Notre Dame Summary & 2017 Preview: Wide Receivers
Scholarship Players (10)
Listed after the class year is the years of eligibility remaining.
Wide Receiver
6 Equanimeous St. Brown (6-5, 204), Jr./2
10 Chris Finke (5-9 ½, 177), Jr./3
29 Kevin Stepherson (6-0, 180), So./3
Wide Receiver
83 Chase Claypool (6-4 ½, 224), So./3
88 Javon McKinley (6-2, 220), So./3
Jafar Armstrong (6-0, 170), Fr./4
Wide Receiver
17 Miles Boykin (6-4, 225), Jr./3
3 CJ Sanders (5-8, 185), Jr./2
Michael Young (5-10, 170), Fr./4
Freddy Canteen (6-1, 185), Sr./2
Walk-ons: Mick Assaf (24, sophomore), Brian Ball (43, junior), Keenan Centlivre (87, senior), Grant Hamman (35, senior), Arion Shinaver (85, sophomore) and Austin Webster (26, senior and first-ever current walk-on at Notre Dame selected as a team captain)
Career Statistics
St. Brown: 59 catches, 969 yards, 16.4 yards per catch, nine TDs
Stepherson: 25 catches, 462 yards, 18.5 yards per catch, five TDs
Sanders: 25 catches, 293 yards, 11.7 yards per catch, two TDs
Finke: 10 catches, 122 yards, 12.2 yards per catch, two TDs
Boykin: six catches, 81 yards, 13.5 yards per catch, one TD
Claypool: five catches, 81 yards, 16.2 yards per catch
*Canteen: five catches, 22 yards, 4.4 yards per catch, one TD
*Graduate transfer from Michigan who will enroll this summer with five career catches for 22 yards.
The Coach
DelVaughn Alexander is one of six new hires for the on-field coaching staff this season, replacing long-time Brian Kelly right-hand man Mike Denbrock, now the offensive coordinator at the University of Cincinnati.
A 1995 graduate of USC, Alexander’s last two coaching stops were five-year stints at Arizona State (2012-16) — where he worked with first-year Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long for several years — and Wisconsin (2007-11). Previous coaching mentors for Alexander also included College Football Hall of Fame inductee John Robinson, current Nebraska coach Mike Riley and current Michigan boss Jim Harbaugh when he was the head coach at San Diego (2005-06).
Feature Point
In his 25 years of college football, Alexander has never seen a taller, rangier, athletic group of receivers than the current crop with the Irish, with three listed at least at 6-4 — not including several tight ends who also can be split wide.
Consequently, pigeonholing receivers into boundary (W), field (X) or slot (Z) is less relevant. Last year’s slots, Sanders and Finke, often were stationed on the outside this spring, while the nearly 6-5 Claypool was inside at slot. When there is more tempo — as it is anticipated to be this year with Long — it will be imperative for the receivers to grasp the overall concept of what the offense wants to do and what their role will be, wherever they line up.
“We’re very multiple using guys in different spots,” said Alexander halfway through spring drills. “We’re just trying to find matchups, and right now we’re trying to figure out what guys do well.”
Conspicuous Stat Needing Improvement
A year ago at this time, nothing better reflected how green Notre Dame’s receiving corps was than the fact that senior linebacker James Onwualu’s four career starts were the most among any returning Fighting Irish wideout (Onwualu played there as a freshman before shifting to defense).
Other than senior Torii Hunter, now pursuing a career in baseball, no other returning wide receiver had caught more than one pass in his career. There is a significant role reversal with 79 percent of the receptions by the wideout corps returning from 2016.
However, Alexander points out the current receiving corps has zero starts with the new staff.
“They have to adjust to the vocabulary,” Alexander said. “We have to speak the same language. So when they’re taking notes and whenever we’re communicating, it’s about the vocabulary. They can’t try to blend vocabulary [from last year]. It has to be really specific. When I’m asking them to do something, there’s a catch-phrase, there are comments I make they have to respond to.
“Even though Chip and I know each other, we have different guys on the staff, so in our communication we can’t cut corners. We have to share that vocabulary with different things that we’re teaching. The players are all new, they don’t know me yet. We’re building on relationships.”
However, Kelly is optimistic the new look will enhance competition and contributions.
“You’re going to see a better supporting cast across the board, which is going to give us much more balance — and more importantly it’s going to give us much more consistency from an offensive standpoint,” Kelly said.
Potential Freshman Impact
A rotation of six has to be prepared for each game, and the Irish had the look of seven at the end of spring, including McKinley, who played on special teams the first half of the 2016 season before a fractured fibula sidelined him the final month. Now add Michigan graduate transfer Canteen this summer, and the chances for meaningful playing time between the two freshmen diminishes.
McKinley arrived last year rated among the top tier of recruits, and his 3,596 yards receiving in high school were the most ever by an incoming Irish player. Armstrong eclipsed that with 3,744 yards at Bishop Miege High School in Shawnee Mission, Kan., yet with the numbers, it will be difficult to find the field in 2017 (just as it was for McKinley last year).
The 5-10 Young might have a better chance in the slot, but getting past veterans Sanders, Finke and Canteen will be a challenge.
On Paper Pre-Season Rating Scale 1-10
1-2 — Near The Bottom In College Football
3-5 — Questions About Proven Ability, Game Experience & Depth
6-8 — Major Bowl Contender Level (6) to Major Bowl Winner (8)
9-10 — Football Playoff Level (9) To Champion (10)
This is comparable to the running back situation, which we gave a 6, with plenty of opportunity to grow during the season.
Like junior Josh Adams at running back, classmate St. Brown established himself last year as the alpha figure at a position replete with fledgling figures attempting to become a consistent, complentary No. 2. In reality, that might be junior tight end Alize Mack, who has the makings of a Tyler Eifert-like (2009-12) skill set with his ability to split wide and stretch the defense vertically while creating some potential mismatches.
How many others emerge at wideout as reliable targets during the course of a 12-game regular season will determine how much the projection rises. St. Brown easily had the highest snap count total last year with 630 (about 53 per game), but among the returning players only Stepherson (348 snaps) neared 30 per contest — and he has to continue to earn the trust of the coaching staff in his day-to-day approach.
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