Notre Dame Football: Regular Season Grades (Offense)

Notre Dame’s Wide Receivers played poorly for the majority of the year. Some of this was due to Wimbush. But, the receiver group failed to present a lot of solid routes and open targets.

Equanimeous St. Brown began the year as the undisputed No. 1 receiver. However, St. Brown did not play up to his first-round potential. He only went over the 100 yards once. On the season, St. Brown caught 31 passes for 468 yards with 4 touchdowns. Last year, he snagged 58 balls for 961 yards with 9 touchdowns. Clearly, his production was down.

Sophomore Wide Receiver Chase Claypool stepped up as the No. 2 target. Emerging against Michigan State, Claypool recorded 29 receptions for 402 yards with 2 touchdowns. He tallied a Wide Receiver-high 180 yards against Wake Forest.

After his suspension, Kevin Stepherson came on strong for the Fighting Irish. In eight games, Stepherson caught 19 passes for 359 yards with 5 touchdowns. He clearly became the big play target down the stretch.

When Cam Smith and Freddy Canteen were starters against Temple, it was a strong indication that this group had a lot of work to do. Smith and Canteen were not the most talented players on the team. However, they were able to do the little things that their more talented counterparts could not. This showed itself for the majority of the year.