Notre Dame Wide Receivers Need To Up Their Games Down The Stretch
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Four games don’t make a season; four games are actually only one-third of a college football season, but Notre Dame’s first four games have made something abundantly clear for the Fighting Irish offense.
The wide receivers have to be a bigger factor on game days.
Fans see it. The media sees it. Head coach Marcus Freeman sees it, too.
"They all have to get better,” Freeman said of his underperforming wide receivers.
It’s not just one player per Freeman, it’s the entire group. While Freeman says the unit has been practicing well, he sees room for improvement through the ranks of his receivers, from Braden Lenzy and Jayden Thomas, to underutilized players like Tobias Merriweather and Deion Colzie, right on through to top receiver Lorenzo Styles.
Styles came into the season with high expectations, but thus far he hasn't been the impact player the offense needs him to be.
"(Styles) was the player of the game (vs North Carolina) and I’m always going to challenge Lorenzo to continue to be more consistent in what he does,” Freeman explained. "But he’s a heck of a football player that obviously had a big game versus North Carolina that we have to build upon.
"With ‘Zo, it’s continue to be consistent," continued Freeman. "Consistent in the details of your routes, consistent in catching the ball, consistent in making sure that you convert the routes that are supposed to be converted. So, it’s just consistency in what you’re doing.”
Styles had his best receiving game of the season in Notre Dame’s 45-32 win over the Tar Heels, prior to the team’s bye week. He had five receptions for 69 yards and scored his first touchdown of the season on a 30-yard pass from Drew Pyne.
The sophomore currently leads the receiving corps with 16 receptions for 221 yards, but his 221 yards through are also only 85 more than he had in last season’s Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State.
Styles’ lack of production is just a symptom of the bigger issue for the lack of production of the group as a whole through four games. The 29 receptions and 364 total yards by Irish receivers has accounted for just 40% of the total catches and 43% of the total receiving yards have as a team to date.
Compare that to the 76 receptions for 1,060 yards this week’s opponent, BYU, has from its receivers so far. Those totals represent 62% and 72% of the Cougars receiving production through their five games.
Styles, Lenzy, Salerno and Thomas are the only four Notre Dame receivers with a reception this season. The North Carolina game showed promise. The quartet combined for 10 catches for 112 yards, but it was still just 41% of the team’s receiving production.
Where does the light production by Notre Dame’s veterans leave younger players like Colzie and Merriweather, and veteran Joe Wilkins Jr., who have yet to catch even one ball through four games.
"I think they’re improving,” Freeman said of that trio. "The biggest challenge for them is to continue to seek feedback. As I’ve told all three of them, Joe Wilkins and Tobias and Colzie, if you’re not playing as much, we’ve got to continue to get the feedback. We have to continue to be in (receivers) Coach (Chansi) Stuckey and (offensive coordinator) Coach (Tommy) Rees’ office and say, what do I have to do to improve?
"That’s not just for those guys, but for everybody," continued the Irish head coach. "If what you’re getting on the practice field or in the game isn’t what you want, don’t just accept it. Go seek feedback. Sometimes that’s not what you want to hear. It’s not easy to hear things that you have to improve at, but if you really want to know how to get better and get some of the results you want, you’ve got to go seek that feedback.”
BYU’s top four pass catchers are wide receivers. They’re led by Keanu Hill (16-329), whose 20.6 yards per catch would lead Notre Dame’s top receiver (Styles) by 7.2 yards per reception. He averages the equivalent of two first downs every time his toes come down in bounds with the ball in his hands.
His 6-4 height is the same listed as Merriweather and they had a similar skill that can’t be taught – speed. Notre Dame got Merriweather on the field for a handful of plays in its win over California, but that’s the only game time the former four star freshman recruit has seen so far.
Notre Dame’s running game exploded for 287 yards in the win over North Carolina. Drew Pyne also threw for a career-high 289 yards, even if the yards per catch was a modest 12.0. Maybe the run game can continue to open up opportunities for more passing success as well. At least that’s what Freeman anticipates.
"When you have success running the ball it opens up everything,” Freeman said. "It opens up the pass game, it opens up misdirection, it opens up everything. So, we have to have success running the ball and that will open up our passing game.”
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