Rebuilt Notre Dame Wide Receiver Room Is On The Verge Of Taking Off

Wide receiver play at Notre Dame has been wildly erratic the last 20 years, but the current staff is trying to change that. As Notre Dame looks to finally put a championship caliber offense on the field, turning the potential of the current room into production and continuing to stack talented recruiting classes on top of each other are key ingredients to making this happen.

THE PAST

There have been some brilliant moments at wide receiver the last 20 years. With stars like Jeff Samardzija, Maurice Stovall, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd and Will Fuller, as well as talented players like Chase Claypool, TJ Jones, Miles Boykin, Rhema McKnight, DaVaris Daniels and Equanimeous St. Brown, there have been some very impressive moments at wide receiver for the Fighting Irish over the last two decades.

Notre Dame's top five all-time leading pass catchers at wide receiver all played in the last two decades, and the Irish produced six day one or two draft picks at receiver during that stretch. The highs have been very high, but there hasn't been enough of it.

Even in years where there was a dynamic producer, like Floyd in 2011, Jones in 2013 or Claypool in 2019 there wasn't much after that to take attention away from defenses. The dynamic duos, like Claypool and Boykin in 2018, or quality depth groups like we saw in 2014-15 have been too few and far between.

Consistency has been an issue, and from 2017-21 there were plenty of issues from both a recruiting and development standpoint. That left Notre Dame's 2020-22 teams often short on numbers, or short on players with the tools to play to their potential. Production at wide receiver has been largely disappointing in recent seasons, with Notre Dame not producing a 1,000-yard player at the position since 2019, and just one in the last seven seasons.

That's a big drop off for a program that produced a 1,000-yard player for three straight seasons from 2013-15, and nine times in 11 seasons from 2005-15.

Simply put, wide receiver play at Notre Dame hasn't been good enough for some time now.

THE PRESENT

Head coach Marcus Freeman took a big chance when he hired Chansi Stuckey to be his receivers coach as part of his first full staff. Stuckey had just one year of experience (Baylor), and despite playing the position in college at Clemson and in the NFL, he was largely an unknown as a coach or recruiter.

Stuckey has certainly rewarded Freeman from a recruiting standpoint (see below), but he'll need to prove his coaching chops to a much greater degree in 2023. The Georgia native did a quality job with his first group of Irish receivers, but the play and production needs to be much better in season two. In fairness, injuries, five players from the 2018-20 classes hitting the portal, and two talented former wideouts moving to defensive back (Cam Hart, Xavier Watts) left Stuckey with a thin group in year one.

There is plenty of talent to work with, but entering the 2023 season the lack of proven production is one of the biggest question marks surrounding the Irish offense. Is the talent as good as I think? Can the potential of the unit turn into impact production? Who steps up in the big moments?

Those are all very fair questions about the Notre Dame receivers, but history has taught us that proven production isn't always required for a unit to break out and perform at a high level. That needs to be the case for Notre Dame in 2023 if the Irish offense is going to perform at its peak level.

Notre Dame is expecting a breakout season from sophomore Tobias Merriweather, and junior Jayden Thomas finished last season as the team's best receiver. That duo must live up to expectations this fall, but even if they do they will need help.

Who steps up after them?

Converted running back Chris Tyree got more and more comfortable playing outside in spring ball, and his speed is needed at the position. Tyree adding big play ability with the ball in his hands is something this offense desperately needs in the pass game.

Junior Deion Colzie oozes potential, and we've seen flashes of that potential during his career. Colzie has not, however, shown the ability to consistently play at a high level, and that is needed from him in 2023. He could very well be the key to this unit going from being good to elite, assuming the players above also step up this fall.

This group of returners, along with Matt Salerno, has the combination of skills needed for this offense to flourish. The question is can Stuckey push all the right buttons needed to get this unit to play to its potential. That is what will determine if this wide receiver room continues to be talked about for its potential, or if it finally becomes one that is talked about because of its production.

THE FUTURE

Where Stuckey has made the biggest impact so far is on the recruiting trail. His first signing class was able to rescue the depth chart from the woeful recruiting and development of his predecessor.

Notre Dame signed just one receiver in the 2022 class, and it had no wideouts committed when Stuckey was hired. He worked quickly to add speedster Braylon James to the class, and that was followed up by late summer commitments from standouts Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores Jr. Stuckey then went out and flipped Kaleb Smith from Texas Tech.

Just like that Stuckey added four very talented players to the roster in just one class, and the three early enrollees (James, Greathouse, Flores) made their presence felt immediately during the spring. This group still has plenty to prove, but so far it looks as though Stuckey hit big with his first class.

It's not just about adding talented players, the 2023 receiver class also fits well together, which is important. It is also something the previous regime failed to do at the position.

So what would Stuckey do for an encore?

Well, his second class is every bit as good as the first one. In fact, 2024 wide receiver commit Cam Williams jumped on board before Greathouse, Flores and Smith, and he's been locked in ever since. Williams is a Top 50 caliber player after an outstanding junior season, and he's one of the two best commits in the 2024 class, along with quarterback CJ Carr.

Notre Dame went almost a year before adding more to the class, but the class quickly grew to three after Isiah Canion and Micah Gilbert committed within a week of each other, beginning with Canion committing on April 27th.

Williams and Canion have big time potential as outside receivers, while Gilbert can do a little bit of everything. Like last year's group, this trio complements each other quite nicely, and they fit well with last year's group as well.

Stuckey has been employed for just 17 months, but in that period of time has added seven pass catchers that can match any back-to-back class of receivers Notre Dame has signed in a very long time.

Needless to say, the future is incredibly bright at wide receiver.

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