While Brian Kelly has ultimately underachieved by failing to win a national championship in his tenure at Notre Dame thus far, there has been one area where he has been able to exceed expectations. Kelly has done an excellent job of being able to prepare first year quarterbacks for the field, and has shown the ability to win with them.
Looking back to the magical 2012 season which the Irish ultimately fell to the University of Alabama in the BCS Championship game, Notre Dame was led by redshirt freshman Everett Golson that season, with some special cameos by veteran Tom (then Tommy) Rees. The playbook wasn’t super expansive while Golson was under center, but it was enough for the Irish to complete a 12-0 regular season while relying on their defense.
In 2012, Golson gave them enough to get by, 2015 was a different story, though.
In the spring of 2015 there was a heated quarterback battle between incumbent starter Everett Golson, following his return from suspension, and youngster Malik Zaire. Zaire won that competition, prompting Golson to pursue a graduate transfer, which he later took at Florida State University.
Zaire ended up making two starts that year before leaving the season’s second game against Virginia with a fractured ankle. His first start, in South Bend against Texas, was nothing short of magical, however. The Irish won that game 38-3, and looked like a true national contender.
Once Zaire went down with his fractured ankle, it was time for Kelly to turn to another redshirt freshman, DeShone Kizer.
Kizer thrived in his first season as Notre Dame’s starter, beginning with his game winning touchdown to Will Fuller in the final seconds of the Virginia game and continuing through the end of the year. Much of the reason Notre Dame finished with a 10-3 record, with all three losses to top-5 teams, was because of Kizer and his supporting cast.
Fast-forward to last season, Kizer didn’t have nearly the year he had previous. Notre Dame struggled their way to a 4-8 record and the Toledo Central Catholic product was off to the NFL Draft where he is expected to be taken in either the 1st or 2nd round.
Kizer leaving school early for the NFL has anointed Brandon Wimbush as the next guy at Notre Dame. Wimbush, a redshirt sophomore, saw brief time in mop-up duty during the 2015 season before sitting out last season to preserve eligibility.
Notre Dame fans should be expecting big things from Wimbush both statistically and in the win column. As stated, the past two first year starters at Notre Dame went 24-4 under Kelly. There is no reason as to why Wimbush cannot continue this trend, especially with the cast he will have around him.
The Irish are going to be returning a plethora of weapons for Wimbush offensively including Equanimeous St. Brown, CJ Sanders, Alize Jones, Dexter Williams and Josh Adams. The offensive line will also be very experienced in front of Wimbush.
While expectations may seem lofty for a first-time starter, there is no reason why Wimbush and Notre Dame can’t reach them.
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