The month of July brings us close to the beginning of another fall camp for Notre Dame football. With practices set to begin soon we are taking a look at each position group ahead of the workouts. Who wants to talk quarterback?
Where We Left Off in Spring
The quarterback competition that never happened. The focus was put squarely on Brandon Wimbush and Ian Book so much so that third-string quarterback Avery Davis was moved part-time to a receiver/tailback/playmaker role to free up even more reps at the top of the depth chart. Both Wimbush and Book traded first-team reps and it amounted to little by the end of the spring–everyone expects Wimbush to maintain a strong hold on the job heading into August.
For his part, Davis looked like he could be something away from the quarterback position. One would think his time at quarterback will be permanently over once fall camp begins but I could be wrong.
Number One Camp Story Line
It’s impossible to know otherwise with the new redshirt 4-game rule whether or not incoming freshman Phil Jurkovec would’ve played in 2018 under the old rules. Absent a melt down during camp all signs are pointing to him getting into some action this fall and saving a year if able.
Should Avery Davis back away from the quarterback position there will be solid reps available for Jurkovec in just a couple of weeks. We’re typically gun-shy about a high-level of play during practice meaning a ton as the current starter has shown us and we’ve read plenty of glowing reports for years during August with spotty regular season results thereafter. But, let’s admit things are graded a little differently for a true freshman in his first real practices in Notre Dame.
Anticipation Level: 3/10
“Wait until the lights turn on.” There’s only so much to be interested about when we know there’s a very small chance someone other than Wimbush is taking the job before the Michigan game.
At the same time, two of the most gifted quarterbacks in recent school history are on campus together with a perfectly solid backup-type in between them. If you can kind of forget about some of Wimbush’s struggles last year–or feel confident in him improving in 2018–there’s a lot of reason to be excited right now.
The season is huge for the next few years of quarterback play. A returning Wimbush in 2019 for his final year likely means he played at a pretty high level and could finally bring a stability that’s been so rare this decade. Or, we could be hurtling quickly towards the Jurkovec-era by mid-October! The 2018 season feels like it’s going to quickly point in one direction for one of these quarterbacks, just don’t expect that to happen during practices in fall camp.
I think it is jumping the gun to be hurling accolades on Wimbush and Jurkovich already. They have been heralded but little to show for it. Wimbush has shown he is one of if not the best running QB ever at ND. Passing – not so much. Jurkovich did not impress at some of the camps he went to. So far I would put them in the Alize Mack category. Lots of hye but no results. When I see the results, I will be on board. Dayne Crist was a 5 *, great teammate and seemed like a great guy but a bad QB. I will believe it when I see it with Wimbush and Jurkovich.
E didn’t exactly hurl any accolades at either of them. He said two of the most gifted. Just like Alize is extremely gifted. He even mentioned that Wimbush might not finish the season due to poor play.
One can easily be gifted, but not good. One of these stat lines is Wimbush, one was a first round QB in this years NFL draft.
49.5%, 1870 yds, 6.8 y/a, 16/6 TD/INT, 804 rush yds, 14 rush TD
56.3%, 1812 yds, 6.7 y/a, 16/6 TD/INT, 204 rush yds, 5 rush TD
Give me Wimbush over Josh Allen any day. Good luck Buffalo.
But ZOMG arm strength and 6 foot 5 and he jUsT LOOKS like a QB and…
Yeah, Allen is awful and will disappear after this year. Wimbush is a better asset at QB.
I’d feel better about Wimbush if I were confident about the tools around him. No Q/Glinch, no Adams, no proven receivers (one catch in a bowl game does not make Boykins a #1 WR), so it’s hard for me to expect a 50% passer to improve significantly. Of course, everyone’s saying the right things about him getting it together in the off season, but do we really expect them to say anything else? If we could confidently say that he’d have a solid running game and proven receivers he can rely on, the traditional things a growing QB can lean on as he learns, then I’d be optimistic. For now, I hope to see it, but I think realistically we’ll get only a slight increase in production, even if Wimbush is individually better.
To be clear. I am not arguing Wimbush is a good QB. Just that he is gifted.
I saw Wimbush live against BC. In warm ups he was garbage. Couldn’t complete a slant with no defenders. I will never be optimistic about him (I’m also inherently a pessimistic person when it comes to sports). But I do hope he can complete 55% of his passes, with other numbers improving simply from that.
That’s why I said better “asset” at QB. We are in agreement.
BUT HE’S SO TALL HE HAS TO BE A GOOD QB
Brock Osweiler nods vigorously, throws another interception
AND HIS HANDS ARE HUGE
I wouldnt put too much stock in camp performances for QBs. I just spent 4 days at “The Opening” and trust me, the receivers are not trying to run crisp routes, run a playbook, or any of that. They’re trying to run past EVERYONE and catch the deepest pass imaginable. The QBs have little to no chemistry with these receivers and they’re just thrown together out of a hat
Here’s a quote from Kelly in Sampson’s recent one on one…Found it quite interesting. He later would call Chip Long a “hard ass” and made it seem like Kelly’s taking more of a “good cop” type role. Obviously if they’ve fixed the basics, it could be a major key to the season..
“Brandon’s personality traits are such that you have to build a strong relationship, a trusting relationship. Chip’s doing that. He’s working on it. It needs to continue to grow. Brandon reacts accordingly to those relationships. So this has been building a stronger relationship that they trust each other and he knows what the play caller is looking for. My end is to support him 1,000 percent and give him all the resources necessary to be the starting quarterback. A lot of this has to do with his continued growth mentally. It has nothing to do with his physical ability. We all know that. His inability to do things last year may have seemed physical. They had nothing to do with the physical. That’s where there’s a different guy, a much more mature and confident guy that is beginning to emerge.”
And while I’m on my Sampson kick, he’s already talking up Phil
“I’ll be quite surprised if Jurkovec isn’t No. 2 this fall, maybe early.”
“The feedback that I’m getting around the Gug has been equal parts “This kid is a dude” and “Phill is for real.” There’s not even a sense of tempering the enthusiasm about this kid.”
If they’re really that enamored with him and Wimbush truly is struggling……Sure would be interesting to see how Jurkovec does in some of those September games if we get to a blowout situation in the 4th quarters.
“The kid is a dude”
Oh no! Did we bring Addazio in as an offensive consultant?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KX3GqKR_lo
RUN THE DIVE
Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s a dude alert!
Speaking of Sampson, apparently he’s now writing for The Athletic? I hadn’t heard he left Irish Illustrated, so I assumed this was in addition, but his twitter feed seems to indicate it’s a full move.
Yup, he gone.
Although, still joining the II podcast I believe.
If he’s still on the podcast, that’s good. All of my subscription allowance goes to 18S-A-D (wow, that acronym doesn’t work quite as well) so I’m not really missing his writing content, but I like the II podcast well enough that I’m glad he’s staying there.
The Athletic has so much talent, especially if you’re a baseball or hockey fan they probably will have more content than you can even read. They’ve beefed up CFB a lot too. Usually you can find a deal they have for a discounted rate, it has definitely been worth the price to me.
It’s not a lot, and it probably is worth it, but it’s not worth explaining to household budget officer why I need to subscribe to a site that isn’t school related when we’re supporting a family of 4 on two grad student incomes. Plus I’ve got so much else to read. I’ve had to delete games off my computer to avoid distraction. (coincidentally, I’ve been posting here more….)
I like any part of Kelly saying that Long being the demanding guy and Kelly is being the cheerleader. Kelly is so intense on the sidelines and i like the idea of him him stepping back and giving Long the reigns as far as the offense. I like what I can see if Long’s offense a lot.
Great graphics as always.
Why the aversion to mentioning Book, though? Given that Rees/Kelly are together and in charge, would anyone be surprised if Book ends up starting by week 3? I’m not saying “not terrified by,” just “surpised by.”
These previews have ruined my entire outlook on the season, by the way. At this point I’m hoping Wimbush is put in as RB…just to have a warm body with 2 working legs.
Quite true, although I think he’s a distant 3rd story line for fall camp and even if he’s starting by week 3 (which I agree has decent odds) he’ll continue to be overshadowed and could lose the job by, say, week 11 or so.