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Buy or Sell: Equanimeous St. Brown will have a breakout season

By Greg Hadley

Apr 16, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown (86) runs as cornerback Cole Luke (36) attempts to tackle in the first quarter of the Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium. The Blue team defeated the Gold team 17-7. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 16, 2016; South Bend, IN, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown (86) runs as cornerback Cole Luke (36) attempts to tackle in the first quarter of the Blue-Gold Game at Notre Dame Stadium. The Blue team defeated the Gold team 17-7. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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With Notre Dame’s receiving corps depleted, many expect sophomore Equanimeous St. Brown to emerge as on the team’s top targets this season. Will the inexperienced wideout live up to the hype?

Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a series in which we will evaluate different arguments for an assertion that has been made about Notre Dame football.

With the recent suspension of Alize Jones, it’s official: Notre Dame has no returning depth at wide receiver left. Looking back at last season, six of the team’s top seven players in catches and receiving yards will not play this year. Torii Hunter Jr. is the last man standing with any substantial collegiate experience.

Related Story: Buy or Sell: Notre Dame football will win nine games this year

That has left a lot of inexperience and question marks in the team’s remaining receiving spots. Last year’s freshmen didn’t see the field all that much, and there’s an incoming group of rookies with talent as well that could challenge for playing time immediately.

But there’s one name that keeps getting repeated when it comes to who will be the Irish’s No. 2 receiver, and that’s Equanimeous St. Brown.

At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, St. Brown is a big, fast, physical wide receiver who came to South Bend as one of the top 20 wideouts in his class, according to 247Sports. He impressed in fall camp and generated some buzz about possibly getting some playing time, then faded away, catching just one pass and playing just 41 snaps total.

Now he’s back at it again with the hype, as many experts are listing him as a starter, and some tagging him as a prime breakout star this season.

Buy: I mean, somebody’s gotta step up, right?

via GIPHY

All joking aside, it’s incredibly hard to predict a breakout season, but many of the usual indicators are lining up for St. Brown. He didn’t play much offense last season, but he did see the field on special teams and even blocked a punt. He knows the offense as well as any other receiver besides Hunter, and he has the body type to be a down-field threat.

St. Brown is tied with freshman Chase Claypool for tallest receiver on the team. It’s been a while since the Irish’s top wideout was that tall, but he does compare favorably to the likes of Michael Floyd, with the ability to go up and dominate smaller cornerbacks, but with the speed (his 40 time is 4.44) to blow past them as well.

Check out the very beginning of this video:

That’s a smooth, veteran move from a receiver who can impose his will. If that’s the St. Brown we see on the field every Saturday, a lot of sports writers are going to have to remember how to spell that first name.

Sell: The downside for St. Brown, and the upside for Brian Kelly, is that with so much untested talent available, he can throw basically anything he wants out on the field for a while until someone really starts to stand out.

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Looking at the first four highlight videos put out from Notre Dame’s fall camp practices, it’s clear that everyone is going to get their shot. C.J. Sanders, Kevin Stepherson, Chase Claypool, Miles Boykin and Corey Holmes could all conceivably play plenty and even start this season.

In such a crowded field, it will be hard for St. Brown to shine. He didn’t dominate in spring practices, and according to Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated, he still really hasn’t in fall camp. Meanwhile, Sanders is a natural slot receiver with incredible speed, Holmes impressed in spring practice, and from what we’ve seen, Claypool has elite potential and is similar to St. Brown in size.

All of that is not to say St. Brown can’t have a solid season amidst the rotation of young receivers in Notre Dame’s lineup and set himself up for a great 2017, but the likelihood of him exploding past his teammates when he has yet to do is not incredibly high.

Verdict: Sell, ever so slightly. Really, it depends on how you define “breakout season.” If you’re expecting a Will Fuller-esque emergence, you’ll probably be disappointed. St. Brown has potential, to be sure, but the field is too crowded and he has yet to demonstrate he can translate his athleticism into consistent, persistent results.

Next: Notre Dame football: Fall camp first impressions

But if all you’re looking for is a uptick in production and an emergence as a somewhat reliable target, then St. Brown is as likely as any Irish receiver to do just that.

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