Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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kind of a roll, the offense gets in a groove, everyone starts making more plays. It brings up morale a little bit." Notre Dame's young receiving corps displayed its growth not only in route running, but also blocking — a necessity due to the dink‑and‑dunk approach used against the Orange. Those blocks — primarily delivered by junior slot receiver C.J. Prosise and sophomore wide receiver Will Fuller — set up Robinson's big game. "The momentum really does feel good when you know you can make those plays," Robinson said. "In any kind of situation, the swings and bub‑ bles, the touchdown, it all seems like that. "You know you can make plays and you feel more comfortable, Everett feels more comfortable, the coaches feel more comfortable calling things for you." Notre Dame's top two receivers through a third of the season were sophomores: Fuller and Robinson. A third sophomore, Torii Hunter Jr., was held out of action until the Syra‑ cuse win due to a groin tear, but his athleticism was on display on con‑ secutive plays in the third quarter that led to his first career touchdown. "It's about stepping up to the chal‑ lenge," Robinson said. "We have a lot of playmakers. We understand that we're young, but we're willing to put in the work and we have put in the work in spring ball, summer, last year. We've put in a lot of work trying to become a great asset for this offense. "Right now, we're like the corner‑ stone, I guess, and that's awesome. We accept that challenge and go for it every day. It's about working with Everett and becoming more comfort‑ able out there and knowing what he's going to do and just playing. We have a lot of playmakers." It would have perhaps been un‑ likely to expect the group to become the "cornerstone" of the unit at the beginning of fall camp, without last year 's top three receivers — including senior wideout DaVaris Daniels, who is embroiled in the academic dishon‑ esty probe. "It's not a competition of, 'Oh, I'm not going to help you because you're going to take my spot,' " Robinson said of the youthful group. "We un‑ derstand that it takes all the receivers to work together to help us win. If Will makes a great touchdown, I'm going to be happy. I'm not going to be mad I didn't get it. It's not like that here." The return of Golson from the se‑ mester‑long academic suspension has helped, too. There are a handful of plays each game the senior extends with his legs and ends up either run‑ ning it for a big gain or finding an open receiver just before a defender is set to hit him. "He's doing great," Robinson said. "He's a great leader. With Everett in charge we feel great, we feel confi‑ dent that he's going to do what he does and that is to be a star and make plays. Seemingly there's nothing there, and the next thing you know he runs for a touchdown. It's Everett. That's the great thing about playing with him." So far, Golson's not the only one. ✦