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May 30, 2008
Preseason Analysis: Wide Receivers
by
TODD D. BURLAGE
Assistant Editor
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(**** BCS level; *** Jan. 1 bowl/Gator; ** December bowl; * Too unproven)
Walk-Ons (#) - Kris Patterson (45), Sam Vos (85), Chris Gurries (38), Michael Garcia (29), Brian Coughlin (24), Dan Franco (42)
 Starters: ** - This area is better than last year when David Grimes was the lone receiver with any starting experience. Grimes is the greybeard again. He will lead a group of players that earned their stripes under difficult circumstances last season. Sophomore Duval Kamara and junior Robby Parris aren’t at optimum level yet but will be factors in coming years. Some of the inconsistency of the corps this spring might have been borne out of circumstances beyond anyone’s control. Kamara often had to miss the first hour of practice in the Monday and Wednesday sessions because of classroom obligations. Sophomore Golden Tate split time between the football and baseball teams early in the spring, and junior Robby Parris spent the spring off the field, recovering from a sports hernia.
This area is tough to grade because quarterback and line play have to be factored in.
Experience: **½ - With the entire 2007 receiving corps back, experience shouldn’t be a problem. Grimes has 16 career starts while the other top four receivers from last year combined for 18 starts. Entering last season, Grimes had eight career starts, the rest of the Irish had none. It just remains tough to measure how helpful the experience was on an offense that finished near the bottom of the nation in nearly every statistical category.
With three of the top four receivers either shelved or limited this spring, one wonders if the development of Jimmy Clausen was slowed and the search for a consistent vertical receiving threat was hampered.
The 217 pass completions by the Irish last year averaged only 9.2 yards, the lowest single-season total at Notre Dame since the installation of the modern-day T-formation in 1942. For perspective, the Irish averaged 13.5 and 11.8 yards per completion in the first two seasons under Weis.
Depth: ** ½ - Not one receiver is gone from 2007, and the talent jump receivers often make between their first and second seasons, or their second and third seasons, can be dramatic (remember Jeff Samardzija?). How much those young targets develop this season – especially among the incoming freshmen – will shed some better light on the evaluation of depth. We wouldn’t be surprised if incoming rookie Michael Floyd challenges Kamara’s Notre Dame freshman-year records of 32 catches and four TD receptions, yet Floyd will have his own learning curve to experience.
Overall Grade: ** – This might be a conservative grade, but with only a 9.2-yard average per completion last year, an ongoing search for a consistent vertical threat, and a bunch of dropped balls in the spring game, it’s hard to go much higher. If Grimes can become a 50-catch player, Parris can establish himself as a consistent move-the-chains receiver, and one or more of Tate, Kamara or Michael Floyd can become a big-play threat, the postseason grade could dramatically rise.
Numbers aren’t an issue, but star power, consistency and separation skills from coverage continue to be question marks. There are plenty of solid or complementary players, but can someone in this group become a six- or seven-catch, 90- or 100-yard receiver almost every time out? The consistency didn’t show in the Blue-Gold Game when the receivers dropped about a half-dozen catchable passes from Clausen.
“What I’m disappointed in was some of the drops,” was one of the first assessments Charlie Weis offered after the game.
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