'18 FL WR Kevin Austin (Notre Dame Signee)

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317Irish

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ulukinatme said:
I dunno. Personally I was glad he decided to try the Draft, even with the depth issues at WR. I didn't see him getting better, although a new coach may or may not have helped. Some guys just don't get that you need more than speed and raw talent, you gotta work on the little things like route running, getting separation, blocking, timing, consistency with your catches, etc. As far as the WR group, I didn't see them taking the next step with Austin eating up a bunch of starting reps. Sucks that we're short a few bodies, but I didn't see Austin changing his routine and so I feel better about younger guys getting more experience.
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This is a terrible take
 
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317Irish said:
This is a terrible take
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Some guys just don't get it. They rely on their raw talent and never work on the fundamentals of the position. GA III (RIP) was one of those guys that never worked on his blocking, working on staying low, running routes, etc. He, and maybe it was his father in his ear, thought he could just live off his track speed. He got to the NFL, but aside from some special teams appearances he was stuck on the practice squad. There's a number of guys that were in the same boat, lots of raw talent but didn't work hard enough to learn their positions. Maybe they thought they were good enough, maybe they couldn't make it all click, I don't know. Those kind of guys never really made it at the next level though. I have a feeling Austin is in that same boat. Sticking around another year wasn't going to help him, and it would only serve to take away reps from a player with more potential. Feel free to explain why this is a terrible take, I'm willing to consider your points.
 
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ulukinatme said:
Some guys just don't get it. They rely on their raw talent and never work on the fundamentals of the position. GA III (RIP) was one of those guys that never worked on his blocking, working on staying low, running routes, etc. He, and maybe it was his father in his ear, thought he could just live off his track speed. He got to the NFL, but aside from some special teams appearances he was stuck on the practice squad. There's a number of guys that were in the same boat, lots of raw talent but didn't work hard enough to learn their positions. Maybe they thought they were good enough, maybe they couldn't make it all click, I don't know. Those kind of guys never really made it at the next level though. I have a feeling Austin is in that same boat. Sticking around another year wasn't going to help him, and it would only serve to take away reps from a player with more potential. Feel free to explain why this is a terrible take, I'm willing to consider your points.
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I believe it's a terrible take because it's not based on the reports anyone else shared, but please provide links if you've read otherwise. Austin, while not loving South Bend life, was a committed teammate and did what he could to help the team. It just turns out that he was academically ineligible one year, broke his foot twice and had limited snaps for us.

Your proposition is either: get Austin back for a 5th year or let younger guys get more snaps? That isn't even a question, you bring Austin back and let the young guys pass him by if they are capable. With another healthy year, Austin probably earns a 3rd-4th round draft spot.

I know it's conjecture but from our vantage, there isn't a decision to be made. We are low on numbers and Austin was our best WR last year (in his only fully healthy year for us).
 
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Throw in a new coach, a potentially-better QB and an added year of maturity and there’s a strong chance Austin plays himself into a second-day draft pick if he’d stayed this year. Would’ve been a better move for him and for our team.
As for reps, it’s not like we have some deep stable of WRs. There’d be plenty for everyone at this point.
Alas..:
 
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I guess i never saw him being this talented receiver....for everyone thinking he was such a stud or could be.....i mean what did he ever do that you could even draw that conclusion? he had decent speed, had decent size and ok to decent hands...but that's just my .02
 
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NDpendent said:
Argeed, If Austin was actually coached fundamentals I think he goes in the 2nd round. He was very talented but incredibly raw. I think a year with Stuckey would have gone a long way.
Has anyone seen the Lenzy recent interview? He made it seem like the previous coaching staff wasnt teaching them anything and that He is so much more improved under the direction of Stuck
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you can add jayden thomas to that list as well mentioning how much more improved he feels he is since stuckey
 
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PANDFAN said:
I guess i never saw him being this talented receiver....for everyone thinking he was such a stud or could be.....i mean what did he ever do that you could even draw that conclusion? he had decent speed, had decent size and ok to decent hands...but that's just my .02
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Yeah i am not convinced that his draft stock would have changed much with an extra year in college.
 
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Veritate Duce Progredi said:
I believe it's a terrible take because it's not based on the reports anyone else shared, but please provide links if you've read otherwise. Austin, while not loving South Bend life, was a committed teammate and did what he could to help the team. It just turns out that he was academically ineligible one year, broke his foot twice and had limited snaps for us.

Your proposition is either: get Austin back for a 5th year or let younger guys get more snaps? That isn't even a question, you bring Austin back and let the young guys pass him by if they are capable. With another healthy year, Austin probably earns a 3rd-4th round draft spot.

I know it's conjecture but from our vantage, there isn't a decision to be made. We are low on numbers and Austin was our best WR last year (in his only fully healthy year for us).
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You don't need reports, you can go off his play on the field and lack of improvement. He may have had the most stats, but he was not our best receiver. He was inconsistent, had suspect hands, and struggled to get open at times. Based on Lenzy's interview it sounds like things may have clicked for him in one offseason with Stuckey, and I hope that the case for his sake and ours.
 
