Brandon Wimbush flashes upside for Notre Dame

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Brandon Wimbush era began with a glimpse into how good the freshman from Hackensack, N.J. can be.

Wimbush tagged in for DeShone Kizer with eight minutes remaining in Notre Dame’s 62-27 blowout win over an overmatched UMass on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. On his second collegiate snap, Wimbush fired a rocket that was nearly caught by Will Fuller for what would’ve been a 50-yard gain down the sideline.

And on his second collegiate drive, Wimbush broke free from a tackle and zipped 58 yards into the end zone for his first career touchdown.

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“That kid, he doesn’t do that in practice, I can tell you that,” grinned defensive tackle and team captain Sheldon Day. “He looked very explosive today making plays.”

Wimbush finished his debut with three completions in five attempts for 17 yards and 92 yards on four carries. He had what would’ve been a 44-yard touchdown to fellow freshman Equanimeous St. Brown wiped out due to an ineligible man downfield penalty, too.

While he entered the game with Notre Dame leading by 28, coach Brian Kelly made it a point to let Wimbush run the Irish offense like he would if he had to enter a game with a closer margin on the scoreboard.

“As you can see, he's athletic,” Kelly said. “He can throw the ball deep. Will did not make that catch that he threw down the field, but he's capable of pushing the ball down the field as well as running the football. We'll continue to work with him, and he's got a lot of talent.”

It wasn’t all perfect for Wimbush, though. Kelly said he made some mistakes on reads when he decided to throw instead of take off running. On occasion, Kelly said, Wimbush “got a little out of his realm,” too.

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Notre Dame was forced to accelerate Wimbush’s learning curve when Malik Zaire broke his ankle in Week 2 against Virginia. Wimbush is only the second freshman quarterback to play since Kelly got to Notre Dame, with the other being Tommy Rees in 2010. The ideal plan is to keep the redshirt on a first-year quarterback, as Kelly did with Andrew Hendrix, Everett Golson, Gunner Kiel, Zaire and Kizer.

But Wimbush is Notre Dame’s backup, which means he’s one play away from having to take meaningful snaps this fall. The hope is the 23 minutes of gametime he received against UMass will help continue to build a solid foundation for a guy with an awfully high ceiling.

“He’s a big-time player, he’s a gamer,” freshman wide receiver C.J. Sanders said. “We’re young, mistakes are going to happen, but the thing that sticks out to me about him is he just continues playing. It goes through one ear and out the other, and he’s a fighter, he’s a gamer and I like that about him.”

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