Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin Looks Ahead To 2017
Miles Boykin took a step forward in 2016.
Now, the rising Notre Dame junior wide receiver is looking to polish his game.
“I want to be more polished in my route running,” Boykin said the week prior to the season finale. “Obviously get bigger and stronger and things like that. Being able to work with even more of a knowledge of the offense, where other positions are and learn how to play other [receiver] positions so I can be put anywhere and know what I’m doing.”
Boykin finished his sophomore season with six catches for 81 yards and one touchdown. He was targeted 14 times over the course of the season. On his 156 total snaps in 2016, the ball came his way 9 percent of the time.
The Tinley Park, Ill., native saw a majority of his snaps in 2016 as sophomore Equanimeous St. Brown’s backup at the W receiver position. Boykin, along with freshman Chase Claypool, often came in for goal line and short-yardage plays as bigger blockers.
Boykin could see his role grow as a junior. Notre Dame will likely lose senior Torii Hunter Jr., who has not announced yet whether he is returning for a fifth year. Junior Corey Holmes, who caught 11 passes for 96 yards this season, has announced that he is transferring.
The 6-3, 222-pound Boykin caught his first career touchdown against Virginia Tech, a game in which he played 26 snaps (which tied a season high).
Bokyin’s 156 snaps were the sixth most among Notre Dame’s receivers.
“I’m definitely not satisfied,” Boykin said of his season. “There’s always things that I could do better every game, and looking back at the games I improved a lot over the season.”
Boykin was a consensus four-star prospect in the class of 2015 and the No. 3 player in Illinois by Rivals. As a senior, he caught 65 passes for 1,035 yards and 19 touchdowns en route to a Class 7A state championship.
That winning pedigree makes a losing 2016 tougher.
“I’m not satisfied. I don’t think anybody on this team is satisfied,” Boykin said. “We had a losing season, we’re not going to a bowl game and that’s a disappointment being at Notre Dame.”
Boykin redshirted in 2015 as a true freshman, a season that benefited him greatly, he said. The speed of the college game was jarring at first and took him time to acclimate to.
Once he got on the field in 2016, his skills improved through actual game reps.
“Definitely knowledge of defenses, techniques, how to run routes the right way,” Boykin said of his 2016 improvements. “Things I didn’t have coming out of high school necessarily. Being up and actually playing now after being redshirted teaches you a lot of that stuff. How to adjust to certain coverages that a defense might run, where the holes are and how to get the ball.”
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