The obvious flaw undermining Gavin Wimsatt’s quarterback development

Gavin Wimsatt was the third-best player to come out of Kentucky in the 2021 recruiting class. He was a four-star with so much athleticism that he had offers from Oregon, Michigan, Ole Miss, and many more. He ultimately decided to play at Rutgers, where he would have an opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback spot in year two.

He was able to find consistent playing time in his second year and was the full-time starter in his third season. Yet, he was always a bit underwhelming and never seemed to develop from the 4-star kid out of Kentucky. When he transferred in to the Wildcats this season, there was some hope that he could be the change of pace to Brock Vandagriff and even provide quality depth. However, besides his ability to run as a quarterback, he's also been frustrating as a Wildcat. Why?

There is one obvious flaw in his game, and if he doesn't fix it, he will never be able to succeed in the passing game. Mark Stoops even asked in his post-game presser from the last game, "Have you ever had a quarterback that excels with the deep ball but struggles with the short passes?" This question points to his flaw. It actually isn't the flaw, for the root is deeper than this.

Wimsatt struggles because he telegraphs his throws.

It's not even a tendency. It is every time he has a chance to pass. He may not take the primary read and change to the secondary read, but always before he rivals the throw, he locks in for a second or two (long enough for a defensive back to react). He does this on the deep balls, the intermediate balls, and the short ones. However, why would he struggle more with the short throws? Because linebackers and defensive backs are playing in space and reading the quarterback. They can see he's locking in on a receiver, and they jump his throw.

Why doesn't he struggle with the deep ball? The defensive back isn't looking at him, and then he can use his tools and passing ability to make the throw. It's that obvious, and it needs to be corrected for his sake.

Of course, you remember the play from Saturday, which was six runs in a row, and Bush Hamdan finally called a passing play for Wimsatt. What happened? Wimsatt immediately threw a pick. Watch him telegraph this throw:

It's not long, but receiving the snap, turn, stare, and throw is plenty of time for a defender to react and jump. Especially if they know it's his tell. Here's another interception example:

See how the defenders are reacting to his locking in on a receiver. The ball was tipped and intercepted because of how the receiver reacted to everyone crashing to him. That's because the quarterback is telegraphing. Look at an example from Rutgers:

This one doesn't start early enough to see the full breakdown, but you can tell by how the defenders are running to the receiver before the ball leaves Wimsatt's hand that it's a tell.

Here is another from his time at Rutgers:

This worked because he was moving outside the pocket, so even though he's staring down the receiver, everyone is running with him. I don't want to belabor you with videos, but it's in all his throws. Look even his deep ones:

He finds his primary read, locks in, and then throws. It works on the deep balls because the defensive back is not reading the quarterback. And Wimsatt has excellent touch. Here's another example of him looking off his primary read and finding his secondary, but what does he do before he throws it? He locks on him for a second before he throws it.

It's hard not to love that athleticism and touch. However, his tell is so obvious that the other teams have picked it up. I hope that the coaching staff can help him with this, or maybe he will read this and see that his touch is so good, but his telegraphing is not. Kentucky may need him next game if Brock Vandagriff is recovering from a concussion. Even if not, Wimsatt must fix this obvious game flaw.