Notre Dame Football: Looking Ahead at the Wide Receivers

Notre Dame football wide receivers are promising as our fans look forward to the 2017 season.

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The Fighting Irish lists it’s three wide receiver positions as slot receiver, field receiver, and boundary receiver. It appears the starting slot receiver is C.J. Sanders, the rising junior. This speedy receiver played in all 12 games in 2016. He caught 24 passes for 293 yards (12.2 avg.) and one touchdown.

Sanders also returned 10 punts for 125 yards and 29 kickoffs for 725 yards (25.00 avg.) and two touchdowns. Although only 5’8”, C.J. provides great speed at the slot position. He should be able to catch 40 to 50 passes and with that speed, should gain many yards after the catch.

Backing up Sanders will be Chase Claypool and Chris Finke. Claypool, the 6’ 4’’ rising sophomore has great potential and after spending most of last season on special teams looks to add playing time on offense.

The other slot receiver is Chris Finke, the former walk-on who attended the same high school as Malik Zaire. Finke may be the ultimate “Rudy” player for Notre Dame. He played the slot position a little last season and had 10 catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns. He was given a scholarship in 2016.

At field receiver, is Kevin Stepherson. The rising sophomore played a lot last season as he caught 25 passes for 462 yards (18.5 avg.) and five touchdowns. Stepherson is 6’ 0” and is as fast as Sanders, which gives the Fighting Irish much speed at two wide receiver positions. The other two field receivers are Javon McKi9nley, a 6’ 2” former four-star recruit who has a great opportunity to work his way into the two-deep at this position. The other field receiver is Deon McIntosh, a rising red-shirt freshman. He was recruited as a running back but was moved to wide receiver during his redshirt year this past season.

At boundary receiver, Notre Dame returns their leading from last season and potential All-American this season Equanimeous St. Brown. As Irish fans remember, St. Brown had a sensational 2016 season. He started all 12 games and caught 58 passes for 961 yards (16.6 avg.). He also caught nine touchdown passes. St. Brown, although not as fast as Sanders and Stepherson, is tall 6’ 5”, runs great routes, has great hands and possesses very good speed. As a rising junior, he has a chance to become one of Notre Dame’s great receivers. Backing up St. Brown should be Miles Boykin, who is 6’ 4” and is another four-star recruit. He has an opportunity to show his potential and possibly gain more playing time.

With C.J. Sanders, Kevin Stepherson and Equanimeous St. Brown, Notre Dame has one of the best wide receiver groups in the country. Sanders and Stepherson provide great speed and the ability to stretch defenses. This will be one of the fastest groups of wide receivers Notre Dame has ever had.

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In St. Brown, simply said, Notre Dame has a pass-catching machine who can do it all. Also, it will be interesting to see which other receivers will develop since Notre Dame will use some four and five receiver sets.

This group will be superb and Fighting Irish fans will enjoy watching them play.