Notre Dame WR Deion Colzie Looking to Finish Strong in 2022
Deion Colzie had plenty of time left in his career to make a move, but the sophomore receiver also needed to show some life this fall.
It started slow for the 6-foot-4, 211-pounder as the Georgia native didn’t make his first reception of the year until the last weekend of October against Syracuse. Colzie showed up big with two third down catches as he recorded three catches for 44 yards against the Orange.
Colzie finished the year with nine receptions for 192 yards and one touchdown, while also coming up with key third down conversions for the Irish offense.
What led to the strong finish? Health.
“Honestly, for one, midway through the season I felt 100 percent healthy,” stated Colzie. “Early in the year, I was battling a knee injury. I wasn’t feeling 100% myself. Toward the middle of the season, I started to feel myself and came into work every day wanting to be the best - asking questions, getting feedback from my coaches and other players and making sure I could take my game to the next level.
“Luckily the coaches saw that and gave me those opportunities later in the season.”
No, Colzie doesn’t feel there was a moment that led to him feeling more comfortable or even healthy. It was just simply stacking days to gain confidence.
“I wouldn’t say it was a specific moment when I felt that, honestly,” explained Colzie. “I just think over time I gained more confidence not only in my own health and my knowledge of the game and the trust aspect of the coaches. Once I felt I had that trust and that knowledge, I was able to translate it to the game.”
This month, Colzie and the Irish receivers have had the challenge of adapting to another quarterback. Drew Pyne is gone and the offense has been turned over to sophomore quarterback Tyler Buchner and freshman Steve Angeli.
Colzie is Buchner’s classmate and while chemistry is there, it also needs to get better heading into this week’s Gator Bowl.
“It hasn’t been much of a change,” Colzie said. “Obviously we were with Tyler during the beginning of the season. It’s always in the back of your mind. It doesn’t just go away. It’s a matter of bringing the confidence back and working with it every single day and trying new things out.”
December has also been a month for the sophomore class of receivers to take the next step forward. Colzie has shown the ability to make critical plays while Lorenzo Styles and Jayden Thomas have done much of the same.
“From the beginning to now, we’ve made significant improvements,” Colzie stated. “We always come in every day wanting to get each other better. I can say that about us three. We’re really close to each other. We came in around the same time. Zo came in a semester earlier than us, but we came in at the same time.
“We’re all best friends. We come in every day wanting to get each other better. We all play three different positions, so we can get information and get to know the whole offense just from talking to each other for five minutes.”
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