Irish Impact: Wake Forest’s star WR Surratt opt out of season

Notre Dame will not face one of the best receivers in the country this year.

It has become quite common for stars to opt out of the 2020 college football season. This morning yet another player opted out, Wake Forest’s wide receiver Sage Surratt.

The Irish are set to face the Deamon Decons on September 26th, the second scheduled game of the year for Notre Dame. The Irish now get to avoid facing a 1,000-yard receiver from last year who added 11 touchdowns out of his 66 catches. He won’t be missed by any Irish defensive back, as Surratt is viewed as an early NFL Draft pick. ESPN’s Todd McShay mocked Surratt to the New York Jets as the 24th overall pick just last week.

This is great news for Notre Dame, as the secondary can continue to work itself out after losing key members like Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott and Troy Pride Jr. Star sophomore Kyle Hamilton returns and transfer Isaiah Pryor and Nick McCloud get acclimated to Clark Lea’s defensive scheme. By avoiding one of the best receivers in the ACC early in the season gives the Irish more time to mesh together in the secondary. It would have been a nice measuring stick in game two to see how the reworked secondary looks, but well gladly wait a few more games to find out just how good the defensive backfield really is.