Notre Dame Notebook: Chansi Stuckey Talks High Expectations For Irish Receivers

There is a level of expectation for Notre Dame’s wide receivers heading into this season that has not been present for the Irish in recent years. A Notre Dame wide receiver has not topped 50 receptions in a season since current Chicago Bear Chase Claypool led the Irish with 66 grabs in 2019, but that is expected to change in 2023.

Second year Fighting Irish receivers coach Chansi Stuckey had led an overhaul of the position in his brief time on campus. His recruiting off the field and his attention to detail on it has given his position group a different level of depth and competitiveness heading into his second season.

"It speaks to the culture that the players themselves have built here,” Stuckey explained. "The culture of accountability, a culture of competitiveness, and knowing that us as coaches love them and we're going to push them to be great. We have to continue to let them know that hey, we're doing this because I want you to be great. When we get on you it's because the details really, really matter and coming from great programs that our young guys come from they have the mentality to work so that adjustment there is not huge like at some places. So, I think that identifying the right guy with the right mindset from the right places is so great when they get here in the spring.”

Michael Mayer led the Irish in receiving in each of the last three post-Claypool Notre Dame seasons. He had team highs of 67 receptions and 809 yards last season. Just five wide receivers had multiple catches last year, with Tobias Merriweather making his lone catch, a 41-yard touchdown, against Stanford.

The addition of Wake Forest grad transfer quarterback Sam Hartman and the development of Merriweather and other receivers on the roster has changed the expectation of the position.

Tobias Merriweather

No Irish receiver has greater expectations heading into 2023 than Merriweather. The sophomore has added strength and weight to his slender 6-4 frame. He said recently that he arrived at Notre Dame last summer weighing just 180 pounds after competing for his high school track team. He got up close to 210 pounds before settling in at his pre-training camp weight of 204.

That deep post touchdown against Stanford last October whet the appetites of everyone in and around the program for what the former 4-star prospect can be.

"If they're here with not high expectations, we've got the wrong guy, first of all, okay,” Stuckey said when asked how to help Merriweather deal with lofty expectations. "So, we should have the best in the country at each position here and I think we're getting to that at the receiver position. But you meet each guy where he is. You don't want to put more expectations on him than other people do. I will never kind of tell him what the outside world is saying, even though you read it. I try to stay focused on who he is and what we're trying to do in the building and what he needs to improve on. When you start listening to outside noise and you start reading your own clippings of where I should be doing and not should be doing, you lose focus.

"His mindset is different from last year,” Stuckey continued. "He's matured so much. He's taken a leadership role. We had a great summer and like any receiver, even ones who are playing the NFL, there's always room for improvement and route running and understanding there's always, we want guys with a mindset to learn all the time and he has a deep mindset to learn, urge to learn, understanding why and how detailed can I be and that's all I can ask for. The rest will take care of itself. It's the truth of who he is. The work and then results will take care of themselves.”

Jayden Thomas

Notre Dame’s most productive returning wide receiver from a season ago was Jayden Thomas. The junior’s 25 receptions were second among wide receivers to Lorenzo Styles’ 30 and his 362 yards were tops for an Irish receiver and second on the team to Mayer’s 809. Stuckey is eying bigger production this season from the veteran of the receiver room.

"He's such a developed player,” Stuckey commented. "I think understanding the freedom in his route running that he can do. The things that he can do that he has the ability to do, just kind of unlocking those things. For him to have belief that if I'm running a curl, you don't have to run straight 12 yards, stop, turn around. Like have some swagger, some mixing it up, manipulating up the DB and I think that's...I would say that's the biggest thing of teaching him how to manipulate a DB and make him a puppet to do what he wants to do. That builds confidence. Making things look the same. .... I want him to think I'm running a dig I'm running something else. So, just putting all those things together, I think that's been a huge part to his game where he's at.”

Jaden Greathouse - Rico Flores Jr

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman has already said he expects true freshmen Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores Jr will contribute in their first collegiate seasons. Both opened eyes in the spring after enrolling early and both continued to show they belong during training camp.

"When you first get here, you're swimming,” Stuckey began when asked how the freshman duo has grown since the spring. "It's 85-90 concepts that, 'oh my gosh, a new language'. Imagine if you're doing one of those little apps where you're trying to learn a different language and it's like, 'oh crap'. Like in the beginning it's rough. Then a couple of months later, like 'I kind of got it'. But there's still another level to go to and those guys have been great. You're able to coach them hard, able to give them the details, they respond well to adversity, and you have to remember, they're young.

"They've been here a while and it seems like they've been here... but it's only been you know...it's just second semester in college,” Stuckey continued. “So, you just have to really push those guys to be the best version of themselves and get them back to the confidence that they had in high school. Hey, this is the reason you're here. No one's a two or three, you're a one just in waiting. So, having that mentality and I think those guys have embraced it."

Chris Tyree

Stuckey got a shot of depth in the spring when Notre Dame’s most productive receiving running back switched positions. With a receiver room that was short on both depth and experience, Chris Tyree’s 56 career receptions for 461 yards out of the backfield are both more than any current player at any position on the roster. Stuckey has joked with Tyree that it’s like he has played receiver before.

"He has an understanding of what we're trying to do,” Stuckey said of Tyree. "There are always moments where it's kind of like, 'Okay, Coach, what is going on right here,' so then I can explain in detail why we're doing it and he's a smart cerebral player. So, when he understands his why, what it needs to be done, he gets it just like that. It's just getting him comfortable getting some games under his belt so he understands what it feels like, hit, contested catches, what guys are going to try to do. It's just going to come with time. We have this conversation in a couple of months, I think we're going to really be pleased with where he is.”

Deion Colzie

Junior Deion Colzie has carried the weight of sizable expectations in his first two seasons but he is yet to fully realize them. The nearly 6-5 Georgia native had four receptions for 67 yards as a freshman and made modest improvement with nine catches for 192 yards as a sophomore last fall. His most productive game to date was a two-catch, 50-yard effort in last November’s win over Navy.

“He's doing a good job of understanding what we're trying to do,” Stuckey said when asked about the possibility of more production for Colzie this season. “He's understanding who he is, which I've been preaching to him. Understanding his body type, what he can do well, what he needs to improve on, and I think he's just taking coaching really well right now. We've been a little more hands on with him. A little like we need you to be more for us and I think he's responded (to) the type of coaching (offensive coordinator Gerard Parker) and I have given him; the details that were challenging him with. He's done an amazing job on special teams right now. So, you see another level of maturity with Deion right now.

"He's on the right track,” Stuckey continued. "He just needs opportunities when he gets in the game. Like every player on our roster, when you get opportunities, you have to make them. That's the ultimate judge. Practice is one thing and that's great to build confidence but what you do in the game is ultimately what helps us win, that's the bottom line. You've got a guy who ... and that's anywhere, that's with the Jets, the Browns, whatever. If you make it in the game, okay, we can trust that guy. That's the ultimate measuring stick.”

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