Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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60 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW WIDE RECEIVERS W ith the ultra-fleet and future first-round pick Will Fuller as the top receiving target from 2014-15, the Notre Dame offense had a supreme vertical threat. The 2017 Fighting Irish offense might be more vertical in a different way with a collection of the school's tallest and rangi- est group of wideouts ever. By the end of spring, 6-5, 204-pound junior Equanime- ous St. Brown, 6-4½, 224-pound sophomore Chase Claypool and 6-4, 225-pound junior Miles Boykin were regularly aligned on the field at the same time. Jump balls, anyone? Last year, all three were labeled as a W — the player on the shorter side of the field where more physicality often is required. This spring, St. Brown lined up on the wide side of the field (X), where Fuller thrived, while the lengthy Claypool could be seen in the slot (Z), where last year the smaller, shiftier players such as juniors C.J. Sanders (5-8) and Chris Finke (5-9½) were stationed. "They have a place in our offense, and they'll be used accordingly," head coach Brian Kelly said of the elusive top return men Sanders and Finke. "The offensive structure is such that we can use those guys … they can be effective players. The wide receiver position is really a very competitive situation." Under new offensive coordinator Chip Long and receivers coach DelVaughn Al- exander — who worked several years with Long — pigeonholing receivers into bound- ary (W), field (X) or slot (Z) is less relevant. When there is more tempo — as antici- pated with Long calling the shots — it will be imperative for the receivers to grasp the overall concept, wherever they line up. "We're very multiple using guys in differ- ent spots," Alexander said. "We're just trying to find matchups, and right now we're trying to figure out what guys do well. "Sometimes they can line up in a different spot. It may not be the spot the formation calls for, but because they understand the concepts, guys can line up quickly and then cover for each other. And then that way of tempo keeps going faster and faster." As a caveat, Alexander noted that no mat- ter how much experience was gained last year, the current receiving corps has zero career starts with the new staff. "Even though Chip and I know each other, we have different guys on the staff, so in our communication we can't cut corners," Alex- ander said. "We have to share that vocabu- lary with different things that we're teaching. We're building on relationships." St. Brown established himself last year as the alpha figure, but a consistent No. 2 target did not develop. The number of re- ceivers that emerge at wideout as reliable targets during the course of a 12-game regu- lar season will determine how much the po- sition continues to improve after rebuilding in 2016. ✦ REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Defending Notre Dame's receiving corps will be a tall order in 2017 Equanimeous St. Brown had a breakout sophomore season with his team-high 58 catches after grabbing only one pass as a freshman. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA