Call it QB U
It’s telling that Wimbush picks UCF over Penn State
What does it tell you when Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Wimbush decided Tuesday to turn down a visit to Penn State in order to transfer to UCF?
It tells you that UCF’s burgeoning national brand continues to grow and the Knights are on the radar of college football players across the country.
It also tells you that quarterbacks want to learn their craft under UCF head coach Josh Heupel, who has tutored the likes of not only UCF star McKenzie Milton but also Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winners Baker
Mayfield and Sam Bradford along with Drew Lock — the Missouri quarterback who is expected to be a high firstround pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
Heupel and his highly respected QB coach Jeff Lebby, who reportedly recently interviewed to become the new offensive coordinator at Tennessee, are seemingly in the process of turning UCF into Quarterback U. During the early signing period, Dillon Gabriel, the muchsought quarterback recruit from Hawaii, chose UCF over both USC and Georgia.
“I am excited to announce that UCF has granted me an awesome opportunity to play my last year of collegiate football for their great university,” Wimbush wrote in an Instagram post. “Thank you to Coach Heupel, and Coach Lebby for this incredible opportunity. Looking forward to winning em all! #GoIrish #GoKnights.”
Heupel may not coach in a Power 5 league, but he is coaching a Power 5 program at UCF. Wimbush’s transfer is clearly a signal that Heupel knows he has a loaded roster and now has the quarterback depth he needs to perhaps run the table again next year and get back to a New Year’s Six bowl game.
Although there was some fan discussion on UCF’s message boards about whether the Knights really need a one-year transfer like Wimbush and should they have pursued him (a debate that also shows just how far UCF has come), Heupel knows that bigtime programs have more than two scholarship quarterbacks on their roster.
With graduate transfer Wimbush in the fold, UCF now has adequate QB depth with three scholarship QBs, including Gabriel and Darriel Mack Jr., who took over the starting job when Milton suffered that devastating career-threatening knee injury against USF. The UCF quarterback room also includes walk-ons Quadry Jones and Hayden Kingston
It would be an extreme long shot for Milton to be back by next season, and he likely won’t be ready for a return to the field until 2020. That means Wimbush will likely battle Mack and Gabriel for the starting job next season.
The notion that Wimbush’s transfer to UCF means Heupel has guaranteed him the starting spot is ridiculous. It’s not like Wimbush is a can’t-miss quarterback. He was, after all, replaced as Notre Dame’s starter three games into 2018 after passing for 719 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions.
He is clearly a better runner than a passer. During his time at Notre Dame, he barely completed 50 percent of his passes, but he ran for 1,156 yards and 16 TDs in 16 games as a starter.
Let’s also remember, we’ve seen transfer quarterbacks from Notre Dame flop in our state before (see Malik Zaire at Florida and Everett Golson at Florida State).
Even so, Wimbush’s decision on Tuesday to transfer to UCF once again had the college football world talking about the Knights.
Former head coach Scott Frost started the national discussion by leading UCF to a perfect season in 2017.
Athletics director Danny White kept the discussion going when he proclaimed the Knights were national champions.
Heupel continued the national dialogue this season by extending the nation’s longest win streak to 25 games before losing to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl.
And on Tuesday, the Knights were in the national headlines yet again when a quarterback transferring from Notre Dame to UCF was the biggest news in college football and the lead story on ESPN.com for much of the day.
Even if he doesn’t start a single game or throw a single pass, Brandon Wimbush has already supplied UCF with a monumental win.