mechanics, reads, or anything else you can think of, he was not a confident quarterback at the end of November.
No one was expecting for him to do a 180 and be a completely different player this spring. Everyone was hoping for progress, though. Something to show that he is moving forward and can live up to the vast potential that he flashed at times.
A leap would be too much to ask for, but some steps in the right direction would supply observers with optimism that things could be different in what could potentially be his second year as a starter.
From the practices we saw and the Blue-Gold game this past Saturday, it’s clear that progress was made.
It wasn’t “Hand that man the Heisman!” kind of progress, but it was more than enough to have people encouraged about Wimbush's future.
There is the asterisk that what we most recently saw was only the spring game. He could not get hit and it’s a different atmosphere than any game he will play in this fall. So we can throw out the numbers (he completed 57.5% of his passes for 341 yards) to a certain extent.
But the film is the film. Yes, he made a couple of throws he shouldn’t have made. He had some poor ball placement on a couple as well. There were times he threw off his back foot when he didn’t need to. He didn’t magically transform from the guy we watched last year to junior year Jimmy Clausen over the course of the past few months.
With that being said, his comfort level in every sense was night and day compared to where he was. It was more than just throwing the football. It was everything and it showed up on several occasions.
Here are four examples that show why people should be very encouraged by the progress Wimbush showed this spring. Some of it may seem like baby steps, but they could go a long way into helping the Irish win more games when it matters.
RPO to Young
First off, ignore the breakdown in protection here. It’s not good. I’m not even going to get into that and will concentrate instead on the read here by Wimbush. This is a called run, but Wimbush sees Asmar Bilal (22) moving down after the motion and correctly pulls the ball to throw it.
The throw is not perfect by any means. It’s behind Michael Young (87) and Wimbush throws this off his back foot because the pressure is in his face. But that’s how that throw will have to be made some of the time. The pull and throw will be the right read and it might mean he gets hits.
They can’t all be perfect mechanically and that isn’t what matters on this play. It’s the read and it’s one Wimbush didn’t make very often last year.
Avoids the blitzer, changes arm angle
Speaking of not always being able to be perfect mechanically, this is another example. Wimbush did show this a bit more last year, but many times he wasn’t throwing a catchable ball. This was obviously different.
Te’Von Coney (4) and Drue Tranquill (23) are running a cross dog inside and it’s not picked up well by the line (I’ll save that for another film piece). As Doug Flutie pointed on the telecast, Wimbush had to be an athlete here and slide to avoid the rush while changing his arm angle to make the throw.
This was right no the money on a crossing route to Miles Boykin (81). He just dropped it. This was not a routine throw because of the blitz, but it is a throw Wimbush will have to make a lot. He struggled to do so before and this looked much different.
Checks to run away from the blitz
This isn’t even a throw from Wimbush. It’s him seeing that Isaiah Robertson (17) is showing blitz from his Rover spot and Wimbush checks out of it to a run the opposite way.
Why is that important? It goes back to what I wrote about in the Running Game Regression piece a couple of weeks ago. Running where you are outnumbered is a bad idea. If it was a call to run to the right side, Robertson creeping down adds in one extra defender. Running to the left is 3 on 3 blockers to defenders (even though you still have to block the backside and the line didn’t do a good job here).
This was a great job by Wimbush checking into this run. The next throw happend to be that deep ball he threw to Boykin for the touchdown. The check and then the bomb were a great response after the pick he threw on the previous series.
Back shoulder throw
I chose this throw because it’s a perfectly clean pocket and should be a routine throw. It wasn’t before, but it is here.
Wimbush’s footwork is really clean. It’s a nice short stride and he just looks natural throwing this football. The ball placement to Boykin is perfect as well.
It was exactly how it should look.
That’s the biggest reason why I was excited by the development we saw from Wimbush. It wasn’t the big arm down the field or the 300 yards passing. That stuff is great, but it’s about the little things with him.
That’s what's going to make him the type of quarterback Notre Dame needs. The explosive runs and the big arm are the extra benefits that he brings to the table. If he is making the right reads on RPOs, checking into the right runs, and looking comfortable when he should be, then he’s going to be a much better player this season than he was in 2017. And if that’s the case, the Notre Dame offense should be much better as well.