Film Room: Breaking Down WR Deion Colzie
Like I discussed in the film breakdown of Lorenzo Styles Jr., the Notre Dame coaches have recruited the wide receiver position quite well in recent seasons, and they are trying to make the roster even better with the 2021 class.
Landing Styles and Deion Colzie in the same weekend was huge for the Irish class, and they serve as an outstanding foundation to not just the wide receiver class, but the class as a whole.
Let’s take a look at what makes Colzie such a top prospect, but let’s first look at his recruiting profile.
WR Deion Colzie, 6-4, 195, Athens (Ga.) Academy
ESPN: No. 54
247Sports: No. 55
Rivals: No. 72
IB Grade: 4.0 (Top 100 nationally)
Upside Grade: 4.5
Overview: There is a wide range of grades and rankings for Styles, but the services are on the same page with Colzie, ranking him between No. 54 to 72 nationally. Landing a consensus Top 100 recruit from Georgia is big for Notre Dame from a rankings standpoint, but more importantly it gives the Irish a talented player with a high upside.
Colzie camped at Notre Dame this summer and earned his offer, which was impressive for a highly regarded prospect. Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Duke and Georgia Tech all offered Colzie.
Size - Frame - Athleticism
The first thing that stands out about Colzie is his frame. He is incredibly long, and although still on the thin side for his size, he has a tremendous frame that should allow him to grow to be at least 210 pounds. Most comps to former players are challenging, because players are so different in so many different ways, but it’s easy to look at Colzie’s frame and think “Miles Boykin.”
Like Boykin and current freshman safety Kyle Hamilton, Colzie is incredibly long-limbed. He has long legs, which creates long strides as a runner, and he has very long arms, which aids him in a number of ways as a pass catcher. Boykin never looked very thick or developed, even at the NFL Scouting Combine, but he still weighed over 220 pounds at Notre Dame and measured in at 6-4 and 220 pounds at the combine. His frame masked how big he was, and Colzie is the same way.
I would not be shocked to see Colzie fill out in similar fashion if he puts in the work in the weight room and allows his body to develop. Colzie is a willing blocker that can deliver some pop against smaller players, and as his weight room strength improves you’ll see him develop into an outstanding blocker at the next level.
Colzie is built like Boykin but he isn’t as explosive as the former Irish standout. I don’t see the leaping ability from Colzie and I don’t see the lower body power, but Colzie shows better long speed than Boykin did in high school and he’s a more fluid athlete than the former Irish wideout.
Boykin’s game was all about what he did before and at the point of the catch. He wasn’t someone that was going to do damage after the catch unless it was catching the ball down the field. Colzie shows smoother hips with the ball in his hands and shows more ability to make the first defender miss, which you can see from him as a wideout and a punt returner.
Colzie doesn’t explode off the line with great suddenness, but once he gets going you can churn up a lot of ground in a hurry.
Route Running - Ball Skills
Colzie shows good body control and balance, traits that should allow him to eventually grow into a highly effective route runner. What I like about Colzie is that although he needs a lot of refinement as a route runner, he shows a natural feel for what to do. The young man knows how to play wide receiver, which is rare for a young two-way player.
I like how effective Colzie is off the line, using quickness to get free initially, and he knows how to use his hands effectively. That part of his game is advanced for his age, both at the line and when working free downfield.
This is a quality release from Colzie. I’d like to see him use a harder jab inside but you see the natural feel. This is more of a refinement thing than trying to teach him something new, or deprogramming bad technique, and coaches love that. Colzie does a nice job stacking the corner, although I’d like to see him work in just a bit more.
At the end of the play you see Colzie show strong field awareness as well as awareness of the safety. He knows he has to lean outside but stays far enough away from the sideline to give himself room to make the catch and stay in bounds with both feet. You can also see his incredible length in this clip.
Colzie also does a solid job sinking his hips on stop and comeback routes instead of trying to use his feet to stop, which is rare for a player his age.
