Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1494359
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL 2023 29 ALL EYES ON … JUNIOR LORENZO STYLES Styles had nearly half as many receiving yards (136) in the 2021 Fiesta Bowl alone as he did during the entire 2022 season (340). Put simply, the No. 9 wide receiver recruit from the class of 2021 had a sopho- more slump. The Notre Dame offense can be a transformative unit if he lives up to expectations in '23. BY TYLER HORKA C hansi Stuckey did not have many options in his first year as the Notre Dame wide receivers coach. He inherited a group that only had eight scholarship players. Then he lost one of the better ones in that gaggle, team captain Avery Davis, to a season-ending ACL injury in fall camp. Fellow graduate student Joe Wilkins Jr. was limited by injury in camp as well, and so was sophomore Deion Colzie. So, at times, Stuckey was working with five healthy scholarship receivers. That shouldn't ever be the case in 2023. An influx of four freshmen and Virginia Tech gradu- ate transfer Kaleb Smith has Notre Dame's scholarship wide receiver count up to 10. Half of that total being new faces means there is no room for the old ones to lollygag. Stuckey has the means at his disposal to play the best play- ers whether they showed up two years ago or two months ago. The likely direction is a solid mix. Smith has too much of an extensive history at this level not to play quite a bit. He could even come in and swipe a starting spot. And if rising juniors Lorenzo Styles, Deion Colzie and Jayden Thomas aren't careful and diligent i n w h a t t h e y ' re d o - i n g , t h ey co u l d l ose time to the freshmen. Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores Jr. received praise from head coach Marcus Freeman in De- cember for being two wideouts who have the potential to play from the moment they ar- rive. That's a reality that hasn't really been the case for Notre Dame wide receivers lately. Tobias Merriweather, for ex- ample, caught 1 pass as a true freshman last year. Tangible evidence of progress would be for Notre Dame's quartet of freshmen to combine for a solid chunk of catches and perhaps even some scores. Progress would also entail Styles, Colzie and Thomas taking a leap in their development and producing at a higher level than they did a year ago. The narrative of the Notre Dame wide receivers could be getting a makeover before our very eyes. But that makeup better be waterproof and element resistant. The Irish don't have time for it to all be a façade. 2023 SPRING FOOTBALL OVERVIEW WID E REC EIV ER S PERSONNEL UPDATE Position Coach: Chansi Stuckey (second season) Returning Starters: Jr. Lorenzo Styles (10 career starts) and Jr. Jayden Thomas (7) Departing Starter: Braden Lenzy (25) Projected New Starter: Gr. Kaleb Smith (26, all at Virginia Tech) Top Reserves: Gr. Matt Salerno, Jr. Deion Colzie and So. Tobias Mer- riweather Newcomers: Smith, Fr. Braylon James, Fr. Rico Flores Jr., Fr. Jaden Great- house and Fr. Kaleb Smith POSITION BATTLE TO WATCH WHICH FRESHMEN CAN CONTRIBUTE? Notre Dame is bringing in a loaded corps of first-year pass catchers. There isn't enough room on the field for all four of them to receive substantial reps. But a couple of them could see the field right away. The offseason will be about determining the ones who can and giving them the playing time they need. NUMBERS TO KNOW 5 Contested catches for Jayden Thomas in 2022. No other player returning from last year's Irish roster had more than 1. Virginia Tech graduate transfer Kaleb Smith has 17 of them in his career, meanwhile, including 9 last season. That would have ranked second to tight end Michael Mayer (17) for the Irish in 2022. 6 Drops for Lorenzo Styles in 2022, which led all Notre Dame players. All-America tight end Michael Mayer was second on the team with 4 drops, but he had 101 targets in 12 games to Styles' 47 in 13. No other Irish player had more than 1 drop. 17.9 Average depth of target, in yards, for Deion Colzie in 2022. That led all Notre Dame pass catchers who were targeted at least 10 times. Tobias Merriweather owned the outright lead in this category with an average depth of target of 24.9 yards on 8 targets. JAYDEN THOMAS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER