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Notre Dame Fighting Irish QB Brandon Wimbush has announced he will transfer to UCF.
Tom Loy of IrishIllustrated.com first reported on Tuesday morning that Wimbush was headed to UCF:
Multiple sources have informed me that #NotreDame QB Brandon Wimbush is heavily considering transferring to #UCF and that’s the team to beat. I’m told he’s actually visiting the Knights this weekend. Decision is expected soon https://t.co/RmfRNDkhGg #IrishIllustrated @247Sports pic.twitter.com/6YUGRS0r6A
— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) January 12, 2019
Wimbush (6-2, 222 pounds) is a graduate transfer, having completed his senior year in South Bend, and will be eligible to play for the UCF Knights in the 2019 season.
Wimbush was a highly-touted recruit out of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, where he was the Gatorade High School Football Player of the Year in the state of New Jersey. After redshirting as a sophomore in 2016, he took over for DeShone Kizer in 2017 after Kizer left Notre Dame for the NFL, and established himself as a talented dual-threat QB, amassing more than 2,600 total yards and 30 total TDs.
However, he was benched in the bowl game vs. LSU in favor of Ian Book, who led the Irish to a come-from-behind victory.
After an inconsistent start to 2018, Wimbush was again benched in favor of Ian Book, this time for good, even though he hadn’t lost a game yet. Notre Dame went on to go undefeated in the regular season before losing to Clemson in the College Football Playoff Semifinals.
Brandon Wimbush - Career Stats
| Year | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rate | Rush | Yds | Avg | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Class | Pos | G | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rate | Rush | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2015 | FR | QB | 2 | 3 | 5 | 60 | 17 | 3.4 | 0 | 0 | 88.6 | 7 | 96 | 13.7 | 1 |
| 2016 | SO* | QB | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2017 | JR | QB | 12 | 136 | 275 | 49.5 | 1870 | 6.8 | 16 | 6 | 121.4 | 140 | 804 | 5.7 | 14 |
| 2018 | SR | QB | 6 | 54 | 102 | 52.9 | 719 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 113.3 | 68 | 256 | 3.8 | 1 |
| Career | - | - | 20 | 193 | 382 | 50.5 | 2606 | 6.8 | 20 | 12 | 118.8 | 215 | 1156 | 5.4 | 16 |
Check out some highlights of Wimbush here:
2017 (Junior Year):
2018 (Senior Year):
Wimbush was not totally expected to transfer to UCF by the experts, at least initially. But with McKenzie Milton way-more-than-likely not playing in 2019, and Darriel Mack Jr. coming back after a redshirt freshman season where he helped UCF to a conference title, Wimbush will have to compete to earn the starting gig.