Notre Dame Football: A look at the Wide Receivers in 2020

Boundary Receiver

The boundary or “outside” receiver will be a position of great production for the Notre Dame offense in 2020. However, ironically, it is filled with players that casual fans may not know the name of.

In the boundary receiver corps, you’re looking at Kevin Austin, Javon McKinley, Ben Skowronek and Micah Jones. Austin was suspended for the entirety of the 2019 season for undisclosed reasons, McKinley flashed as times last season but did not make a make impact, Skowronek was playing his football at Northwestern last season and Micah Jones hardly touched the field.

Don’t worry, 1-2 of these guys are going to be major contributors in 2020 and you will most definitely know their names.

First, the mysterious Kevin Austin. By the way Brian Kelly spoke about Kevin Austin last year, it was clear that he was in trouble with the University but Kelly never disclosed exactly what he did wrong. One can naturally narrow it down to a few things that would make a player of Austin’s caliber be forced to sit out for the duration of the 2019 season, but I’ll leave that to you.

The redshirt sophomore is poised for a breakout season in 2020. Austin would have most definitely had a role in the offense last season had he stayed out of trouble, from everything the staff has said. Austin was dominant at practice, so much so that a Notre Dame cornerback said that he was more difficult to cover than Chase Claypool. That is about as good of a compliment as you can get.

In his freshman season at Notre Dame in 2018, Austin tallied five catches for 90 yards while appearing in 11 games. It is not often that a freshman receiver gets much playing time at Notre Dame, but Austin’s glaring potential and recruitment ranking certainly helped his case. Coming out of North Broward Prep in Pompano Beach, FL, Austin was ranked as a 4-star recruit (.9601), the 14th ranked WR and the 82nd ranked overall player in the country.

Austin will be filling Chase Claypool’s role in the offense and will have massive shoes to fill. Expect him to be up to the task and have a great season for Notre Dame this fall.

Next, is Javon McKinley. While no one is exactly sure what the future holds for McKinley, at the moment, he is on the Notre Dame roster. McKinley has posted a few cryptic photos on his Instagram which seem to link him to leaving Notre Dame, but no one really knows except for McKinley at this point.

Last season, McKinley tallied 11 catches for 268 yards and four TDs. McKinley looked impressive at times with the ball in his hands, but that seemed to be few and far between as you can see by his receiving numbers.

McKinley is eligible to return to Notre Dame for a fifth year this upcoming season, but he could also declare for the draft or grad-transfer. We will keep you updated on his situation here at Slap the Sign.

The Northwestern grad-transfer is next, Ben Skowronek. His transfer to Notre Dame was kept under wraps spectacularly well, as normally a transfer such as his is rumored and most beat writers have an idea of what is going on, but no one knew about this one.

In his 4-year career at Northwestern, Skowronek totaled 112 catches for 1417 yards and 8 TDs. He has the ability to ‘go up and get it’ and provides the size and length (6’4″, 215) that Notre Dame is missing after the losses of Chase Claypool (6’4, 229), Cole Kmet (6’5, 250) and possibly Javon McKinley (6’2, 220).

Skowronek has the ability to play a variety of positions and has proven to be a very versatile athlete in his college career. He is sure-handed and a great route runner which will get him on the field quite a bit. Regardless of Javon McKinley’s decision, expect Skowronek to pass him on the depth chart almost immediately if he hasn’t already.

Lastly, is Micah Jones. The incoming junior has yet to make an impact thus far in his two seasons at Notre Dame and will need to make a move if he wants to be on the field more this fall.

Jones has yet to make a reception in his two seasons at Notre Dame, given he has received very little playing time. It is hard to imagine the staff taking on another boundary receiver in Skowronek if they believed in Jones, however they could be preparing for McKinley leaving as well.

The Gurnee, IL product is a twitchy athlete with the tools to succeed on the college level, but it just has not happened for him at Notre Dame yet. He has 3 years of eligibility left, including this upcoming season, so there is time for Jones to turn it around — but it needs to be soon.

If he impresses in the spring and continues to improve, he could end up being a Miles Boykin-type of receiver who can contribute later on in his career. Jones has the size (6’5″, 206) to be a weapon in the offense, he just needs to prove himself and get on the field first.