Lenzy Ready to Prove That He's "That Dude"

After practice on Thursday, Brian Kelly talked about how his team’s offense is going to be and how it needs to be different.

“This offense has got to produce more points,” Kelly said. “You saw that we're going to be more multiple in our offensive sets and we've got to get the ball down the field to playmakers.”

One of those playmakers is Braden Lenzy. He had a big play down the field on a double move that beat cornerback Clarence Lewis and later ran a jet sweep for a big gain. He looked like the athlete he showed himself to be in 2019 when he emerged as a big play threat for that Irish offense.

Lenzy was supposed to build on that this past season, but it never materialized because he was never fully healthy. He pulled his hamstring in camp and never got back to where he needed to be with it.

After reaggravating it again against Pitt, he didn’t catch a pass again until the regular season finale against Syracuse. Lenzy said that he didn’t run full speed all of last season until the week Notre Dame faced Alabama in the College Football Playoff.

There were many athletes who struggled with the changes because of Covid-19 last season. That was not something that bothered Lenzy. His injury was what affected him mentally more than anything in 2020.

“The injury messed my mind up,” Lenzy admitted. “Everyone wants to say they don’t hear whatever, but you hear it. I’ve heard everything. Injury prone...there is nothing I can do about that.”

What he’s doing now is showing he can be the player people thought he was going to be after the 2019 season. He’s healthy and it’s been all systems go since that Alabama week. LIke many of the veteran receivers for Notre Dame, Lenzy has a chip on his shoulder and he wants to prove he’s more than what people think he is as a player.

“I think I get a bad rap sometimes (as) gadget dude,” Lenzy said. “In my mindset since sophomore year, I’m a playmaker. In my mind I don’t feel I’m at a disadvantage. I feel like my strengths have been pretty strong through college, I just kept getting hurt.

“I think I’ve been that dude for a while and I think it’s becoming more clear now that I’m not hurt.”

It isn’t just Lenzy that is healthy and making plays at receiver. The receiver group as a whole has been making plays and Lenzy asserts this is the best camp for the receivers since he’s been at Notre Dame.

What has distinguished them from previous years?

“I just think explosives,” declared Lenzy. “We’ve done so many great things at receiver and I’m not really sure if being explosive will be that at all times. It’s not that we haven’t had the pieces, but we’ve been hurt on and off. And right now all of those pieces that have been explosive are all healthy and all playing the peak of their college career. So I just think everything is timing out well.

“I think this will kind of be the time we see a bit different look, offensively speaking.”

We did see a different looking offense at practice on Thursday. One that was more multiple with formations and personnel groupings. It was also one that didn’t lack for playmakers at all of the skill positions.

A healthy Lenzy looks ready to be “that dude” Notre Dame fans expected him to be last season. He’s one of many dudes who are going to make their 2021 offense more explosive.