Notre Dame Football 2017: Midseason position grades

Notre Dame wide receivers enjoyed a successful 2016 season with DeShone Kizer throwing the ball, but things have changed with quarterback Brandon Wimbush. While the Irish offense has greatly exceeded expectations, the Irish receivers have yet to be included in the fun. With Wimbush the clear starter for the near future, this is looking like a trend for the receiving corps.

To highlight this unit’s struggles up to this point, one must only look towards Notre Dame’s number one receiver: Equanimeous St. Brown. St. Brown flourished with Kizer last season, catching 58 passes for 961 yards and nine touchdowns. However, he is now on pace to record only 30 catches for 422 yards and four scores.

Wimbush doesn’t give his receivers a whole lot to work with, but they’ve had some issues themselves. Lack of separation, among other things, has contributed to a poor overall performance from these receivers. They will look to get back on track down the stretch, but little change is anticipated given Wimbush’s inability to threaten teams down the field.

Worst Game:

While the Irish dominated the Boston College Eagles in almost every facet of the game, Wimbush inexplicably threw for only 96 yards. In one of the most lopsided stats of Notre Dame’s season, Irish wide receivers combined for only three catches for 11 yards. The rest of the yardage went to tight ends Alize Mack and Durham Smythe along with running back Josh Adams.

Best Game:

Conversely, the Irish receivers saw their best game at home against Miami of Ohio. Coming off a big win against Michigan State, the common consensus was that Brian Kelly would test Wimbush’s arm against a poor Miami defense. However, there wasn’t a whole lot of yardage to go around as Wimbush only had 119 yards. However, his wideouts did record three scores on the day.