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Notre Dame Football: The top 5 Wide Receivers the Irish will face in 2020

By Andrew Hall

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Tyler Vaughns #21 of the USC Trojans makes a five-yard touchdown reception behind Troy Pride Jr. #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the second half of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Tyler Vaughns #21 of the USC Trojans makes a five-yard touchdown reception behind Troy Pride Jr. #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the second half of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame football’s Defensive Coordinator Clark Lea will need to scheme ways to limit the productivity of these top pass-catchers.

Every year, the Notre Dame football team faces one of the toughest schedules in country. This year is no different. Clemson and Wisconsin highlight this year’s slate.

However, none of the top five opponent receivers appear on either team’s roster. Clemson’s Justyn Ross would have topped the list if an injury did not end his season. Notre Dame football fans are all too familiar with Ross and his work. In the 2018 Cotton Bowl, he caught six passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns.

USC, Louisville, Wake Forest and Western Michigan feature this year’s top pass-catchers. Which of these teams possesses two of the top five players?

Last year, the Fighting Irish faced early second-round draft pick Michael Pittman Jr. Notre Dame’s cloud coverage slowed the Trojan Wide Receiver. He caught only four passes for 29 yards. In comparison, he averaged approximately eight receptions for 98 yards.

With lack of depth and inexperience at the Cornerback position, the danger posed by these top Wide Receivers is even greater. Sixth-year player Shaun Crawford, graduate transfer Nick McCloud and Junior Tariq Bracy appeared poised to start this year for the Irish. Their ability to slow the players similar to Pittman is critical to the success of Notre Dame’s 2020 defense.

Fortunately, regardless of the depth and talent level of the Irish Cornerbacks, third-year Defensive Coordinator Clark Lea proved he is able to design defenses to take away the opponent’s strengths.

Earlier this week, Slap the Sign contributor Jack Leniart already assessed the top five signal-callers on the upcoming schedule. Louisville and USC have players on both top Quarterbacks and Wide Receivers lists.

Without further ado, who are the top five Wide Receivers that Crawford, McCloud and Bracy will face in 2020?

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