Notre Dame Has The Right Stuff At Boundary Receiver

Throughout preseason practice, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was hands-on with sophomore receivers Equanimeous St. Brown and Miles Boykin.

Kelly knew that position — referred to as the “W” in Notre Dame’s offense, the receiver lined up on the boundary side of the ball — would be crucial to the team’s offensive success. So Kelly made sure St. Brown got plenty of touches in August, building his confidence up.

“He was going to be a big part of what we did,” Kelly said of St. Brown. “He had early success. He maintained that, and I think we're start to go see that happen during the season.”

Time and time again, Notre Dame has thrown it St. Brown and Boykin’s way. And Kelly’s patience with the young receivers has more than paid off. Through five games, St. Brown is 13th in the country in receiving, averaging 108.2 yards per game. He’s also tied for fourth with six receiving touchdowns.

St. Brown is also Notre Dame junior quarterback DeShone Kizer’s favorite downfield threat. St. Brown leads the team in targets of 20-plus yards downfield, catching three of his 10 targets for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

The W-receiver has been targeted 48 times this season, more than any other position.

Boykin is sixth on the Irish with three catches for 56 yards on six targets. He was one of 10 scholarship players to redshirt in 2015, but has proved valuable for the Irish this season spelling St. Brown.

Boykin is averaging 14.4 snaps per game, including a season-high 26 against Syracuse. St. Brown is averaging the most snaps of any Notre Dame receiver at 56.2 per game.

“We don't lose a step with Miles,” said Kizer, who has targeted St. Brown a team-high 42 times and Boykin six times. “He's done a really good job with developing his routes and getting better as the weeks go on, and with a guy like him who doesn't necessarily have the most playing experience, he's definitely maturing as the year goes on and becoming a guy that you truly can trust to get the ball to on big plays.”

Kelly was asked this week about the importance of the boundary receiver, which is typically filled by a bigger, longer player. St. Brown (6-5, 205 pounds) and Boykin (6-4, 222) both fill that role.

“I felt like that "W" receiver position is one within our formation makeup, where you have to decide how you're going to play it,” Kelly said. “If you want to double it you're vulnerable to the run. You don't have an extra fit to the run. If you go single coverage we're going to throw the ball to him.”

Boykin hasn’t been the downfield threat like St. Brown, but Kizer said Boykin is a trustworthy target on third down, noting that Boykin’s size is “incomparable.”

The Tinley Park, Ill., native said he’s a more polished receiver this year. Though the redshirt year was tough — “You just want to go out there and play football. That’s all you know in high school,” he said — he used it to improve his route running, as well as learning coverages.

That work has made him a threat as a backup behind St. Brown at the W-position.

“We’re to the boundary, we don’t have much room to work with,” said Boykin, who was rated the 151st player in nation and 16th wide receiver on Rivals’ 250 list. “That’s just almost a pride factor. We take pride in being to the boundary, being bigger receivers, being able to be more physical than most receivers. Being stronger than corners and going up and getting the ball. That’s huge for us, and we don’t take that as pressure, we take that as a challenge as we want to succeed over and over again.”

He’s impressed senior receiver Torii Hunter Jr., who has 19 catches for 271 yards and one touchdown.

“He's shown that he's a competitor, he's willing to go out there and work every day,” Hunter said of Boykin. “And he's just trying to be attentive to the details. And he just always wants to learn. You can see him in meetings, he's very attentive and he asks questions. So yeah, that's the kind of play you get out of Miles Boykin, and he's always going to go out there and work and try to give it his all no matter what.”

Boykin’s biggest adjustment to Notre Dame’s offense, he said, has been tracking the ball down the field. In high school, passes rarely go more than 30 yards downfield. Now, Boykin is being asked to haul in Kizer passes that are 50 or 60 yards downfield.

He’s worked in that area, and can always trust Kizer to put the ball in the right spot.

“The way we see it, we just have to get to that open spot, wherever the crease is in that zone defense, we have to get to that spot,” Boykin said. “Catch the ball, and if we have to take a hit we have to take a hit. We’re not worried about that as much as catching the ball and being able to secure that first down.”

Boykin suffered a finger injury in the spring but returned to practice. In a sense, though, the injury helped the receiver.

"He has the three pins in his finger and he's probably caught the ball as consistently as he did before he broke his finger," wide receivers coach Mike Denbrock said in the spring. "I told him as soon as it heals up, we're going to crush it with a hammer and keep the pins in there. Those guys are so gifted athletically that they just adjust their game, and he's done a really good job with it."

Boykin agreed with that assessment.

“That’s my biggest issue from time to time, just being able to focus on the ball,” Boykin said. “I know I can catch it, it’s just sometimes my mind gets a little off. Breaking my finger definitely helped put things back into perspective for me. I knew I had to catch the ball if I was going to get on the field.”

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