Notre Dame Receivers Coach Del Alexander Reviews Freshmen Haul
Seldom has wide receiver depth come through better for Notre Dame than in the 21-17 Citrus Bowl victory versus LSU this Jan. 1.
Trailing 14-6 and 17-14 during the fourth quarter against the Tigers, second-team sophomore quarterback Ian Book and freshman Michael Young connected on a six-yard touchdown on third-and-goal that would help knot the score at 14.
Next, behind 17-14 and starting from his 27-yard line with 2:03 remaining in the contest, Book connected with junior Chris Finke for 18 yards and then found junior Miles Boykin — named the game’s MVP — on a 55-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
What made the rally particularly memorable is all the passes and catches were made by the second unit. Leading receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, who would turn pro as a junior shortly thereafter, was on the sidelines. Second-leading pass catcher Chase Claypool underwent shoulder surgery in December after a bad landing during a practice. Third-leading wideout Kevin Stepherson, who also led the team in scoring catches (five), was suspended and eventually dismissed from the team because of incessant off-the-field violations.
Combine the departures of St. Brown and Stepherson with junior CJ Sanders’ voluntary choice to use his final season of eligibility as a graduate transfer at another school, and it’s hardly surprising the four-man wideout crew signed this recruiting cycle has such volume.
Headlining the crew is 6-2, 197-pound Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native Kevin Austin, whom second-year Irish receivers coach Del Alexander refers to as “the big fish.” In Notre Dame’s 27-man class, Austin’s No. 88 rating nationally by Rivals.com ranks behind only defensive back Houston Griffith (No. 43), linebacker Jack Lamb (77) and quarterback Phil Jurkovec (87). Irish head coach Brian Kelly said Austin’s skill set reminds him most of 2009 Biletnikoff Award winner Golden Tate.
Austin does not possess the game-breaking speed of Tigard, Oregon's Braden Lenzy nor the size of Gurnee, Ill., native Micah Jones — both incoming Irish classmates at the position — but he combines a little of everything into a formidable package.
“He has a dominant football mind-set, so the rest is easy,” said Alexander of Austin. “We know we’ve got a guy that can play multiple spots and do multiple things.”
With his 6-5, 202-pound frame, Jones was a conspicuous standout at the 2016 Irish Invasion during the summer and committed to the school in February 2017. He will be a boundary player in the mold of St. Brown, Boykin or Claypool because of his size. Among the four receivers, he is the lone early enrollee this semester and will begin spring practice March 6.
“When we’re doing conditioning, we’re doing weight training, he doesn’t seem to be a freshman,” said Alexander of Jones’ progress this winter. “He’s standing up and being just as productive as the guys around him.”
The potential game-breaker in the group is the 6-foot, 175-pound Lenzy, the two-time Oregon Class 6A state champion in the 400 meters. He also has run the state’s sixth-fastest 200 meters. Lenzy will compete in track at Notre Dame too, as is current sophomore cornerback Troy Pride Jr., who finished 6th in the 60 meters among 28 competitors at this weekend’s ACC Indoor Championships.
“Just a spark plug,” summarized Alexander of Lenzy. “A kid that has a wealth of knowledge of everything … is really intelligent outside of sports.”
The final addition on the Feb. 7 signing day was 5-11, 170-pound New Orleans, La., native Lawrence Keys, who joins the 5-10 Young as the second straight Irish wideout to come from the Bayou state. His driving force and role model has been his mother, Lawtanya Manning, who raised Keys on her own and received her own degree recently.
“He’s different in a lot of ways on and off the field,” Alexander said. "He’s his own individual and wants to be different than some of the people and some of the environment you see there ... Because of her guidance, he’s been able to be different and be someone that can come from Louisiana to Notre Dame and have a tremendous amount of success in the classroom and on the field.”
The myriad talents among the quartet is what the coaching staff sought.
“Year in and year out you want to make sure you’re bringing a different skill set and you’re not one-dimensional,” Alexander said. “We’ve got speed, we’ve got size …”
Above all, USC graduate Alexander emphasized how the four-man receiving corps fits the Notre Dame culture beyond football. Austin and Keys both boast grade-point averages of at least 3.6 on a 4.0 scale. Jones has been presented by the state’s Sigma Beta chapter with the Community Leader Award, and was recognized by the Warren Township School Board with a Special Recognition Award for his School Leadership. Lenzy is a multi-faceted individual who wrote an essay on “My Journey” to Notre Dame for The Players’ Tribune.
“There are a lot of differences,” replied Alexander on recruiting at Notre Dame than elsewhere in his 20-year coaching career. “Having been at one of the rival schools, I see the differences clearly, just speaking in terms of recruiting and the mentality of the player you want to bring here.
“We want to go after the best players in the country — as does everyone else — but at the same time there are going to be qualities that the young men must possess to succeed here. You have to sit down and develop a relationship beyond football. You have to see if this young man is forward thinking — if he’s thinking about his future in the classroom and in the community.
“At some places, it’s not like that, it’s just straight about football, it’s about winning and losing, it’s about the NFL opportunity. This place is way more than that, so you have to recruit and you have to figure out how much substance a family and a kid have to know that he’s going to have success here and be comfortable.”
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