Notre Dame Football Offer Breakdown – WR Chase Cota

Notre Dame football has offered one of the best in the west.

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After Notre Dame receiver target Michael Wilson committed to Stanford, the Irish recruiting department pulled the trigger on another one of the best wide receivers in the west, Chase Cota.

Medford, Oregon wide receiver Chase Cota is ranked as the #46 overall recruit, #9 wide receiver and #1 overall recruit in the state of Oregon by Scout.com. He holds offers from Oregon, Oregon State, Boise, Cal, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Washington State, Utah, USC and now, Notre Dame.

Cota is also a talented defensive back who could likely have a great college career on that side of the ball. Considering his skill set and dominance at the wide receiver position so far in his career, he is widely considered an offensive prospect.

Chad Cota, Chase’s father, had a solid career with the Oregon Ducks before getting drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 1995. He also had stops with the New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams before retiring in 2003.

Chad Cota made a diving interception in the end zone against the Pittsburgh Steelers in ’96 to clinch the NFC West division title in only the second year of the Panthers franchise. That play went down as one of the most memorable in the history of the franchise.

Back to Chase. The 6’4, 195-pound talent has been invited to The Opening in Beaverton, Oregon after impressing at the L.A. Regional with a 4.51 40-yard dash, 3.99 shuttle, 39 power ball, 37-inch vertical jump for a score of 127.59 – good enough for fifth-place on the 2017 Nike Football leader board.

Chase Cota is a dynamic route-runner who smoothly sets into his breaks and explodes out of them. He runs vertical routes at an elite level and has the speed to burn most defensive backs deep. His tracking skills on deep and/or poorly thrown balls are evident.

He also runs short hitches, drags and intermediate routes very well. He can catch the ball in traffic and has a nose for soft spots when coverage doesn’t allow his route to be effective or if the play breaks down and he needs to break off his pattern.

Cota has great size with long, strong arms that he uses to get separation and with his jumping ability and ball skills, he can win tight one-on-one battles and beat press coverage when tested.

He also uses his ideal size and strength to his advantage when he has the ball in his hands. Cota can be seen breaking through tackles and commonly blasts through arm tackles and weak attempts. He shows the awareness and field vision to find seams and cut-back opportunities.

Cota doesn’t use a lot of juke-and-jive moves. He is decisive in where he wants to go with the football and likes to use his speed and strength to get there rather than attempting to make people miss. This trait seems to work out nicely for him, considering his big-time production.

Defensively, Cota’s size gives him a distinct physical advantage in coverage. His natural skill-set that you see him put to use at the receiver position, translates nicely in the defensive backfield.

His athleticism, size, awareness and understanding of route concepts and the passing game as a whole, allow him to get great positioning in zone schemes and play physically in man coverage.

As a kick returner, Cota has serious college-level potential. Cota proves to have very good field vision and the gear to break for touchdowns if he finds a seam and hits it with a full head of steam. Again, he has the ability to run through reaching arms and weaker tackle attempts.

Cota has been in the discussion as a receiver who Notre Dame quite some time. His talent is obvious and considering he has offers from Dartmouth, Cal and Vanderbilt, he seems to have his books in order.

Notre Dame only brought in one wide receiver last season. They have two pass-catchers committed so far in their ’18 class in Micah Jones and Braden Lenzy, another top Oregon talent. Notre Dame staff are likely looking to add two more receivers in this class and are in the mix for several talented recruits at the position.

Notre Dame staff are likely looking to add two more receivers in this class and are in the mix for several talented recruits at the position.

Kevin Austin of Florida, Amon-Ra St. Brown of California, Shaquon Anderson-Butts of Pennsylvania and Kamryn Babb of Missouri are some of the names that the Irish are working hard on.

Cota immediately will become a priority for them as a tall, long, explosive play-maker that Kelly is seeking to add to his offense. With Equanimeous St. Brown, Alize Jones and Chase Claypool all moving on in the next few years, the Irish will need to add receivers with good height and Cota has plenty.

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The trick here, as always with any recruit (especially from the west), will be to get him on campus. With his father being an Oregon legacy, one would think he will be a tough pull from home. Brian Polian, DelVaughn Alexander and Brian Kelly will likely put forth a combined effort to acquire Cota’s pledge.