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As many as nine freshmen will practice with the first and second-teams, while the rest will start the season on Notre Dame’s scout team.
The decision to either keep players up with the starters and reserves or relegate them to scout team duty is one Irish head coach Brian Kelly makes every year around this time, but his choices aren’t finalized.
The players who are certain to stay with the first-team and reserves are kickerJustin Yoon; defensive tackle Jerry Tillery; cornerback Nick Coleman; quarterback Brandon Wimbush; tight end Aliz’e Jones; and wide receivers C.J. Sanders and Equanimeous St. Brown. Kelly also named Te’von Coney as the backup to Will linebacker Jaylon Smith.
There’s a possibility the group could extend to nine, depending on whether or not the coaching staff decides to add a third wide receiver to the mix.
“Miles Boykin is not a definite,” Kelly said. “We’ll see what happens down the road.”
Boykin is one of four freshmen receivers, and all have received plaudits from their coaches. But the emergence of St. Brown and Sanders leaves the 6-foot-3½, 225-pound receiver, whom Kelly no longer foresees as a tight end, on the cusp of the head coach’s list.
“When you see him, if he walked in right now you’d swear he’s a tight end, but he’s not,” Kelly said of Boykin. “As much as we were kind of recruiting him with maybe one eye toward a future tight end, he’s not a tight end. He’s a wide receiver. He’s got extremely down the field, extremely good ball skills down the field. Adjusts well to the ball. He doesn’t play stiff to the ball at all. Can run, so really pleased in terms of what his future looks like as a wide receiver.”
The list is by no means restricted to nine. If first or second-teamers sustain injuries, as was the case in 2014, there’s always the possibility for promotion.
“(…) There’s probably a couple of guys that if we got into a tough situation, we could pull them,” Kelly added. “So I’d say right now it’s what we’ve said to the guys is this: Look. You’re going down to scout team but you definitely can earn your way back up here, and I think that’s the way we left it.”
Of the aforementioned group expect to see Yoon—the starting kicker—and the early enrollee Tillery frequently. Jones and Sanders are two more the Irish will likely use in some role against Texas, the latter of whom could contribute on special teams.
By the end of fall camp St. Brown edged out sophomore Corey Holmes as a second-team wide receiver. Meanwhile, Coleman still has to play his way onto the field among a talented crop of cornerbacks, while Coney has the misfortune of playing behind Smith. Wimbush, the No. 3 quarterback, could spend a portion of practice with the scout team if the coaching staff wants him to receive more reps.
“If we feel like he hasn’t gotten enough reps we’ll send him up to the scout team for just their skelly period when they’re running a conventional offense, and we’ll let him throw skelly and bring him back,” Kelly said. “That would be the routine.”
As many as nine freshmen will practice with the first and second-teams, while the rest will start the season on Notre Dame’s scout team.
The decision to either keep players up with the starters and reserves or relegate them to scout team duty is one Irish head coach Brian Kelly makes every year around this time, but his choices aren’t finalized.
The players who are certain to stay with the first-team and reserves are kickerJustin Yoon; defensive tackle Jerry Tillery; cornerback Nick Coleman; quarterback Brandon Wimbush; tight end Aliz’e Jones; and wide receivers C.J. Sanders and Equanimeous St. Brown. Kelly also named Te’von Coney as the backup to Will linebacker Jaylon Smith.
There’s a possibility the group could extend to nine, depending on whether or not the coaching staff decides to add a third wide receiver to the mix.
“Miles Boykin is not a definite,” Kelly said. “We’ll see what happens down the road.”
Boykin is one of four freshmen receivers, and all have received plaudits from their coaches. But the emergence of St. Brown and Sanders leaves the 6-foot-3½, 225-pound receiver, whom Kelly no longer foresees as a tight end, on the cusp of the head coach’s list.
“When you see him, if he walked in right now you’d swear he’s a tight end, but he’s not,” Kelly said of Boykin. “As much as we were kind of recruiting him with maybe one eye toward a future tight end, he’s not a tight end. He’s a wide receiver. He’s got extremely down the field, extremely good ball skills down the field. Adjusts well to the ball. He doesn’t play stiff to the ball at all. Can run, so really pleased in terms of what his future looks like as a wide receiver.”
The list is by no means restricted to nine. If first or second-teamers sustain injuries, as was the case in 2014, there’s always the possibility for promotion.
“(…) There’s probably a couple of guys that if we got into a tough situation, we could pull them,” Kelly added. “So I’d say right now it’s what we’ve said to the guys is this: Look. You’re going down to scout team but you definitely can earn your way back up here, and I think that’s the way we left it.”
Of the aforementioned group expect to see Yoon—the starting kicker—and the early enrollee Tillery frequently. Jones and Sanders are two more the Irish will likely use in some role against Texas, the latter of whom could contribute on special teams.
By the end of fall camp St. Brown edged out sophomore Corey Holmes as a second-team wide receiver. Meanwhile, Coleman still has to play his way onto the field among a talented crop of cornerbacks, while Coney has the misfortune of playing behind Smith. Wimbush, the No. 3 quarterback, could spend a portion of practice with the scout team if the coaching staff wants him to receive more reps.
“If we feel like he hasn’t gotten enough reps we’ll send him up to the scout team for just their skelly period when they’re running a conventional offense, and we’ll let him throw skelly and bring him back,” Kelly said. “That would be the routine.”
