Advertisement
football Edit

Notre Dame Receiving Corps Thrown Into The 'Deep' End

Graduate student Cameron Smith is expected to be a regular part of the receiver rotation.
Graduate student Cameron Smith is expected to be a regular part of the receiver rotation. (Photo by Bill Panzica)

Don’t miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Click here to get your 30-day free trial!

A year ago at this time, the Notre Dame wide receiver corps was the most inexperienced position on the team. The returning player with the most career starts (4) at the position and second-most career catches (2) actually was then senior linebacker James Onwualu.

It’s much different this August, beginning with the presence of 12 scholarship wideouts — seven of whom have caught at least one touchdown pass in their collegiate careers.

For first-year Fighting Irish wide receivers coach DelVaughn Alexander, the most difficult aspect of his job is whittling that dozen down to a manageable rotation of six — maybe seven — in a game.

“You probably don’t get that far into your rotation,” admitted Alexander, “but at the same time if we’re going fast and we’re running a lot of plays, to have two different groups [of three] go in and be effective, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Two weeks into camp, the lone player among the dozen who had “punched his ticket,” per head coach Brian Kelly, was junior Equanimeous St. Brown, whose 58 catches for 961 yards and nine touchdowns easily paced the 2016 team.

No surprise given that St. Brown’s unofficial 630 snap count last year (about 53 per game) were far more than the No. 2 and 3 returning players, classmate CJ Sanders (383) and sophomore Kevin Stepherson (348).

What has been the surprise is Sanders (24 catches, two TDs last year) and Stepherson (25 catches, 18.5 yards per grab and five TDs) might not even make the cut among the top six entering the Sept. 2 Temple opener, which speaks to the competitiveness on the unit.

Perhaps no single position better reflects Kelly’s dicta of intangibles — mental toughness, assignment awareness/execution, attitude, etc., — trumping talent than the receiver unit.

“We’re not going to reward [just] talent,” Kelly said. “I did that last year — it was a mistake. We’ll reward those guys that have an attention to detail, that have a great focus and play with grit. We lost a lot of games last year with guys I did not develop in the right way. We’re going to develop them in the right way.

“If you’re not happy where you are right now in terms of maybe how much time you got, it has nothing to do with your talent. Just focus on those traits and that will get you on the field.”

“It’s not just about your potential, but how are you playing and reacting in every situation,” Alexander echoed.


Cameron Smith Makes His Move

By the end of the third week, Arizona State graduate transfer Cameron Smith was on the threshold of becoming the second wideout to punch his ticket as a regular because of his combination of skill and “doing it the right way.”

As a sophomore at Arizona State in 2014, the speedster Smith nabbed 41 passes, six for scores, including a 43-yard score against the Irish in a 55-31 Sun Devils victory. A torn knee sidelined him in 2015 and limited him to 12 catches last season before graduating in biological sciences.

At Arizona State he was named a “Scholar Baller” — a form of Dean’s List — every semester and wants to go into stem cell research and earn a Ph.D.

Alexander and new offensive coordinator Chip Long coached Smith at Arizona State, so it’s no surprise he has quickly assimilated into the offense. However, Alexander admits he and Long had to ask Smith some tough questions before he opted to do graduate work at Notre Dame.

“He wants to find a cure for things that someone has … I think he enjoys wearing a white lab coat,” Alexander smiled. “He’s very focused and he has an idea of what he wants to do after football.

“There was a point in time we had to ask, ‘Is football going to be important to you?’ In talking to him in a direct manner, football is important to him, this season is important to him, and that’s why he’s here: He wants to be a really good football player one more time.”

The 5-10 ½, 202-pound Smith’s discipline and leadership could continue to make him that No. 2 man if he can avoid past injury maladies.

“I’m just thankful,” he said of having a second chance at Notre Dame. “It’s a day-by-day process. If I’m not in, I just hope I can contribute helping the younger players.”

Therein is part of the attitude of which the staff speaks.

