Film Don't Lie | Deion Colzie
Whether it’s Michael Floyd, Equanimeous St. Brown, Miles Boykin, or Chase Claypool, Notre Dame has had big receivers on their roster who could win with more than their size. These agile giants on the outside have gone on to NFL careers with Claypool the newest on the list.
Deion Colzie continues the trend of big receivers who can play big, but have athletic traits equal to smaller receivers.
Notre Dame needed to add this type of receiver in this class so getting Colzie back in the fold was very important. Brian Kelly’s teams have relied on their boundary receivers to win contested catches and that’s something Colzie brings to the table.
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 195
Projected Position: Wide Receiver
ISD Grade: 94 (4-star)
National Average Grade: 94.2 (4-star)
What he does best:
I love the way Colzie plays. He has a physical edge to his game. Normally it might seem strange to lead off talking about a receiver’s blocking, but he is going to be a huge help to Notre Dame’s running game as a blocker.
I don’t ever remember seeing one of the returners on a kickoff who leads the way as a blocker like Colzie does here.
He has some shake after the catch and surprised me with his ability to elude the initial tackler, but he can also be a bully with his stiff arm like on this particular play.
This is him as a defender, but I specifically chose this because it’s him owning the ball in the air. He has a big catch radius and does a great job adjusting to the football in the air.
Colzie was timed running a 4.56 40 yard dash at a Nike camp, which is why it’s not surprising to see him consistently get deep. Often times his quarterback underthrows the ball to him on deep passes and it’s noticeable because he always seems to gain separation from cornerbacks. He eats up ground with his strides.
What he needs to improve:
Colzie camped at Notre Dame and I was impressed with some clips I watched of him sinking his hips to explode out of his breaks. It’s not something I have seen him do all the time on film and he’ll need to be better at it to win on intermediate routes.
He has some stiffness when changing directions and he’ll need to be a precise route runner to win when not running vertical routes.
What’s his ceiling?
Boykin is the one I thought of when watching Colzie, although Boykin was bigger as a junior in high school. I thinking Colzie can be as big as Boykin eventually, but what makes me think of Boykin more than anything else is the deep speed.
Colzie might not look like he’s moving as quick as some others and neither did Boykin. Both have the kind of speed that can threaten over the top and that is rare for players who are that tall.
He projects to play on the boundary and has the talent that could see him making an impact early in his career. It took Boykin awhile to see the field for the Irish, but that was partially due to the logjam at his position. Colzie might have to deal with that as well, but his size and skill set suggest he can eventually develop into a high-level starter for the Irish.