Notre Dame Equipped to Replace Corey Robinson

Prior to Corey Robinson’s early retirement from football due to multiple concussions, Notre Dame already had to replace its three starting wide receivers from a year ago.  Robinson’s departure means the Irish will now also have to replace their most experienced returning receiver – Robinson had more receptions, yards, and touchdowns than the rest of the returning wide receiver coprs combined.  Despite the lack of experience, however, the Irish offense is well equipped to replace Robinson in the lineup.

Heading into spring practice Notre Dame knew it would be replacing Will Fuller, Chris Brown, and Amir Carlisle.  Fuller’s understudy, Torii Hunter, appears ready to take over for the 1st round draft pick and become the next game breaking wide receiver for the Irish.  Carlisle’s vacated slot position is still up in the air with sophomore CJ Sanders and junior Corey Holmes about to duke it out in fall camp for the position.

Robinson would have been the odds on favorite to replace Brown had he not suffered another concussion in spring practice.  Now Notre Dame will have to turn to an inexperienced group of young receivers to replace Brown in the Irish ariel attack.   The good news is Notre Dame is not short on talented and promising receivers to do so.

Before looking at some possible Robinson replacements, here’s a quick run down of some of the other Notre Dame wide receiver depth across the board.

• Corey Holmes – The junior had himself one heck of a spring and is not firmly in the mix with Sanders for the starting slot position.  With his reported 4.39 40 yard dash in the spring, he has the best straight line speed of any Notre Dame receiver.  Holmes could potentially play on the outside where he spent his first two years if Sanders comes back and cements himself as the slot receiver.
• CJ Sanders – Recovering from a hip injury suffered in the off-season, but is reportedly ahead of schedule in his recovery.  Sanders is the smallest Notre Dame receiver and a dangerous weapon in the return game.  Even if Holmes locks down the slot position, Sanders will be seen often.
• Kevin Stepherson – The early enrollee came into spring practice as a 3-star recruit with low expectations and exited as a likely instant impact freshman.  Stepherson will likely serve as Hunter’s backup at the X-receiver spot and could see time early if/when Kelly moves Hunter into the slot in some formations/situations.

With that in mind, here are the players who figure to be used the most in replacing Robinson this fall.

Equanimeous St Brown

Injuries cut short St Brown’s freshman season after just one catch for eight yards against UMass.  St Brown ascended the wide receiver depth chart quickly as a true frosh surpassing Corey Holmes in the process and serving as Will Fuller’s backup for most of the season before going down with the injury.  Against the Minutemen St Brown did have a touchdown called back because of a penalty,

With Robinson sidelined for most of the spring, St Brown spent most of his time with the first unit and looks like the most likely candidate to replace Robinson in the starting lineup.  At 6’4″, 205 lbs with deep speed, St Brown has all of the physical tools needed to be a dominant wide receiver on the collegiate level.  Think Michael Floyd with better speed.  Now, that doesn’t mean St Brown will have the same type of career as Floyd, but from a pure physical tools standpoint, Notre Dame hasn’t had a wide receiver like St. Brown in a long time.

The biggest thing working against St. Brown will be his lack of experience but on the flip side, it’s not like anyone else he has competing with him has any more experience than he does. Brown might not be quite ready to be a complete, dominant wide receiver this fall, but it’s safe to assume that he’ll eclipse that receptions total by the end of the first half of the Texas game.

Miles Boykin

Fellow sophomore Miles Boykin could be the only thing standing in St. Brown’s way to the starting lineup.  The massive wide receiver doesn’t have St. Brown’s speed, but he does have about 20 lbs on his classmate.  Boykin didn’t play as a true freshman last fall after coming in as more of a raw prospect than St. Brown, but with his size he would create a challenge for almost any defensive back in one on one coverage.

At the very least, Boykin figures to be a red-zone target for Notre Dame and whoever wins the quarterback battle.  Notre Dame’s struggles in the red-zone are well documented and with his size and frame, Boykin could help ease those red-zone woes.

A’lize Jones

While Jones likely won’t be a full time replacement for Robinson, he split time with the receivers and tight ends in spring camp and figures to be used in a variety of ways for Notre Dame in much the same way Tyler Eifert was used during his Notre Dame career.  Kelly loves using multiple tight end sets and then splitting out an athletic tight end like Jones wide.

Like Torii Hunter, Jones figures to be used in a variety of ways this fall as Kelly and Mike Sanford look to create as many mismatches as possible with their freskishly athletic tight end.  Look for Jones to line up inline, split wide, and in the slot at times – especially in the red-zone as Notre Dame tries to manufacture more touchdowns this year than they have in recent years.

In addition to St Brown, Boykin, and Jones; Notre Dame has a couple more freshman receivers set to join their classmate Kevin Stepherson.  Both Chase Claypool and Javon McKinley reported to campus with the other Notre Dame freshman on Monday and have intriguing skillsets.  McKliney, like St. Brown is a more polished product out of California while Claypool resembles Boykin more as a massive but raw talent.

Would it be better if Notre Dame had more than one wide receiver with more than a single career reception ready to step in this fall?  Of course it would, but then again in 2014; Will Fuller, CJ Prosise and Corey Robinson started the season with 26 career receptions collectively and they hauled in 145 as a trio by the end of the season.  A similar output from this year’s crop of green receivers shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.