Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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wide receivers hard and be consistent every day. That will make the games a lot do in our offense now that we wouldn't have asked him to do a year easier just to be that guy that everybody can rely on." ago just because of how he's grown and progressed." Notre Dame limped away from Sun Life Stadium in Miami with The outside receivers group also includes early enrollees James a severely bruised ego after Alabama dominated every facet of the Onwualu (6-1, 215) and Corey Robinson (6-4, 197), and senior Luke title game. But for Daniels, who finished third on the team in receivMassa, who originally was a quarterback before moving to receiver ing (31 catches for 490 yards) behind Eifert prior to 2011. Massa has rebounded from a (50 receptions for 685 yards and four touchBest Receiving Games knee injury and appeared to be making strides downs) and Jones, it was a confidence boost in the spring. However, with Golson out of In The Last Decade to know he could perform at a high level on the picture in 2013, it's possible Massa, who YearPlayer Yards Opponent the biggest stage. appeared in eight games on special teams as 2003 Maurice Stovall 171 Purdue "Even before that you started to see a maa sophomore and did not see the field last 2004 Anthony Fasano 155 Purdue turity in him that he's got it in his brain now season because of the injury, switches back BYU 2005 Maurice Stovall 207 that, 'I can do this at this level and do it very to quarterback. 2006 Jeff Samardzija 177 North Carolina well,'" Denbrock said. "He's not going to run by a whole lot of 2007 Robby Parris 94 Boston College 2008 Golden Tate 177 Hawaii After Jones and Daniels, the depth chart people, but body position-wise, a big receiver 2009 Golden Tate 244 Washington is wide open. Sophomore Chris Brown (6-2, who can help us in the run game No. 1, and 2010 Kyle Rudolph 164 Michigan 192) played as a freshman and made a gameNo. 2 sit himself down in some zones and 2011 Michael Floyd 159 Michigan changing 50-yard reception that set up the catch the football," Denbrock said of Massa. 2012 DaVaris Daniels 115 Alabama go-ahead Irish touchdown in the victory at "He's got a nice set of hands." Oklahoma. As it turns out, so does sophomore C.J. Pro"He's showing a higher maturity level not only with how he sise, a converted safety who sat out last season. The 6-2, 208-pound goes about practice, but his knowledge of our offense overall," Prosise, who hails from Petersburg, Va., found out just days before Denbrock said of Brown, who has added around 20 pounds since the start of spring practice that he was being moved to slot receiver. In the end of 2012. "… You hope that as you progress through your the Blue-Gold Game on April 20, he hauled in a 35-yard touchdown career that you become better and better at all the little things and pass from freshman quarterback Malik Zaire for the only offensive not just one thing in particular, that your game expands as you touchdown of the scrimmage. mature a little bit. Prosise was reportedly clocked at 4.59 seconds in the 40-yard dash "I see that in Chris this spring. There are things we can ask him to as a high school senior, the same year he finished runner-up in the Grooming The Next Generation Rising sophomores Davonte' Neal and Justin Ferguson took most of their reps on special teams last season, but both would have gotten a chance to be major contributors in the passing game in 2013. After Notre Dame lost five-star prospect Deontay Greenberry on National Signing Day in 2012, the Neal/Ferguson tandem was positioned as the next dynamic duo in years to come. But on back-to-back days in late March, both left the program, with Neal choosing Arizona in his home state to be closer to his young daughter. Notre Dame added four more receivers in early enrollees Corey Robinson and James Onwualu and incoming freshmen Torii Hunter Jr. and William Fuller. Head coach Brian Kelly was particularly pleased with Onwualu, who hails from Cretin-Derham Hall High in St. Paul, Minn., which was former ND star Michael Floyd's old stomping grounds. "I think there are some guys that are mature enough [to help right away]," Kelly said. "James Onwualu [is] physically strong, 215 pounds. He can play with the veterans right now in terms of conditioning and weight training, going every rep. We'll see when we put the pads on. We're going into a different atmosphere relative to playing the game. But he's been very, very impressive. "He's such a conditioned athlete," Kelly said of Onwualu prior to spring practice. "He can play with the veterans." "Tough guy, physical, loves the game, plays with tremendous passion, good skill set," receivers coach Mike Denbrock said of Onwualu, who finished his senior season in 2012 with 574 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns on 74 attempts, plus 26 catches for 421 yards and five touchdowns en route to leading the Suburban East Conference in scoring with 116 points. Robinson, a native of San Antonio, made impressive catches during the rare spring practice sessions open to the media, showing off a range that includes leaping grabs and diving snags from different Irish quarterbacks. "His catch radius kind of reminds me a lot of Tyler Eifert in that even if the ball is somewhere in the perimeter, he'll find a way," Denbrock said. "Great ball skills, good knowledge of the game of football, surprisingly, even though he's from a small school in Texas and is basketball-oriented maybe family-wise." At an extremely lanky 6-4, 197 pounds, Robinson, who recorded 67 receptions for 1,414 yards and 20 touchdowns at San Antonio Christian, has a ways to go in his physical development. "He's not going to be ready at any time where we want him next year, but he's certainly somebody who can help us win football games in a role," Kelly said. "He's going to be a role player, kind of like [receiver] Chris Brown was and you can say, 'Hey, Chris helped us win a game against Oklahoma.' "I think that's how you've got to look at Corey Robinson. No, he's not a finished product yet. He's got to get bigger, he's got to get stronger, but he does have a skill set. When you throw that ball up in the air, he comes down with it. I think there's a place for him in our offense but he wouldn't be a featured guy like Head coach Brian Kelly said early enrollee James Onwualu is a [DaVaris] Daniels might be." physically mature enough to play as a freshman at Notre Dame. photo by joe raymond — Wes Morgan 60 ✦ Blue & Gold Illustrated 2013 Football Preview 58-63.WRs.indd 60 6/25/13 1:00 PM