Notre Dame Football: What We Want to see from Irish Receivers in the Spring Game

Notre Dame football hosts its spring game on Saturday. While there are many stories to watch, the Irish receivers will surely be one of the most scrutinized.

As I recently wrote, Notre Dame football will rely upon a different type of receiver than they did in 2018. Last season, the Irish didn’t have a speedy, take-the-top-off-the-defense type of receiver they hope to have in 2019.

When it comes to big plays, Notre Dame was pretty abysmal last season, at least according to the standards of what one might expect from a College Football Playoff team. On the season, the Irish connected on only 3 passes of over 50 yards. One of those, however, was Tony Jones, Jr.’s catch out of the backfield in Notre Dame’s regular season finale at USC.

Put mildly, the Irish need to be more explosive in the passing game.

Much of that responsibility relies on Ian Book’s confidence and ability to throw an accurate deep ball. That confidence can be improved, however, if Book finds a consistent big-play receiver that can go and get some of the deep shots Book puts out there.

And that is what Notre Dame fans should look to see in the spring game.

The Irish secondary is in a minor state of flux following the loss of Julian Love to the NFL. In addition, the Irish have been working on using more press coverage this spring. That recipe should present the opportunity for Irish receivers to work their way open downfield. Notre Dame fans should hope to see a couple big passing plays on Saturday, even if it does come at the expense of their own secondary.

Chase Claypool, Michaeal Young, and Chris Finke have been the strongholds of the Irish receiving corps this spring and appear to the clear-cut starters heading toward spring’s conclusion. One or more of those guys needs to make a big play on Saturday.

For Notre Dame to be more successful in big games, the offense is going to have to create big plays to help score points and flip field position. It will be interesting to see how the Irish have improved in that category since last December.