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ulukinatme said:
You don't need reports, you can go off his play on the field and lack of improvement. He may have had the most stats, but he was not our best receiver. He was inconsistent, had suspect hands, and struggled to get open at times. Based on Lenzy's interview it sounds like things may have clicked for him in one offseason with Stuckey, and I hope that the case for his sake and ours.
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Again, i get it but there is almost nothing to lose if he wanted to come back. If all the things you say are true, then the younger WRs would pass him up fast and he'd be depth. If he improved with Stuckey, he'd be a starter.

The question is would we bring Kevin back if it was up to us? My answer is a resounding yes because I can't see a negative. He couldn't be toxic because Freeman won't allow it and our culture is healthy.
 
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Veritate Duce Progredi said:
Again, i get it but there is almost nothing to lose if he wanted to come back. If all the things you say are true, then the younger WRs would pass him up fast and he'd be depth. If he improved with Stuckey, he'd be a starter.

The question is would we bring Kevin back if it was up to us? My answer is a resounding yes because I can't see a negative. He couldn't be toxic because Freeman won't allow it and our culture is healthy.
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Look at it from this perspective: Lenzy was our #2 WR, and despite playing all season as a starter he nearly was beat out in stats by Styles who played basically half a season following the BYE. How much did Lenzy really contribute offensively? How many of those snaps could have gone to Styles or Colzie to prepare for the future? Lenzy had yet to prove anything by 2021 and he really didn't change perceptions last year. At what point is a player holding the offense back if they're not contributing much?

Hopefully these positive reports from Stuckey mean he's finally turned the corner, but if not...would it not serve us better to move Lenzy down the depth chart and give most of the reps to Merriweather, Colzie, or one of the younger talents? The #1 receiver should hone all aspects of his game. There wasn't that much improvement from Austin over the course of the season, and very little over the course of his career (Even if the sample size was small). He almost completely disappeared in the 2nd half of the Fiesta Bowl when we needed a Senior WR to step up, and his drops certainly contributed to us losing that Cinci game. Nobody is saying he was toxic, but if he was eating up most of the reps as a starter I'm not so sure he would have improved his game that much. It would only end up holding back one of the younger talents.
 
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ulukinatme said:
Hopefully these positive reports from Stuckey mean he's finally turned the corner, but if not...would it not serve us better to move Lenzy down the depth chart and give most of the reps to Merriweather, Colzie, or one of the younger talents? … It would only end up holding back one of the younger talents.
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We have like four wide receivers. There’s plenty of reps.
 
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ulukinatme said:
Based on the depth chart it looks like we're at about 8 if you take out AD and add Xavier.
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Eight including a walk-on, a guy who is also playing safety, two guys who have taken a combined zero snaps in college football and Wilkins, who has never done much and been hurt quite a bit. No matter how you slice it we're pretty damn thin.
I don't see how having last year's leading receiver back for another year would be a bad thing.
 
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stlnd01 said:
Eight including a walk-on, a guy who is also playing safety, two guys who have taken a combined zero snaps in college football and Wilkins, who has never done much and been hurt quite a bit. No matter how you slice it we're pretty damn thin.
I don't see how having last year's leading receiver back for another year would be a bad thing.
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One inconsistent WR isn't going to change our fortunes this year. I've already figured that 2023 or 2024 is the year everything should be clicking for ND. In theory, if the recruiting trajectory keeps up, we'll have a number of strong classes to fall back on at that point. The freshmen from '21 will be Juniors and Seniors by then too. I'd rather get the young WRs we have as many reps as possible to help setup those '23 or '24 runs. Austin getting a lot of those reps does nothing for next year or the year after.
 
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ulukinatme said:
Look at it from this perspective: Lenzy was our #2 WR, and despite playing all season as a starter he nearly was beat out in stats by Styles who played basically half a season following the BYE. How much did Lenzy really contribute offensively? How many of those snaps could have gone to Styles or Colzie to prepare for the future? Lenzy had yet to prove anything by 2021 and he really didn't change perceptions last year. At what point is a player holding the offense back if they're not contributing much?

Hopefully these positive reports from Stuckey mean he's finally turned the corner, but if not...would it not serve us better to move Lenzy down the depth chart and give most of the reps to Merriweather, Colzie, or one of the younger talents? The #1 receiver should hone all aspects of his game. There wasn't that much improvement from Austin over the course of the season, and very little over the course of his career (Even if the sample size was small). He almost completely disappeared in the 2nd half of the Fiesta Bowl when we needed a Senior WR to step up, and his drops certainly contributed to us losing that Cinci game. Nobody is saying he was toxic, but if he was eating up most of the reps as a starter I'm not so sure he would have improved his game that much. It would only end up holding back one of the younger talents.
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I completely disagree with all of this but we've gone round robin and I see we are fully entrenched in our views. We play with guys we have so we can move on.
 
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