August 30, 2011

Tim Prister
IrishIllustrated.com Senior Editor

As the team’s No. 1 Z receiver, top Leprecat threat, and leading punt and kick returner, junior Theo Riddick is the poster child for Notre Dame’s new and improved nutritional approach with the football program.

“I’m going to be a busy man, I know that,” said Riddick last week.

If Riddick does need a break, his time off will come when the Irish possess the football.

“What I’ve said to Theo is he’ll take his blows on offense,” said Irish head coach Brian Kelly at his Tuesday afternoon teleconference. “If he needs a play or two (off) because he’s playing special teams, he’ll take it on offense.”

If it appears that Riddick is on the verge of overuse this season, it stems from the fact that he was underutilized in 2010, due in part to a serious ankle injury that caused him to miss four-and-a-half games and left him less than 100 percent in the regular-season finale against USC.

In 2010, Riddick had just 53 touches compared to 72 as a freshman in ’09. After returning 37 kickoffs in ’09, he was removed from the role as a sophomore as Kelly tried to protect his valuable offensive commodity.

But Riddick is healthy now, and classmate Robby Toma has emerged as a more consistent threat at the Z position, thus allowing Riddick to take his rest while the Irish are on offense.

“We have great confidence in Robby Toma to go in there and play a series,” Kelly said. “Theo, in his mindset, has to have a huge impact for us on special teams.

“So if he needs a blow, we are comfortable with Robby being in the game, and that’s the way we have approached it with Theo and the way his thought process should be.”

Toma did not play in four of Notre Dame’s first six games last season and failed to catch a pass in the other two. After Riddick went down with his injury in the first half of the seventh game of the 2010 season, Toma caught all 14 of his passes in a six-week span.

Toma’s most impressive statistic was his 13.4 yards per reception, a full three yards more per catch than Riddick.

In other wide receiver news, Kelly declared senior John Goodman the No. 2 man behind TJ Jones at the X receiver and Michael Floyd at the W.

“The last week, I got what I wanted out of John Goodman,” said Kelly of the player he called “an enigma” a week earlier.

“He will be a valuable guy when we need him. Same thing with Robby Toma.”

Kelly wants to bring freshman X receiver DaVaris Daniels along slowly.

“We’re not going to put Daniels in a position where the light is on him,” Kelly said. “We’re going to sneak him in there when it’s a time and place where he doesn’t have to be counted on to make a big play as he continues to grow.”

Although listed as the No. 2 X receiver, Daniels likely would give way to Goodman if something were to happen to Jones.

“Goodman is an X and a W,” Kelly said. “He’s going to be a swing guy. So we’re working off a five-man rotation, and six and seven would be Daniel Smith and DaVaris Daniels.”