Advertisement

CFB notebook: Kelly names QB Wimbush to start for Notre Dame

By The Sports Xchange
Photo courtesy of NCAA Football/Twitter
Photo courtesy of NCAA Football/Twitter

Senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush will start for No. 12 Notre Dame in its opener against No. 14 Michigan on Saturday night in South Bend, Ind., head coach Brian Kelly confirmed on Wednesday.

Even though Wimbush started all but one game as the Irish went 10-3 last season, there has been speculation that backup quarterback Ian Book might have overtaken Wimbush.

Advertisement

Book, who is a junior, replaced Wimbush in the Citrus Bowl and completed 14 of 19 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns, including a 55-yard scoring pass with under two minutes left in the game to give Notre Dame a 21-17 victory over LSU on New Year's Day.

In the only game Wimbush did not start last season, Book completed 17 of 31 passes for 146 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 33-10 victory over North Carolina in October.

Advertisement

Book also performed well in spring practice and in camp leading up to the regular season.

Wimbush passed for 1,870 yards and 16 touchdowns with six interceptions last season, but completed only 49.5 percent of his 275 throws.

Michigan announced last week that Shea Patterson, a transfer from Mississippi will start at quarterback against Notre Dame.

--Coach Jimbo Fisher of Texas A&M announced that sophomore quarterback Kellen Mond will start for the Aggies in Thursday night's season opener against Northwestern State at College Station, Texas.

Mond has been battling redshirt sophomore Nick Starkel for the job since spring practice.

Fisher, in his first season at Texas A&M after posting an 83-23 record in eight seasons at Florida State before resigning to take the Aggies' job last December, said Starkel also will play but that he does not have a plan for rotating the quarterbacks.

Mond started eight games as a true freshman for the Aggies, going 5-3 with 1,375 passing yards and 340 rushing yards.

Starkel started five games last season, passing for 1,793 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Fisher also said that linebacker Anthony Hines, a projected starter, will miss the opener because of an injury, but is expected to return next week when the Aggies play No. 2 Clemson.

Advertisement

--University of North Texas will unveil a statue of "Mean Joe" Greene, considered the greatest player on school history, outside the main gate at Apogee Stadium in Denton, Texas, on Sept. 29 before a game against Louisiana Tech.

The 71-year-old Greene was an All-American for the Mean Green and a Pro Football Hall of Famer who starred for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Greene earned consensus All-American honors at North Texas in 1968 before the Steelers selected him with the fourth overall pick in the 1969 draft. He played for four Super Bowl championship teams in Pittsburgh, was a 10-time Pro Bowl selection, made first-team All-Pro five times and was twice NFL Defensive Player of the year.

He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1984.

In 1983, Greene became the first black person appointed to North Texas' board of regents. In May, the regents approved a new campus residence hall to be named after Greene.

Despite his deep ties to the program, the school's "Mean Green" nickname is not related to Greene.

The 8-foot bronze statue will be mounted on a 4-foot pedestal. Brian Hanlon, who has sculpted statues of Jackie Robinson, Jim Brown, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal, among others, will build the Greene statue.

Advertisement

North Texas also will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for an indoor football practice facility on Sept. 29.

Latest Headlines