SOUTH BEND, Ind. _ Notre Dame has cleared up its quarterback situation heading into fall camp.
"Brandon (Wimbush) comes out into preseason camp as the No. 1, Ian (Book is) No. 2, Phil (Jurkovec is) No. 3," coach Brian Kelly said during a news conference Thursday. "And we hope that we have great competition, which we will, and Brandon is going to have to compete.
"He can't sleepwalk through this and he knows that, because Ian deserves the opportunity, too, to compete for the position and they will get that opportunity."
The Irish open camp Friday in Culver, Ind.
Wimbush started all but one game last season. He missed the North Carolina game because of a foot injury. Kelly gave the redshirt junior an "A-plus" for his offseason.
"What I was looking for in this offseason was (Wimbush being) much more vocal, holding players to a high level of accountability," Kelly said. "He didn't have that last year. He was kind of trying to figure out himself in a lot of ways, and not that he's got all the answers _ he wouldn't tell you that. But he clearly has a confidence about him that he lacked at times last year.
"So we just want to build on that. We want to build on him knowing that we know he's a great quarterback and can be the best quarterback in the country."
Book came off the bench to rally Notre Dame to a Citrus Bowl win against LSU, sparking the quarterback competition in the spring. Kelly also gave Book, a redshirt sophomore, high marks for his offseason.
"They both had really good summers," Kelly said. "I feel really good about the situation we are in at quarterback to have two guys of that caliber that we know can play winning football for us."
Kelly said the Irish won't rush Jurkovec, a highly touted freshman.
"We can continue to work the developmental phase with Phil and we're going to do that within our practice sessions," Kelly said, "and then our No. 1 and No. 2 quarterback will be able to continue to get the kind of reps necessary to be sharp going into the first week."
