Chansi Stuckey Has A Lot Of Work To Do At Notre Dame
Notre Dame has had plenty of coaching turnover this offseason, and the latest addition to the staff was Chansi Stuckey being hired as the Irish wide receivers coach. Stuckey played wide receiver at Clemson and in the NFL, but he's been a full-time coach for a season.
The up-and-coming coach doesn't have time to learn on the job, he's stepping into a situation where there are a lot of holes he must plug, changes he must make based on what's happened at the position in recent seasons and he needs to put in a lot of work getting the position group on track from a mental standpoint.
Stuckey inherits a talented group of receivers, but depth is a problem and its a unit that struggled with many of the little things and foundational things needed for it to play at a high level. He needs to hit the ground running and embrace the many challenges he faces. We'll address his recruiting priorities soon, but right now my biggest priority for Stuckey is getting the players already on campus and signed in the 2022 class on the right track.
1. Get Back To Basics - Watching Notre Dame's receivers in recent seasons has been quite frustrating, and the 2021 campaign was one of the more infuriating. Notre Dame's wideouts struggled to do basic things well, and the result was a group that flashed because of its talent and athleticism, but one that struggled against the more talented, or better coached units on the roster.
For Stuckey, there are some basics that he needs to focus on immediately. My first area of focus would be the speed and urgency with which his receivers come off the line. Notre Dame's wideouts often come off the ball too slow. I'm not talking about they are slow, there is an obvious lack of urgency when they come off the line, especially on vertical routes when the speed should be maxed.
Teaching players how to get off the press would be nice! It was maddening watching the wideouts try and get off the line against press corners, as the unit as a whole failed to grasp how to use their hands and feet to win at the line. Teaching receivers how to properly use their hands against physical coverage once they do get vertical is an absolute must, and he absolutely needs to teach the wideouts how to stack and then get separation would be a welcome sight.
2. Then Build Some Nuance - Stuckey needs to teach the wideouts more about proper stem technique beyond just the speed. I'm talking about things like attacking leverage, knowing how to manipulate defenders with their angle of attack and how to use their release to impact how defenders move.
Notre Dame's mesh concepts often lacked the proper timing off the ball, and the spacing on downfield routes was incredibly inconsistent, which are more things Stuckey needs to focus on. Much of this could be considered basics, but for how far behind the Irish wideouts are from a fundamentals standpoint, this falls into the nuance category.
Beyond this I would like to see Coach Stuckey enhance the top ends for the wideouts, both getting into and out of it. Better tools in this part of the game will allow the Irish wideouts to get better separation from a technical standpoint.
3. Be Competitive At The Catch Point - Well coached receivers attack the football in every situation. It's part of how you go about your business every day. It's coached into players. There needs to be instilled in them a thirst for the football, and I'm not talking about them wanting touches, I'm talking about them seeing the ball in the air and having a fire start to burn inside that they are going attack the ball and do whatever it takes to make the catch.
I still have a lot of film study to do with Stuckey's wideouts at Baylor, but one thing I liked from my early film study is they battle hard for the football.
Despite not having Notre Dame's overall talent, according to Pro Football Focus the Baylor receivers hauled in 50% of the contested throws that were thrown in their direction this season. Notre Dame's receivers, however, hauled in just 37.2% of their contested throws this season.
This isn't just about talent, a receiving corps must be taught this and have it drilled into their head every single day, and it's practiced on a daily basis. It's a mindsight thing, it's a work at it thing and it's about demanding that players battle hard for the football, or they don't play.
4. Need A Swagger Boost - Notre Dame's receivers didn't play with a great deal of confidence last season, and it's been an up-and-down affair for much of the last five seasons. Some guys had it at times, but as a whole the receivers don't play with enough fire. Part of that is because of points one, two and three, there clearly wasn't a great deal of confidence in their preparation from a technical standpoint, and you could see them getting frustrated this season when facing bigger and/or better corners.
Giving them a stronger fundamental foundation will be a step in the right direction, but it goes deeper than that. Stuckey needs to put a great deal of emphasis on and off the field on building up his units confidence and instilling within the group a swagger needed to go out and battle the best defenses on the schedule.
5. Get The Young Bucks Going - Stuckey inherits a roster with some quality veterans, but his young guys are very, very talented. A great coach coaches the entire depth chart, but a smart coach also knows he needs to make sure he does what it takes to get his most talented players ready to play. In the case of Notre Dame's roster, the most talented players on the depth chart right now are a pair of current freshmen (Deion Colzie, Lorenzo Styles) and an incoming freshman (Tobias Merriweather).
The faster Stuckey can get that group (and you can throw Jayden Thomas into this mix as well) ready to go the better his unit will be in 2022.
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