“The others can be great talents, but he’s a senior and understands what it takes,” Alexander said. “He goes out every day, takes care of his business, he tries to be fundamentally sound and compete at a high level and there are just not a lot of concerns that you have about him.

“Younger guys — you’re still trying to give them a little bit of push, there is still some resistance when it gets tough. That just goes with experience and maturity.”

Part of that maturity for Smith has included not getting into trash talking with the Irish corners, but focusing on his duties.

“With a tempo offense, there’s no time to say anything,” Smith said. “If you’re not looking at the signal, then you’re falling behind.”

Smith's appreciation of the inner workings of the human body also have been buoyed by the new strength and conditioning regime.

“Where I came from I thought it was crazy hard, but here, it’s a notch up from that,” Smith said. “You’re hitting everything, the neck, the calves… it’s a complete program.”

Meanwhile, Smith is becoming a complete enough player to continue his ascent.

“He’s a little different than I thought,” Kelly said of Smith. “I thought he was more of a take-the-top-off-the-coverage kind of guy. Speed. But he’s got strong hands … he’s very strong. And he’s got a mature presence about himself, so he’s exceeded my expectations.

“He wants to be ahead of everything. He’s done a great job of working with our strength staff, nutritionists and certainly (trainer) Rob Hunt to put himself in the best position he can be.”


Depth Situation

Michigan graduate transfer Freddy Canteen — who earned his degree in three years — is similar in his approach, and seriously vying to be in the top half of the receiver group despite barely playing the past two seasons with the Wolverines while he too, like Smith, was ravaged by injuries.

“We wanted to add experience to the room, we wanted to add speed to the room, and I think we hit on both of them with those two guys,” Alexander said.

“There’s a room full of hungry players. Cam and Freddy have not been playing much over the last couple of years and have that in common, so there’s a hunger and desire there, and I think the other guys are trying to match that and say, ‘Hey, we have to stay relevant and visible,’ and they’re competing their tails off.”

In addition to playmakers such as Sanders and Stepherson, the receiver meeting room also features excellent size with junior Miles Boykin (6-4, 225) and sophomore Chase Claypool (6-4, 228) to complement St. Brown (6-5, 203). Yet none had a more prolific or higher rated high school career than 6-2, 221-pound Javon McKinley, who had surgery last November on a broken fibula and is trying to find his rhythm in his return.

Complementing the size facet is the elusiveness of Sanders, Stepherson and possibly top punt returner Chris Finke, who scored touchdowns in each of Notre Dame’s last two games in 2016.

Yet, ask Alexander about someone such as Claypool, and it comes back again to consistency in the attitude toward competition and correctly executing play after play.

“You see his explosiveness, how powerful he is, but he has to be more than that,” Alexander said. “He has to make sure that his focus and attention to detail is at a high level. The good news is there is a cluster of guys — Claypool, Boykin, Finke, Sanders … doing a good job. There is good depth at the position.”

Even freshmen Jafar Armstrong (6-1, 214) and Michael Young (5-10, 190) have tossed their hat into ring.

“Big, strong kid,” said Alexander of Armstrong. “His lifting numbers and effort in workouts are comparable to the guys who have been there before. He is powerful.

“Michael can go vertical, he’s dynamic… I didn’t know how smart he would be picking up the offense, but he’s smart in terms of grabbing it. He makes strong catches and is physical when releasing.”

Not even including double-tight end alignments, playing time will remain extremely competitive at wideout.

There is a 'deep threat' throughout the corps — not necessarily just vertically but in numbers — the staff hopes will bring out the best in all of them.

Freddy Canteen, a graduate transfer from Michigan, is one of many Irish wideouts trying to find his way on to the field.
Freddy Canteen, a graduate transfer from Michigan, is one of many Irish wideouts trying to find his way on to the field. (Photo by Bill Panzica)
Advertisement

----

Talk about it inside Rockne's Roundtable

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.

• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @BGI_CoachD,

@BGI_MattJones, @BGI_DMcKinney and @BGI_CoreyBodden.

• Like us on Facebook

Advertisement