Notre Dame reportedly has its next wide receiver coach. According to a report last night from The Athletic’s Pete Sampson, Notre Dame is set to hire Baylor Wide Receiver coach Chansi Stuckey to replace Del Alexander who oversaw the decimation of the Notre Dame receiver room over the last 12 months. Stuckey, an inexperienced but potential rising star, will now be tasked with rebuilding a room that needs a total reboot.
According to Sampson, Notre Dame also interviewed Purdue’s JaMarcus Shephard but moved forward with Stuckey even though Shepard had more coaching experience even though both were the same age (38). Stuckey spent just one season as the wide receiver coach at Baylor after two years in support roles at his alma mater Clemson – one season as a graduate assistant and another as an offensive player development coach.
Stuckey was not one of the names linked to Notre Dame for the last week but came on strong on Wednesday. Shepard and Alabama WR coach Holoman Wiggins were tied to Notre Dame the most, but Stuckey interviewed with the Irish on Wednesday and, by all accounts, blew Notre Dame away in the process.
In his one season as the Baylor receivers coach, Stuckey helped Tyquan Thorton have the best season of his career with 62 receptions for 948 yards and 10 TDs.
Stuckey spent five years in the NFL after graduating from Clemson with stops in New York (Jets), Cleveland, and Arizona. Over those five seasons, Stuckey hauled in 106 passes for 1,062 yards and 5 TDs. While in Arizona, Stuckey was coached by John McNulty, who was the receivers coach for the Cardinals at the time.
The move came as a bit of a surprise and carries with it some risk. But, at the same time, it also has the potential for greater reward. Shephard was the more established coach, but as an Indiana native who coached in Kentucky, Washington, and Indiana, his recruiting connections weren’t as attractive as Stuckey’s after playing and coaching at Clemson and coaching in Texas for a year in addition to being from Georgia.
Shephard would have been the much safer bet for Marcus Freeman. Still, the fact that Stuckey was reportedly so impressive that Notre Dame moved to make him their next wide receiver coach the day he interviewed suggests Freeman and Tommy Rees (who reportedly had a significant say in the offensive hires) think Stuckey has the potential for the greater reward.
Daunting Task Ahead
Stuckey has the daunting task of rebuilding the Notre Dame wide receiver room decimated over the last year. Even with the return of Avery Davis, Braden Lenzy, and Joe Wilkins for fifth and sith years, Notre Dame presently has just seven scholarship receivers on the roster for 2022.
Part of the reason for the decimation of the room was the 11th-hour defections of CJ Williams and Amorion Walker. Those decommitments made the decision to not aggressively push for a 4th receiver back in the summer look even more puzzling since the Irish signed just one receiver in December.
Notre Dame has been linked to two different late signing class of 2022 receivers – Justius Lowe and Caleb Douglas. As soon as Stuckey is officially on staff, he will likely be all over both.
Even before the decommitments, transfers and recruiting misses in both the 2019 and 2020 classes left Notre Dame extremely thin at the position. Notre Dame will not have a single receiver in its junior or senior classes that they recruited on the roster in 2022. That means that the Irish have to nail the 2023 wide receiver class even with another late wide receiver signee or transfer.
Baylor WR RJ Sneed In Transfer Portal
One potential transfer portal target for Notre Dame with Stuckey on staff is Baylor wide receiver, RJ Sneed. Sneed will be a 6th year senior in 2022 but has a year left from the 2020 COVID season. For his career, he has 133 receptions for 1,564 yards and 8 TDs. He had career highs of 46 receptions and 573 yards this past season while coached by Stuckey. He also registered a career-long of 69 yards after coming into the season with a previous high of 39-yards.
There hasn’t been any indication if either Notre Dame or Sneed is interested in each other at this point, but if Notre Dame wants to add an established player through the portal, Sneed looks like a great fit on paper.
It would be nice to hire a linebacker/line coaching pair like Elko and Lea, or Yonto and Kelly, or even Alvirez and Yonto (for one year) then with a different coach working with Alverez.
BGC 77 82
They don’t come in pairs.
I also wanted to comment on the last minute de-commit of the two wide receivers in December. I made some comments on Twitter about it and was called the devil (of course by USC fans). What upset me so bad is the fact that they waited until the last minute when we thought we were set and every great player had been locked down. I thought it was bull, I wish they had never committed in the first place if they were going to cut and run so easily. In my mind it was pretty weak and we lost the chance to really spend time recruiting WR’s that would fit in as Notre Dame excellence as men and football players! We did get the best wide receiver of the bunch. Tobias Merriweather who will fit in great at ND!
Stop being creepy and get over it.
Please KICK badass david from this site. He’s so badass he picks on females because he no longer intimidates any real MEN here. He’s a joke and an embarrassment to ND and its program and to the school also.
Grow up, you irtritiating little arsehole.
I told you before…don’t read my posts if they upset your delicate sensibilities.
Now go fuck yourself, honey.
Nothing “creepy” in your post, Paula.
“To cut and run so easily” is business as usual in the recruitment world.
They were convinced they had a better fit elsewhere. They feel no allegiance to a school that offered them a scholarship. What disgusts me is when a HC (see: Brian Kelly) cuts and runs from a place he supposedly values, although as a ND fan, I’m glad he’s gone.
The creepy cabn’t tell other creeps they aren’t creepy.
Quit analyzing and judging high school kids.
Fer crissakes, you’re supposedly an adult.
Sometimes a gamble pays off; sometimes not.
It’s clear Freeman (and Rees) put a greater emphasis on potential recruiting than experience with this hire. At this point in the program, getting top recruits in the WR room might be more important.
He certainly has his work cut out for him. If he can win over Freeman and Rees and others in an interview, he should be able to win over parents in a home visit.
TE Coach McNulty’s familiarity w/ Stuckey might have been key because Shepherd’s work at Purdue with a walk-on QB and minus his best receiver (Bell) for much of the year was impressive.
We’ll know more in three years, as we will with HC and OC, and whomever is the DC.
Just for giggles, let’s assume he turns out to be a home-run. A real star.
He’s a Clemson grad, worked at Baylor, and has no prior ties to ND.
For a raise, he can find way more money down south than ND could ever come up with.
Not coincidentally, the south is where the best talent, best football, and best coaching opportunities are.
And regradless of that…. when he eventually wants more than just a raise, his best option is to become an OC on a “learner’s permit”, at a less scrutinized place than ND.
So…Yay.
This isn’t the Supreme Court- no life time appointments.
When he moves on isn’t the issue.
That he impacts the WR room for as long as he’s here is what matters.
When lost, and if intellectually weak, turn to patently ridiculous comparisons.
If he’s good, WHEN he moves is a HUGE goodamn issue, you ridiculous putz.
Staff turnover is a negative. Full stop.
For a coach to carelessly put his program on that treadmill is to sign his own death warrnt.
I think it’s a great hire. He was a great wide out in playing the game and he’s shown good skills with coaching players, Baylor was relevant and it’s been a long time since that been the case. High risk, high reward and after all, Tommy is the head OC, right!
“Up and coming” is a euphemism for “a guy you never heard of”.
Says an up and coming commenter…
Irony meeting up with oblivity never disappoints.