Chansi Stuckey Wants A Diverse Receiver Group, And He Knows How To Build It

Chansi Stuckey was brought to Notre Dame for very clear reasons, and that is to recruit and develop a group of pass catchers that give the Irish offense the tools needed to be elite.

Stuckey, a former standout wideout at Clemson with over 100 career catches in the NFL, knows what it takes to play the position at a high level. Despite his lack of coaching experience, Stuckey is able to lean on his playing experience and his time on college coaching staffs to have a plan for success.

From the moment he was hired Stuckey has talked about a desire to recruit a diverse group of players that bring different aspects to the Irish offense. His current group of receivers has some of this, and it is going to get even more diverse when 6-4 freshman Tobias Merriweather arrives this summer.

The unique skillsets were something Stuckey likes about his current group of players.

“It’s a lot of untapped potential, that's one of the big things that excites me," Stuckey said of his current crop of wideouts. "So many different skill sets with a lot of the guys. No one person is the same. That’s kind of like when I recruit, I want to have a basketball team, people with different types of skills and qualities.

That's kind of what I have now," continued Stuckey. "I have big guys, I have intermediate guys, small and quick guys. When I see it, it's just a lot of untapped potential that I as a coach have to be able to bring out.”

Having a group of wideouts with a wide array of skills can be challenging for a defense and a blessing for a play-caller. Having a group of wideouts with a wide array of skills can also be challenging for a wide receivers coach.

The reality is you don't coach a 6-5, 207-pound receiver like Deion Colzie like you will 5-11, 202-pound former quarterback Avery Davis. They are two completely different athletes, and while there are basic principles that apply to all receivers, once you get past some of the basics a good receivers coach will have to take a unique approach to each player.

It's not just about size either. Lorenzo Styles and Braden Lenzy, for example, are similar in size and do some of the same things, but their athletic skillset also has several differences, and neither of them are similar to Merriweather.

Of course, it would make sense that a coach who wants a unique set of skills at his position group would have a plan to handle this type of variance.

"The base foundation are the things that you mentioned that goes with everybody; stance and start, top of the route, catching the football," explained Stuckey in response to a question about handling such a unique group of players. "That's the basis of what every receiver needs to do and do it very, very well.

"You mentioned a guy like Deion, Deion’s a jump ball guy who has a big body, so I put more emphasis on him trying to do that very, very well with the foundation of what we’re trying to do," continued Stuckey. "Deion’s not going to run option routes like (Lorenzo) is, teaching (Lorenzo) to run the option routes, the patience, the distance that you need from a guy who's running the basic or the corner is going to be different from how I teach Deion to position his body and catch the ball over his shoulder."

For Stuckey the key is identifying the unique strengths of his players and then building up those strengths.

"Trying to find those guys in my little notebook, who does what well and then make sure I point out those things and give them confidence to know they can do that and they can do it well," Stuckey stated.

But it goes beyond that for Stuckey. Another challenge on top of what was already discussed is Notre Dame's desire to have more positional flexibility at wide receiver. That means not having players primarily focus on one specific position in the offensive alignment.

This requires each player have an even greater understanding of the offense and a greater repertoire of moves, which is required at the different positions. This is a bit of a new philosophy for Notre Dame, and one that will be huge dividends for the offense is Stuckey can teach it.

So far it is being received well by the Irish pass catchers.

"I think it's a bit more deliberate in overall concepts," Lenzy said of Stuckey's new approach. "I think at times in the past, it was more positional awareness at each individual (position), but now I think all the receivers can kind of play all around. They aren't tied down to an X or W, Z ... but it's more about everyone can just play everywhere.

"I think it's more about everyone can kind of play everywhere," Lenzy continued. "Wherever you're at in that point in the game, we're now able to kind of plug you into that spot depending on what we want."

When you listen to Stuckey's teaching philosophy, when you see him at work in practice and when you hear how Irish players (not just receivers) talk about his approach it's hard not to get excited about what this group could accomplish in the future.

If the unit can get and stay healthy, that future could come very soon, perhaps even during the 2022 season. If that happens the Notre Dame offense is going to be a major problem for its 2022 opponents.

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