Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 30, 2023 19 man Rico Flores Jr. slotting in as a con- stant contributor, and it sure seems like Stuckey knows what he's doing. Notre Dame has to capitalize on his presence while it can. You never know when a young coach on the rise like Stuckey will jump to his next opportu- nity. The other elephant in the room? It's already almost halfway through graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman's one and only season with the program. To say Hartman hasn't had his hands all over the Notre Dame wide receiver renaissance would be foolish. Without Hartman, or a quarterback of his caliber, it's near impossible for a team's wide receivers to be judged so favorably by analytics outlets like PFF and SIS. The hope for Notre Dame is Stuckey's wisdom doesn't leave with him if he takes a new job, and Notre Dame quar- terback recruiting is on a heater right now, too. Hartman's successor, whether it be Steve Angeli, Kenny Minchey, CJ Carr or another lightning-in-a-bottle graduate transfer, should be another successful signal-caller. Elite class of 2025 commit Deuce Knight is waiting in the wings as well. All of that means the success of the Notre Dame wide receiv- ing contingent, one that gets better by the day, should continue as well. "We've shown we have some explo- sive capabilities to spread the ball around when we need to," Hartman said. "It's a lot of trust, the trust and belief that everyone around me is doing their job, which they've been doing all year and we've been doing since the spring." ✦ "I've got a lot of confidence in our wide receivers. They put the work in. The development Coach [Chansi] Stuckey has done with those guys, to have young guys making plays, to have a converted running back making plays, Jayden Thomas, Deion Colzie, those guys are all playing really well." HEAD COACH MARCUS FREEMAN Notre Dame wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey has transformed his pass catchers into a formidable group. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER