Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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62 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW WIDE RECEIVERS Junior Miles Boykin emerged as one of the most improved players on the team during the spring and caught five passes for 102 yards in the Blue-Gold Game. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN QUOTABLE: HEAD COACH BRIAN KELLY ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF JUNIOR MILES BOYKIN AND SO MANY OTHER RECEIVERS THIS SPRING TO COMPLE- MENT JUNIOR EQUANIMEOUS ST. BROWN: "You're going to see a better supporting cast across the board, which is going to give us much more balance — and more importantly it's going to give us much more consistency from an offensive standpoint." Starters ★★½ Junior Equanimeous St. Brown is the clear No. 1. He is poised for a jump in production in Chip Long's up-tempo offense, which has averaged 144 more plays per year than the Irish over the last five seasons. If there weren't so many questions surrounding sophomore Kevin Step- herson throughout the spring, this grade would be higher. Stepherson paced the Irish with 18.5 yards per catch last season and has impact tal- ent, but he spent the entire spring on the third team because of atti- tude issues. Entering summer school June 19, the outlook seemed more promising with him. Who starts op- posite St. Brown is to be determined mainly by consistency. Experience ★★★ Six returners were in the rotation last fall, and graduate transfers Freddy Can- teen and Cameron Smith were added this summer. In 2014 at Arizona State, Smith caught 41 passes for 596 yards and six touchdowns. Sophomore Chase Claypool might be the most physi- cally gifted athlete on offense, while classmate Javon McKinley was the top- ranked player here (Rivals' No. 11 wide- out and No. 59 overall player). Juniors C.J. Sanders and Miles Boykin played in all 12 games last season. What is lacking beyond St. Brown is consistency. Sanders faded down the stretch in 2016, making just seven catches in the final six games. Junior Chris Finke, Boykin and Claypool have combined for only 21 career catches. Depth ★★★ Six players who combined for 130 receptions, 2,008 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns return from last year's Notre Dame team, and six of eight non-freshmen were graded out as four-star recruits by at least one recruiting service. There is a variety with a number of bigger targets like St. Brown (6-5), Boykin (6-4) and Claypool (6-4½) mixed in with speedsters like Sand- ers and Stepherson, and even former walk-on Finke, who scored in the last two games. In Long 's offense, the receivers won't be learning and lining up in just one position, so flexibility is important. All 11 scholarship receivers have the versatility to play at least two spots. Overall Grade ★★★ This group is still a bit of an enigma. There is much size and athleticism, but overall there remain more ques- tions than answers. Now that he is established, can St. Brown make the jump in 2017 like former Irish standouts Will Fuller, Michael Floyd, Golden Tate and Jeff Samardzija did as juniors? Will Step- herson mature enough to fulfill his big-play capabilities? Can Sanders be the after-the-catch game-breaker he's shown in flashes? Are Boykin, Clay- pool and McKinley ready? Will vet- eran newcomers Canteen and Smith be able to supplement the attack? If the answer is yes to all, junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush will have a loaded arsenal. BY THE NUMBERS 1 Receiver among the 11 on scholar- ship this year for Notre Dame who will be out of college eligibility after 2017 — Arizona State graduate transfer Cam- eron Smith. Corey Holmes, who caught 11 passes for 96 yards in 2016, would have been a fourth-year senior in 2017, but he graduated in three years and will use his final two years of eligibility as a grad transfer at Purdue — a la Michi- gan's Freddy Canteen at Notre Dame. 961 Receiving yards for Equanimeous St. Brown in 2016, plus nine touchdowns. That is almost the same amount as the 1,039 receiving yards and 10 scores by the other six returning Irish scholarship wideouts from 2016 combined. That prompts the question about who can be a consistent No. 2 option in 2017. 3,744 Receiving yards by freshman Jafar Armstrong during his career at Bishop Miege High School in Shawnee Mission, Kan. That's the second most ever by an incoming recruit at Notre Dame, barely behind the 3,752 total a year earlier by Californian Javon McKinley, who was sidelined the final month of the 2016 season because of a fractured fibula. 62 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW PRESEASON ANALYSIS ★★★★★ National Title; ★★★★ Top 10; ★★★ Top 25; ★★ Too Unproven; ★ Major Concern