Midweek Musings: Notre Dame Needs Changes At Wide Receiver

My latest thoughts on Notre Dame football, Fighting Irish recruiting and college football.

Changes Are Needed At Wide Receiver

Notre Dame's offensive struggles have often been accused of being talent related, as if the Irish lack the talent to be able to move the ball on teams like Stanford, Marshall and California. The wide receiver position is especially vulnerable to this charge.

Is Notre Dame's wide receiver talent as good as it should be? Absolutely not, and we've documented the failures of the previous wide receivers coach for this reality. But Notre Dame absolutely has enough talent at wide receiver to be part of an offense that is much better than what we've see so far.

More than a talent issue, Notre Dame has a usage issue at wide receiver. Coaching isn't just about putting your best players on the field, it's about putting your best players on the field and then putting them in position to make plays in ways that accent their strengths. Notre Dame isn't really doing either.

Here is what needs to happen at wide receiver moving forward.

1. More Tobias and Deion - The biggest help to quarterback Drew Pyne is giving him a bigger margin for era. There are many ways to do that, including adjusting the scheme. Getting more size on the field is also a way the staff can make life a lot easier for Pyne.

Freshman Tobias Merriweather and Deion Colzie need to become much bigger parts of the Irish offense, starting immediately. We saw what Merriweather can do when he smoked the Stanford secondary for a 41-yard touchdown, and he should have had another earlier in the game.

Merriweather's combination of length, speed and ball skills gives the offense a perimeter weapon it simply has not had this season. He should have played more than 10 snaps against Stanford and he must become a focal point of the offense moving forward.

The same is true for Colzie, who is now healthy. He got a few snaps a game against North Carolina, BYU and Stanford, and now its time he plays more. Colzie has elite size at 6-5 and 211 pounds. He's not the burner Merriweather is, but his catch radius is big and he could become an asset to Pyne.

I'd go so far as to say Notre Dame should not have more than 5-10 plays a game where at least one of them isn't on the field, and there should be more snaps where they are on the field together, especially when Notre Dame goes to its 12 personnel and 21 personnel looks.

2. Figure Out What's Wrong With Styles - Sophomore Lorenzo Styles started the season off with a 54-yard gain on the team's first play from scrimmage. Since then, Styles has caught just 20 passes for 221 yards, and he's reached the end zone just once.

It's not the lack of production that has me concerned. Styles hasn't played with much urgency this year, he hasn't been overly competitive when the ball is in the air and he has seem out of place for much of the season.

Styles is playing like a young man who needs a boost in confidence and encouragement. Part of that is meeting with him, but the other part is putting him in more situations that he's comfortable. He seems more comfortable in the slot, so putting him there more would be ideal. Then doing more to get him working up the seams and also working across the field where he can use his speed would be helpful as well.

Getting more from Merriweather and Colzie, and then getting Styles back on track would give the Irish offense a huge boost.

3. Use Lenzy Properly - Braden Lenzy has played a lot of snaps this season, but through six games he only has 10 catches for 90 yards. Lenzy has been open a lot more than his numbers suggest but quarterbacks have yet to connect with him.

Moving forward the staff needs to do a lot more with him to get him going. For one, I'd limit his naps. Lenzy is averaging 56.5 snaps per game and has played at least 52 snaps in every game but the opener (43 snaps vs Ohio State). He should be around 35-40 snaps per game, which allows the staff to give some of those snaps to Merriweather and Colzie, but it also allows Lenzy to stay more fresh.

At that point the staff needs to do more with motions and alignments to get him off press, and use him on more crossing, drag and post routes, which are all routes that allow him to accent his speed and are routes he's shown he can execute at a high level in the past.

Of course, using Styles, Lenzy and Merriweather more in the screen game would also be very, very wise.

Taeshaun Lyons Is The Final Piece

Landing running back Jeremiyah Love gave the Irish offense a huge, huge boost. Notre Dame now has commitments from a pair of talented running backs, four wide receivers and a top tight end.

From a skill position standpoint (not quarterback), there is really just one more piece to the offensive puzzle, and that is landing one more wide receiver. There is no question who the top target is for Notre Dame, and that would be Hayward (Calif.) Tennyson wideout Taeshaun Lyons.

The staff has been pushing for Lyons for some time, and while they have other targets on the board, he is without question their top choice. Lyons is a unique player that brings a skill set that none of the other wideouts have, at least not in the unique combination of skills he possesses.

Lyons has top-notch route running potential and solid length, but he's an explosive big play athlete. He can stretch the field like Braylon James, he has route potential like Rico Flores and he has after the catch potential like Dylan Edwards.

Adding Lyons to the current group of receivers that also contains Jaden Greathouse, the Irish will land the nation's best group of pass catchers and will give the roster the kind boost in numbers, talent, speed and skills the offense needs a lot more of.

Latest College Football Playoff Picks

There were some major shake up games last week that certainly impacted the College Football Playoff outlook. Here's my latest CFP rankings, which is based on how I believe the committee looks at teams.

1. Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0)
2. Georgia Bulldogs (7-0)
3. Tennessee Volunteers (6-0)
4. Clemson Tigers (7-0)

Ohio State has been the most impressive team so far, but their resume is weak on paper due to Notre Dame struggling. They really haven't beaten anyone of note, so a case could be made they should be ranked lower.

Georgia had a rough couple of weeks in wins over Kent State and Missouri, but in the two weeks since they've beaten Auburn and Vanderbilt by a combined score of 97-10.

A case could be made that Tennessee has the best on paper resume after blasting LSU (40-13) on the road and then beating Alabama (52-49) in one of the most exciting games of the season. The Vols also have a road win Pittsburgh (34-27).

Clemson is my clear next best team, with Michigan, TCU and UCLA battling it out for the next spot. UCLA could have a big jump if they can knock off Oregon this weekend. Tennessee and Georgia square off Nov. 5, the same day Clemson travels to Notre Dame.

Moral of the story .... buckle up, this is going to get exciting.

Tweet Of The Week

Notre Dame is doing a "Cleats for Cause" campaign that is definitely worthy of your time. Check this out.

We are excited to be teaming up with our great friends at @CFH_Difference and @UnderArmour as part of our Cleats for a Cause initiative💚

Want to see the cleats up close?

🎟: https://t.co/p8jB2hNf0L #GoIrish x #C4C pic.twitter.com/OvaULir6nw
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 18, 2022

Video Of The Week

The changes on offense that are needed go well beyond just the wide receiver position. This week we went into detail about all the changes that can and should be made right now.

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