Can Freshman Jordan Johnson Aid Notre Dame Wideout Corps?
On paper, much evidence points to wide receiver Jordan Johnson as the most likely 2020 Notre Dame freshman to make an impact on offense or defense.
Yes, even more than the individuals we featured the past two days in Top 100 running back Chris Tyree and highly ranked and esteemed tight ends Michael Mayer and Kevin Bauman. Let us count the ways why:
• Johnson is Notre Dame’s first five-star recruit at wide receiver since Michael Floyd in 2008, and the opportunity for playing time is available. Floyd went on to become the school’s all-time receptions leader (271 for 3,686 yards and 37 touchdowns), with no one else snaring more than 181.
• The Fighting Irish recruiting corps graduated its top two targets from the past two seasons, second-round selection Chase Claypool in the boundary and slot Chris Finke. The duo monopolized the playing time at wideout last year, combining for 107 catches — and 206 the past two years.
That’s not even including tight end Cole Kmet turning pro after his junior year to become a second-round selection with his 43 grabs last year. That’s 150 catches from 2019 to spread amongst 2020 targets.
• In addition to that attrition, a crucial component to this year’s passing attack, junior Kevin Austin, sidelined last year because of team violations, is shelved for an indefinite period of time into the season after undergoing left foot surgery in the past month on the fifth metatarsal.
• Although Northwestern graduate transfer Bennett Skowronek caught 110 passes with the Wildcats, no wideout on the 2020 roster has more than 13 career catches while playing in a Notre Dame uniform.
• Listed at only 180 pounds on a 6-2 frame on signing day and in the August roster released by Notre Dame, Johnson recently claimed on his Instagram that he is a more robust 199.
All clear for major impact, correct?
Not so fast…
In head coach Brian Kelly’s 10 seasons with the Fighting Irish, only two freshman wide receiver snared more than nine passes — and one of them occurred in his first year back in 2010. Even the game-breaking Will Fuller, a first-round selection as a junior, had only six as a freshman in 2013.
T.J. Jones in 2010 is one of only two freshman to have a significant impact as a freshman receiver under Kelly. The combination of the early departure of Golden Tate to the NFL and the fact that Jones enrolled in January of his freshman year helped him become the first Irish freshman to grab touchdown passes in the first two games of the season, a victory against Purdue (23-12) and a loss to Michigan (28-24).
Jones finished the year with seven starts, 23 catches for 306 yards and three touchdowns. His body did begin to break down by the final month, and he caught only one pass the final four games.
• In 2011, DaVaris Daniels redshirted before cracking the starting lineup a year later during an unbeaten regular season.
• Among the three receivers signed in 2012, highlighted by No. 107-ranked national player Davonte Neal, a total of four passes were caught. One of them did have huge impact — a 50-yard "go" route by speedster Chris Brown in the fourth quarter versus Oklahoma that set up the game-winning touchdown.
• In 2013, the freshman trio of Corey Robinson (nine catches, 157 yards, one TD), Fuller (six catches, 160 yards, one score) and James Onwualu (two catches, 34 yards) combined for 17 grabs, 351 yards and two touchdowns.
Where they did have a huge impact was in the 17-13 victory over Michigan State, the lone defeat for the 13-1 Spartans that year. Robinson caught three passes for 54 yards and drew some pass-interference calls with his rangy frame, while Fuller’s lone catch was good for 37 yards. Onwualu, who later would move to linebacker, made an exceptional block — his main role — on Notre Dame’s game-winning touchdown.
The following year as sophomores, Fuller detonated with 76 catches (15 touchdowns) while Robinson, projected as a potential future first-round pick by at least one outlet, grabbed 40 with five scores (and a sixth rubbed out at Florida State).
• The second freshman receiver to be featured more prominently under Kelly, other than Jones, was during the 4-8 debacle in 2016, when Kevin Stepherson finished as the third-leading pass catcher on the team with 25 catches for 462 yards (18.5 yards per reception) and five touchdowns.
Alas, myriad off-the-field issues resulted in expulsion before he resurfaced at Jacksonville State last season.
• The last three Notre Dame receivers who were drafted by the NFL each of the past three years also did not have any impact as freshmen.
Equanimeous St. Brown snared one pass as a 2015 freshman before becoming a sixth-round pick after his junior year.
Miles Boykin redshirted as a freshman that same year as St. Brown and then blossomed into a third-round selection as a senior.
Chase Claypool nabbed five receptions as a 2016 freshman while getting overshadowed by Stepherson, but developed into a second-round pick this spring.
Michael Young did play in 2017 and nabbed a crucial touchdown pass in the 21-17 Citrus Bowl win over LSU after the receiving corps had been depleted by injuries and Stepherson's dismissal his sophomore year. Young, who is now a grad transfer at the University of Cincinnati, finished the year with four catches for 18 yards.
Young's fellow wideout recruit that year, Jafar Armstrong, redshirted and is now at running back.
Excluding Austin, who grabbed five passes for 90 yards his rookie season in 2018, all the current juniors — Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys III, Joe Wilkins and Micah Jones — redshirted in 2018 because none was deemed anywhere near physically primed to compete.
Of the two freshman wideouts signed in 2019, Cam Hart shifted to corner in October and slot Kendall Abdur-Rahman redshirted.
Will history be altered at wideout in 2020 by necessity, or will Johnson become a factor? Stay tuned.
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