Wimbush explains flip to Irish

Jersey City (N.J.) St. Peter's Prep quarterback Brandon Wimbush was a huge key to the 2015 Penn State recruiting class. However, after an official visit to Notre Dame this past weekend, Wimbush had one of the toughest decisions of his young life to make.

In the end he decided to flip from the Nittany Lions to the Irish, and he spoke with Rivals.com exclusively about the change of plans.

"There's not much of a difference between the two schools as far as football and athletics, they are both top-tier universities," said Wimbush, a 6-foot-1, 212-pounder who had been committed to Penn State since early May. "I guess in the end it came down to academics and how I could get set up for later in life. I want to study Accounting, and I know Notre Dame has a great business program. It was as much a life decision as it was anything else to set myself up for beyond college."

Wimbush, ranked as the No. 2 pro-style quarterback in the country, said it was one of the more difficult things he's had to do.

"I called [Penn State] coach [James] Franklin and coach [Ricky] Rahne, and it was really hard to do," he said. "Coach Franklin was disappointed as I expected and said he thought we had a great connection, and we did. I told him it was nothing negative about Penn State, it was all positive about Notre Dame. They were both disappointed but handled it well. Coach Franklin wished me good things, wished me well before we hung up."

Since his commitment to Penn State, the lure of elite academics seemed to be buzzing in his ears. First it was Stanford that drew his attention and then Notre Dame. Wimbush admits he's looking for something special in that area.

"Elite academics drew me for sure, the football and academic combination at Notre Dame is amazing," he said. "For a life decision you can't go wrong with Notre Dame or Penn State, but I felt Notre Dame was just at a higher level for what I was looking for and for connections after college."

On the field, Wimbush paid attention to the Irish offense on his official visit when Notre Dame defeated Stanford.

"I watched Everett Golson and pictured myself doing the things he does," he said. "The offense is perfect for me, it's what we've been running at my school for the last couple of years, and I think I can be similar to Everett in it. He can deliver from the pocket, but he's also athletic and can extend plays and do things outside the pocket as well. He's a great quarterback to model yourself after."

As for playing time, Wimbush looks forward to competing in South bend.

"No matter where was going to go, I'd have to compete and there would be guys in my way, and I welcome that," he said. "Malik Zaire is itching to play and is competing and the backup to Everett, and they have DeShone Kizer there as well. They give me a chance to compete and get better and I welcome that. I expect to be pushed and I love that. And I've heard all about Notre Dame recruiting Malik Henry for next year, I got to meet him and have a few laughs with him at the Rivals Five-Star [Challenge] in Baltimore, he's a great kid. I'd welcome him into the program as well because that's what it's all about, the program. The better players we have the better everyone gets."

And speaking of better players, there's a certain five-star teammate of Wimbush at St. Peter's Prep named Minkah Fitzpatrick who is committed to Alabama and just visited Florida State on whom the quarterback will be working.

"I will work on Minkah for sure because I think Notre Dame is a good fit for what he wants," Wimbush said. "It has high academics, it's a Catholic School and it's just a good fit for him. I think he'll take an official visit and hopefully the coaches can sell him on the school like they did for me. He just visited Florida State and he wasn't going to change that visit to come with me last weekend because he was looking forward to it, but I think he takes an official. We'll see."

This season Wimbush has led his team to a 3-1 record by completing 74 percent of his passes for roughly 1,200 yards and 13 scores with only 1 interception through the air. On the ground he has run for 240 yards and three more scores. Against rival Bergen Catholic, Wimbush completed 19 of 24 passes for 348 yards and five scores while rushing for 74 yards and another TD in a televised game.

Wimbush becomes the highest-ranked Notre Dame commitment in the 2015 class at No. 65 overall nationally.

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