Big guys at this age don’t often get out of breaks this quickly unless they are very sudden athletes, which Colzie is not. Instead of trying to use his feet to stop and work on the comeback, Colzie drives his hips down and uses them as his brake, which allows him to be far more efficient getting into and out of his top end. That also allows him to quickly get his head around. A well-timed throw is going to be impossible to defend when a big wideout that can stretch the field can snap off a comeback route this effectively.
If Colzie gave a bit more of a burst on the vertical look it would be even more effective, but that’s a bit of a nitpick.
Where Colzie needs work is doing a better job attacking leverage and using his stem to manipulate the defensive back. He also needs to become sharper with his out cuts and vertical routes like posts and corners. Colzie is too much like former Irish star Chase Claypool in that he just relies on being better than his opponent on deep routes, which limits the separation he’ll get against opponents of equal talent.
The cornerback is using an outside alignment (outside leverage) to protect against a wide release, and he’s doing that because he knows he has safety help inside, or at least should have safety help (blown coverage). He wants Colzie to release inside.
At the snap, Colzie takes the path of least resistance and just releases straight inside. While that works against average high school players, this kind of release would allow a quality college safety to easily jump his route and force the quarterback to go somewhere else. Colzie needs to push the outside leverage, widen the corner and then work upfield, which would give him more separation from the safety and also threaten the cornerback more.
What you do see here is Colzie’s long speed, which is impressive.
With more refined technique, he’ll be able to combine his size, intelligence, foot quickness and long speed to become a dangerous route runner in the boundary.
As a pass catcher there's a lot to like about Colzie. He has strong hands, he has fast hands and he doesn't body catch. I don't see him do much with back shoulders in high school, but with his length I expect this to eventually become a huge part of his game.
Colzie also understands how to use his body to shield defenders from the football, and he's more than willing to work the middle of the field.
Notre Dame Fit
Colzie is a perfect fit for the Notre Dame boundary position. There was a time when it seemed like Notre Dame only recruited big receivers like Colzie, but with Claypool gone to the NFL the only player left on the roster with this kind of size, frame and ball skills is Micah Jones. Getting Colzie in the class gives the Irish another long, vertical boundary player that can work the middle of the field just as effectively as he can hammer outside routes and get over top of the defense.
Putting a player with this kind of size and ball skills into the boundary, and then having players like Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys III, Xavier Watts and Lorenzo Styles Jr. to the field puts a lot of pressure on the defense.
If Colzie reaches his potential and 2020 signee Jordan Johnson reaches his, it would give Notre Dame really good length on the outside and would allow Johnson to play more to the field. Johnson being able to move all over the field is ideal.
From everything I’ve heard about Colzie as a young man he seems to be the kind of fit Notre Dame is looking for. He’s a high academic young man with strong character. As I mentioned earlier, you don’t see many kids from as far away from Notre Dame as he lives, with the kind of offers that he possesses, travel to South Bend on his own dime - twice - without an offer in hopes of securing a scholarship.
But that’s exactly what Colzie did, and now he’s one of the anchors of what is shaping up to be an outstanding recruiting class.
COLZIE GRADES
Size/Frame: 94
Strength/Toughness: 82
Speed: 83
Athleticism: 85
Route Running: 79
Ball Skills: 87
After The Catch: 77
Intangibles: 90
GRADE KEY
90-100 – Elite
80-89 – Very Good to Outstanding
70-79 – Solid to Above Average
60-69 – Below Average to Average
50-59 – Poor
OVERALL/UPSIDE GRADE KEY
5.0 – Elite (Top 25 Caliber Player)
4.5 – Outstanding (Top 50 Caliber Player)
4.0 – Very Good (Top 250 Caliber Player)
3.5 – Above Average (Top 350 Caliber Player)
3.0 – Solid (Top 500 Caliber Player or Lower)
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