Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 57 WIDE RECEIVERS "He's got top-end speed, elite speed," Kelly said of Hunter. "He can compete with the very best in the country." Whether or not Hunter can replicate the big-play ability of Fuller remains to be seen, but his all-around game is every bit as ad- vanced, if not more so. Hunter's route run- ning and ball skills are reminiscent of Jones, who finished his Notre Dame career with 181 grabs, second best in school history. "I think he actually runs better than TJ ran — and TJ ran fine and obviously was a very good football player for us," associate head coach and wide receivers coach Mike Denbrock said. "But I think he's smoother and his gait's a little looser, and he appears to be a little faster down the field when he's out there route running." Junior Corey Holmes is another veteran expected to step his game up this season, but he is far less proven. He enters the season without having ever caught a pass, receiving very limited mop-up reps as a freshman in 2014. Despite his lack of past production, Holmes was a constant stand- out during the spring. He posted a team-best 4.39 in the 40-yard dash during winter workouts. Throughout spring, Holmes flashed that speed out of the slot, but doing so with greater consistency is what the Irish coaches want to see from him. "There's track speed and there's in-line speed, straight-line speed, and then there's … football speed," Kelly explained. "I think that that's been the struggle for Corey the first couple years is to get that to translate and through playing fast and playing with confidence. "He's gaining the confidence and we're seeing definitely a different football player." The staff has pressed Holmes all offseason about becoming more assertive. There have been improvements, but the Pembroke Pines, Fla., native is starting to figure it out. "He's done a much better job in the last year or so of learning how to play fast," Denbrock said. "He's translated that better than he has at any point so far. He just needs to continue to be reminded — and on film when he's not running quite full speed like he can, he sees it. "He knows that's something that he needs to continue to address, but he's done a better job than in the past." Notre Dame's coaches are not the only ones pushing Holmes. Sophomore slot man CJ Sanders should be back to full speed after missing the spring with a hip flexor strain. Sanders totaled 822 all-purpose yards last fall, spending all season as the team's primary punt returner and taking over for Carlisle as the team's kick returner after four games. Sanders produced a 50-yard "We're experimenting with a lot of different stuff right now and trying to make sure our package is complete enough to take advantage of the athletes that we have. The good thing is we're versatile enough where we've got an opportunity to interchange those things." WIDE RECEIVERS COACH MIKE DENBROCK ON HIS PLAYERS DURING THE SPRING IRISH HAVE EXPERIENCE AT REPLACING LOST PRODUCTION Much of the focus heading into the season concerns how will Notre Dame replace standout wide receiver Will Fuller, who left for the NFL after his junior season. Fuller hauled in 144 passes for 2,512 yards and 30 touchdowns during his career before going on to become a first-round pick of the Houston Texans. Replacing Fuller is just a part of what Notre Dame must overcome, because the receiving corps lost 374 career catches, 5,508 receiving yards and 47 touchdowns. That is a staggering amount of production to leave the program in one offseason, and the Irish return just 57 career catches for 670 yards and four scores at the wide receiver and tight end positions. The lost production doesn't even include the 62 career receptions and 896 career receiving yards that departed with wide-receiver-turned-running-back C.J. Prosise, a third-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks. Replacing that much pass game production won't be easy, but it is not a new con - cept for Notre Dame, and the Irish appear poised to overcome the losses. There are two ways to look at being able to replace the impressive numbers. First, can the unit as a whole replace what was lost? Second, can individual players without much experience or proven production make the necessary leaps in just one offseason? Over the past 11 seasons, Notre Dame's wide receivers have made a habit of doing both, including quite recently. Heading into the 2014 season, Notre Dame had to replace a group of pass catchers that had a combined 298 career catches for 4,237 yards and 32 touchdowns. A pair of sophomores with a combined 15 career receptions — Will Fuller and Corey Robinson — filled the void and combined for 116 catches, 1,633 receiving yards and 20 touch - down grabs that fall. Then juniors Chris Brown and C.J. Prosise — who had a combined 24 career catches — added another 68 catches and 1,064 yards to that tally. Fuller made the most significant leap in production, going from just six catches for 160 yards as a freshman in 2013 to 76 catches for 1,094 yards and 15 touchdowns the following season. Former Notre Dame standout Golden Tate (2007-09) made just six receptions for 131 yards in a score during his first season in South Bend. The next year, Tate jumped to 58 receptions for 1,080 yards and 10 touchdowns. In 2005, junior Jeff Samardzija entered the season with 24 career catches for 327 yards, having never reached the end zone in his career. Senior Maurice Stovall never surpassed 22 catches or 421 yards in a season during his first three seasons. Samardzija went on to earn All-America honors after hauling in 77 passes for 1,249 yards and 15 touchdowns that fall, while Stovall brought in 69 passes for 1,149 yards and 11 touchdowns. Notre Dame's current group of pass catchers has a monumental task in front of them. History shows that if the talent is there, replacing a productive player — or group of players — is certainly possible. — Bryan Driskell Head coach Brian Kelly said he expects sophomore Equanimeous St. Brown to a be a "top-notch" player for the Irish moving forward. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA