Welcome back to the 18 Stripes Big Board for Fighting Irish football. Today we’re taking a look at Notre Dame targets at wide receiver, and it’s quite an extensive list.
Wide Receiver
| Score | Name | State | Ht./Wt. | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .994 | Jalen Hall | CA | 6-4/192 | Cool |
| .987 | Amon-Ra St. Brown | CA | 5-11/190 | Mild |
| .983 | Justyn Ross | AL | 6-4/197 | Cold |
| .975 | Kamryn Babb | MO | 6-1/190 | Cool |
| .961 | Joshua Moore | FL | 6-0/170 | Cold |
| .960 | Jahan Dotson | NJ | 6-0/160 | Cool |
| .942 | Kearis Jackson | GA | 5-11/205 | Cold |
| .942 | L’Christian Smith | OH | 6-6/205 | Cool |
| .939 | Chase Cota | OR | 6-3/195 | Mild |
| .929 | Kevin Austin | FL | 6-3/200 | Warm |
| .925 | Tommy Bush | TX | 6-4/190 | Cool |
| .922 | Isaah Crocker | CA | 6-1/175 | Cool |
| .920 | Lawrence Keys III | LA | 5-10/160 | Cold |
| .907 | Jaquayln Crawford | TX | 5-10/160 | Cool |
| .902 | Anthony Schwartz | FL | 6-0/172 | Cool |
| .891 | Shaquon Anderson-Butts | PA | 6-0/193 | Cool |
| .879 | Bryson Jackson | TX | 5-11/174 | Cool |
In the Fold
Notre Dame currently has two commits at wide receiver right now. Jumbo receiver Micah Jones (.885) was the first to pop, committing to the Irish on on February 17th. Five days later, the Irish earned a commitment from Oregon speedster Braden Lenzy (.926), who just recently broke the state record in the 200m with a time of 21.10 seconds.
In Play
I’m sure many of you will recognize this name. Amon-Ra St. Brown is the youngest of the St. Brown brothers, and he’s probably the best prospect out of the three. Notre Dame will be in this one until the end, but it’ll be really tough. Word is that the St. Brown family was less-than-happy with the state of the strength program under its previous leadership, and that opened the door for other schools to take the lead in this recruitment. Right now it’s looking like USC is Amon-Ra’s leader, but it’s possible that the changes BK made at the start of the offseason could turn this around.
L’Christian Smith was supposed to be in town for the Blue-Gold game this past weekend, but he never made it in. I don’t expect him to seriously try to reschedule a visit, but we’ll see.
Speaking of guys that did make it to South Bend for the spring game, Chase Cota is one of the more recent offers on this list. The Oregon native is an Oregon legacy, as his father Chad played for the Ducks before having a career in the NFL. Chase also has a cousin who plays safety for the Ducks right now, so the family connections to Oregon will no-doubt be an obstacle. However, if he’s looking to blaze his own trail, Notre Dame is probably the place he’ll end up. He’s close friends with current Irish commit Braden Lenzy, and the two had a great time hanging out together this past weekend.
Another Blue-Gold visitor, and probably Notre Dame’s best bet from this list is Kevin Austin. Kevin is a high-academic kid and his visit went as well as we could have hoped. All signs point to the Irish being in the lead here, and it’s expected that he commits to ND sometime later on in the summer.
Though the Irish already have one speedster in the fold in Lenzy, they’d love to land another. Anthony Schwartz is arguably the fastest player in the Class of 2018. He ran a 10.15 100m track time last month at the Pepsi Florida Relays, which is the sixth best time ever at that distance for a high school athlete. Kid’s got some serious speed. It will be hard for ND to compete with some of those other schools that have both solid football programs and elite track programs, but for now at least it looks like he’s got Notre Dame among his top schools.
Notre Dame is in it for Shaquon Anderson-Butts, but he has to visit before the Irish can really make a move. As it stands, he’s trending towards Penn State. Getting him on campus this summer could make a big difference.
Committed Elsewhere
Justin Watkins — Texas
Derion Kendrick — Clemson
Brian Hightower — Miami
Xavier Williams — Alabama
Manuel Allen — Nebraska
Michael Wilson — Stanford
Chase Williams — Nebraska
I’m really not thrilled with either guy who is committed right now, so I hope St. Brown swings back our way. Jones seems too slow to be anything other than a goal line receiver. Lenny seems like he’s going to need a few years of putting on weight (and then, how will that impact his quickness). St. Brown looks like a guy with a ceiling much higher than his brother, who is already our #1 receiver. He looks as impressive as any skill position recruit in the country.
I vaguely remember a guy named Fuller that looked too skinny to play college ball. He turned out ok. I love Lenzy and his speed. I agree he’s a bit of a project, but as the old cliche goes you can’t teach speed.
And this class needs depth and physical traits. Getting one or two who can step in early would be nice, but there will be time to develop a kid like Lenzy. All four WRs (or five if they add ASB late) won’t be needed immediately.
Good stuff Tyler… Lenzy as a high school junior is the same size Fuller was as a college junior. He’s probably not quite as fast but I think he might be a little more polished coming out than Fuller was. I actually think he’ll be able to contribute early – not steal anyone’s job, but crack the two deep.
Jones is a project. He has great size and great hands, but he’s going to need some time in the S&C program to work on power and explosiveness. The canvas is there, though.
Couple of other connection notes on Cota… His father started alongside Pat Terrell in Carolina and was signed to the Colts by Bill Polian. Not as strong as the Oregon connections, of course, but there is some familiarity at least with people connected to the Irish program.
Amon-Ra is easily the best prospect of the St. Brown brothers. Osiris is talented but probably has the lowest ceiling, something along the lines of Rhema McKnight or Chris Brown. Solid, but unspectacular. Equanimeous is really good and has the potential to be a monster, and of course he’s a hair short of 6’5″, but he’s not as explosive as Amon-Ra, who has game-breaker ability.
I think a wide receiver class of Lenzy, Jones, Austin, and Cota would be exceptional. ASB will always have a spot if he wants it; he would take it from exceptional to legen…dary.
“I think a wide receiver class of Lenzy, Jones, Austin, and Cota would be exceptional. ASB will always have a spot if he wants it”
FWIW, the guys at II said the same in their latest podcast.
I’m not sure people realize how good Cota is. Scout has him at #42 overall, 247 at #72 overall, and Rivals at #179 overall (leaving out ESPN for increasingly obvious reasons); on Scout, he would be the highest-ranked WR in Kelly’s tenure. And Austin is a top 200, maybe top 150 guy. Don’t get caught up in them not being ASB, because they’re both really, really good. And Lenzy isn’t that far behind them.
For reference, here are all the composite 4 star WRs recruited under Kelly. Overall ranking/Positions ranking. A disappointing amount of production from the top 100 guys.
Davonte Neal – #54, #7 ATH
TJ Jones – #85, #11 WR (never realized just how highly rated he was)
Davaris Daniels – #94, #13 WR
Just Brent – #94, #14 WR
Javon McKinley – #110, #16 WR
Equanimeous St. Brown – #160, #19 WR
Braden Lenzy – #162, #7 ATH (could change)
Chase Claypool – #169, #33 WR
Corey Holmes – #179, #27 WR
Miles Boykin – #196, #28 WR
Torii Hunter Jr – #204, #28 WR
Will Fuller – #276, #41 WR
CJ Sanders – #283, #33 WR
James Onwualu – #303, #44 WR
It makes sense for Amon-Ra to take his dad’s advice when it comes to weight training, but it probably means he is focusing too much on that one aspect of the program. Or at least I could see that happening. O well, he is a minor and he should listen closely to dad.