Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Safety-turned-receiver C.J. Prosise might be a top newcomer in 2013 W By Lou Somogyi hen describing 6-1, 220-pound sophomore wide receiver C.J. Prosise this spring, Notre Dame coaches and players avoided using the word "surprise." Prosise was withheld from action as a 2012 freshman safety, and his shift to wide receiver at the start of spring barely registered outside the Fighting Irish practice fields. There were at least six other wideouts ahead of him, including classmates Chris Brown, Davonte' Neal and Justin Ferguson. Yet after just five practices, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly took immediate notice of Prosise. "He's been a very pleasant surprise — that's probably the wrong word," Kelly said. "He's been what we thought he could be; he's just done it a lot quicker than we thought." Receivers coach Mike Denbrock preferred to use the term "bright spot." Starting Cat linebacker Prince Shembo refused to label Prosise a surprise based on what he saw from him on the scout team last fall. "He'd catch the ball, reverse field and shoot by three people and make us all look silly … we saw that all the time," Shembo said. "Don't be surprised if he becomes real elusive, starts shaking people and gets into the end zone, because he's got some strong, powerful legs." Prosise's classmate Elijah Shumate, last year's nickel back, also took note. "C.J. provides that explosion, that 'electricness' (sic). … He's definitely going to be a helping point on the offense," Shumate said. "The first day they put him at receiver [this spring], he was raw and he really didn't know what he was doing. They told him to run a slant, and the way he exploded out of his break, it was amazing. Plus, C.J. is so big, we're just thinking about how this big guy is just exploding out of his break. "[Then] they told him to run a flag route, and after he got off the line he just exploded out and it was like, 'Whoa, C.J. is going to be really good!'" Notre Dame's receiving corps graduated four of its top six pass catchers from last season, most notably "flex" athletes Tyler Eifert (tight end/ receiver) and Theo Riddick (running back/slot). Then when Neal and Ferguson left school to transfer earlier this spring, the shift of Prosise became propitious. By the final week of spring and in the Blue-Gold Game, slot man Prosise joined senior TJ Jones and junior DaVaris Daniels on the first unit. Prosise and 6-4, 213-pound senior Daniel Smith provide some combination of skills Notre Dame's staff is seeking at slot. "It's incredibly important to have a guy there that has the versatility to show some physicality and block an alley defender that is sometimes a walk-out linebacker, but also be able