Notre Dame Receiver Rotation Is Getting A Makeover, Which Raises Some Questions
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addressed a number of topics in his zoom press conference this week, and most of the comments were standard, and were mostly expected. His comments on the wide receiver position were a bit more puzzling, and troubling.
There were plenty of positives to be taken out of Kelly's comment. It's a positive that senior Avery Davis seems to have finally settled into a position after moving from quarterback to cornerback to running back and finally to receiver. He's always been athletic and talented, but he could never find a home on the field, and it seems he has finally done that.
It's a positive that Joe Wilkins Jr. seems to be healthy and finally pushing for time, and the freshmen have received praise from Kelly throughout the fall camp period.
Other comments, if they turn out to be accurate, were a bit more concerning.
Kelly noted that Northwestern transfer Ben Skowronek had moved to the W position on a permanent basis. That position, of course, is the boundary spot that was manned by Chase Claypool last season and Miles Boykin the year before. It's the position that has been where Notre Dame placed its best wideout the last four seasons, the best one-on-one player, the receiver who presented the biggest matchup problems.
That was supposed to be Kevin Austin's job, but he's out with an injury and has been since July. It was then expected to fall to Javon McKinley, but it appears McKinley is now being used as a swing player, which was what Skowronek was ideally suited to do.
Does that mean Skowronek, despite missing all of last season with an injury, has turned into a player for Notre Dame that he never was at Northwestern? Looks like we will soon find out. I liked the addition of Skowronek, and his size, leadership, ball skills and versatility were plusses, but he is a player that is best utilized as a versatile utility player based on what we saw from him with the Wildcats.
He showed that he could be that player during his sophomore and junior seasons when he hauled in a combined 90 catches for 1,206 yards and eight scores. Skowronek showed the savvy skillset to get open when moved around, but he didn't display the level of athleticism to dominate as a full-time boundary player that we saw from Claypool and Boykin.
So either he was never put in position to develop into that player at Northwestern, which is certainly possible, or McKinley failed to seize that role and Skowronek is now there because he's dependable. Dependable is good, but it's not necessarily the best attribute that you want for a boundary receiver in an offense trying to play a run at a championship.
Or perhaps it means McKinley is moving to the X position on a more full-time basis. That's also an important position on the offense, and it's where Claypool played in 2018 and it's where Will Fuller played in 2014-15.
Kelly mentioned a lot of different players in his breakdown of the receivers, including all three freshmen, but he barely mention Braden Lenzy. Is Lenzy injured again? Is he missing time with COVID-19 or because of contact tracing? Is he not improving his game?
We don't have answers to any of those questions, and it could simply be something as normal as Kelly just forgot to mention his most explosive wideout during a two-minute long discussion where he mentioned just about everyone else. That is certainly possible for a head coach who is incredibly busy and in the middle of getting his team ready to play after the wildest offseason of his career.
If it's more than just Kelly forgetting to bring it up, and it has to do with Lenzy not being available or not developing, that could deal a blow to the Irish offense. McKinley is ideally suited for the boundary, but he can play to the field. He doesn't, however, bring the same kind of impact to that position that he does the boundary, and he certainly doesn't have Lenzy's home run speed.
If what Kelly said yesterday turns out to be how the wide receiver position shakes out in 2020 the unit should still be good, but it raises a question if it will be good enough when the games mater the most.
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