Del Alexander Notebook | August 15th
Notre Dame receivers coach Del Alexander has a deep group this fall, and he spoke about the progress of his unit on Wednesday.
On the progress of receiver unit:
“Year one to year two has been giving great effort. The guys come out to the field with a mindset of trying to be explosive and dynamic players.”
On young guys stepping up:
“Our freshmen don’t know what they’re doing, but they play fast. They give you their attention and excellent effort.
“You have (Miles) Boykin and (Chase) Claypool, but you also have (Chris) Finke and some other guys that have been here for a couple of years. I’m just pleased with the effort and great attitude.”
On Miles Boykin:
“The great thing is he is going into his junior year, so he has another year of eligibility. I tell these guys all the time that their career isn’t going to be defined by the first year. We’d love it, but their career will be defined by their foundation they put together.
“Miles understands we’re pushing him to be the best and he’s responded. We’re happy with that.”
On Chris Finke:
“The biggest development happened in the summer. He got a little bit bigger and became a little more mature studying film. It’s the next step in the process. He does make a lot of plays, but he’s gotten a little more football savvy in terms of creating separation and using his strength.”
On Michael Young:
“They all play all over the place. These guys don’t line up in one spot. Mike is a second-year player, and he gets our offense. He’s trying to get more game experience now.”
On Young’s instincts:
“He is pretty smart. In year one, it’s about being smart. For him with limited snaps in year one, it was about what he had upstairs.”
On receiver Javon McKinley:
“He’s practicing every day. It’s not easy because you want to be at the front of the line. It comes and goes. It’s competitive. He’s in a competitive situation, and he’s not backing down. He’s showing up to work every day.
On McKinley’s redshirt last fall:
“He had a great attitude. The toughest part was not having the experience week in and week out in the offense. Those are some of the things like Michael Young got week in and week out. McKinley was coming back from the injury and with the scout team last fall.”
On Kevin Austin Jr.:
“He’s right where he’s supposed to be. The first phase is the playbook. The second phase is fatigue on the legs. I think he’s done a great job of being consistent through each of those phases.
“He’s still learning and growing, but he’s definitely shown some talent. We want to make sure he stays on course.”
On Braden Lenzy and Lawrence Keys III:
“They are giving great effort. We brought them in and told them all we wanted was for them to play fast. They’ve done a great job of playing fast and pushing the tempo. They have done some things we’ve been proud of. This is a great young group, and they do a great job of taking the coaching and trying to show up to make plays.”
On Joe Wilkins Jr.:
“We like his grit. We like he can run around, and he always has a ton of energy. He hasn’t slowed down since the first day. As a group, these guys have gotten together and said they want to be different as a group. It’s a good group to work with.”
On Isaiah Robertson moving to receiver:
“That’s new, so it’d be unfair to try and give anything. He has a great attitude and caught a couple of balls.”