Tag: Joe Wilkins

Notre Dame Football: Transfer portal tracker for 2022-23

Who do you most want to see Notre Dame bring in via the portal?

Whether you like it or not, the transfer portal has taken college athletics by storm and changed the landscape of college sports forever. Notre Dame has experienced this in recent years. It has had players exit and players arrive via the portal.

So who is leaving Notre Dame via the portal in 2022-23? We’re keeping you up to date on who enters the portal, where they end up and who Notre Dame lands via the portal this offseason.

Here are all the Notre Dame players to enter the portal since the start of the 2022 season. Those who transfer into Notre Dame will be tracked as well.

Notre Dame football: Freeman leaves door open for Logan Diggs at Ohio State

How much would this help if he’s able to go?

When Notre Dame sophomore running back [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag] tore his labrum in the spring game this past April the assumption was that his at least first month of the 2022 regular season was over.  Fast forward a few months to the start of fall camp and although there is no guarantee that it isn’t, Marcus Freeman isn’t so certain Diggs won’t be able to go in the opener at Ohio State on Labor Day weekend.

Freeman spoke Friday after the opening practice of fall camp and discussed who would be unavailable for the opener.  He mentioned wide receiver [autotag]Joe Wilkins[/autotag], tight end [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag], and running back [autotag]Jadarian Price[/autotag] but did not mention Diggs.

“Now, there’s a progression for some guys getting back. We can’t just go (from) zero and put them in there 100. So, we have some guys on limited reps. Obviously Logan Diggs and we have Marist Liufau on some limit reps today. But for the most part, those three other guys we know will be out for the first game. And then we expect those other guys that may have limited reps today to be ready to roll.” – Marcus Freeman

That certainly isn’t a guarantee by any means but it at least gives a bit of hope that Notre Dame won’t enter the Horseshoe just under a month from today with only Chris Tyree, Audric Esteem, and Gi’Bran Payne as their only available scholarship backs.

If you look at how Ohio State lost their two games last year it was from a heavy dose of the opponents running game, something Notre Dame will be looking hard to exploit in hopes of pulling the upset.

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Veteran Notre Dame receiver to miss rest of spring with foot injury

What is your overall feeling about Notre Dame’s wide receiver situation five months ahead of the season opener?

The injury bug showed its ugly head again this week at Notre Dame where spring practice continues.  Head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] announced Saturday that grad-student [autotag]Joe Wilkins, Jr.[/autotag] is done for the spring after suffering a foot injury earlier in the week.

Freeman stated that Wilkins is expected to be ready to go for the regular season but the injury is another setback for him as he’s coming off an MCL injury last season that kept him out the final two months of the regular season.  In his five games played last year Wilkins did pull down four receptions for 61 yards and an impressive touchdown reception against Florida State.

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Currently Notre Dame has grad-students [autotag]Braden Lenzy[/autotag] and [autotag]Matt Salerno[/autotag], sophomores [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag], [autotag]Lorenzo Styles[/autotag], and [autotag]Jayden Thomas[/autotag], as well as walk-on [autotag]Conor Ratigan[/autotag] healthy at receiver.  Freshman [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag] did not enroll early and will arrive at Notre Dame in June.  Grad-student [autotag]Avery Davis[/autotag] remains sidelined as he’s coming off an ACL injury last November.

The Wilkins news is unfortunate but perhaps the little bit of good news that comes with it is that more reps for talented underclassmen are now available this spring.

Related:

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Notre Dame loses wide receiver for season

Who steps up to fill this hole?

Notre Dame wide receiver Joe Wilkins will miss the remainder of the 2021 season after tearing his MCL in the Fighting Irish loss versus Cincinnati last week.

Wilkins, a junior, had four receptions through Notre Dame’s first five games this year totaling 61 yards. He also recorded a touchdown reception in the season-opening victory at Florida State.

Brian Kelly announced the unfortunate news during his media availability on Thursday.

With the loss of Wilkins you would assume more playing time is right around the corner for true freshmen Lorenzo Styles and Deion Colzie.  Styles recorded his second career reception in the second half of last week’s game, gaining 14 yards and a Notre Dame first down.

Related:

Notre Dame releases first depth chart for Virginia Tech game

College football experts make Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech predictions

Stop overthinking things and start Drew Pyne

Reading between the lines it sure seems like Pyne will start at Virginia Tech

40 Notre Dame players on NFL rosters to start 2021

Current NFL receiver shares why he de-commited from Notre Dame

Notre Dame at Florida State: Second-Quarter Analysis

That quarter didn’t start great, but it got better as it went along.

Notre Dame had its hands full with a Florida State team that knew what it was doing. A will-imposing defensive line for the Seminoles and the Irish’s struggles with their own defense were not boding well. However, momentum can be fleeting, and a couple of plays shifted it back towards the visitors. The Irish find themselves up at halftime, 17-14.

The Irish’s first possession of the second quarter found them deep in their own territory, and they ultimately couldn’t advance the ball past the original line of scrimmage. Jay Bramblett’s 38-yard punt meant the Seminoles could start in Irish territory. The Seminoles barely broke a sweat in marching to the end zone. A 21-yard pass to Malik McClain and a 20-yard run by Lawrance Toafili set up a sweeping 2-yard touchdown run by Jordan Travis to give the Seminoles their first lead of the game.

In need of a response, the Irish put together a nice drive led by the running duo of Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree. However, Jack Coan took a sack and lost yardage on another play as the drive stalled at the Seminoles’ 29-yard line. Jonathan Doerer made the offense’s effort worth it by kicking a 48-yard field goal, his first such score of the season.

After that, the Seminoles took back-to-back false starts, showing why they were among the most penalized teams in the country last year. On third-and-8, Travis threw a deep pass, and Kyle Hamilton made him pay with Notre Dame’s first interception of 2021.

Gifted a short field, Coan and the rest of the offense took full advantage. He found Michael Mayer for a 15-yard completion, then threw a 23-yard pass toward the end zone that Joe Wilkins caught on a 50-50 ball. Wilkins barely registered a blip on the radar in 2020, so to see him score a touchdown in the first game of 2021 is rather nice.

Overall, you can’t complain about the scoreboard to this point. Still, this doesn’t appear it will be the cakewalk some were expecting, at least not yet. The offense needs to put together clean drives, and the defense has to impose its will on an opposing offense that has shown signs of regressing. With half the game to play, now is not the time for either unit to let up.

See: Notre Dame takes the lead back on Wilkins TD reception

The Irish get the lead back!

Notre Dame’s head coach Brian Kelly had a little chat with his quarterback Jack Coan, and it seems like the conversation was well received by the graduate transfer. Coan led two scoring drives immediately following the conversation, the first concluding with a 48-yard Jonathan Doerer field goal to get the Irish a bit closer to Florida State at 14-10.

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The next possession after the Kyle Hamilton interception was another quick strike, this time with Coan finding Joel Wilkins in the endzone as the Irish got the lead back over FSU, 17-14. Coan did an excellent job of putting the ball where Wilkins could high point the ball and that’s exactly what he did. A massive play, that gave the Irish the lead back and momentum on their side.

Notre Dame at Georgia Tech: First-Quarter Analysis

Sometimes, you just gotta hold onto the ball in order to come out on top.

Sometimes, you just gotta hold onto the ball in order to come out on top. While it’s too early to determine if that will work for Notre Dame at this point, that certainly was case in the first quarter. How else to explain its 7-0 lead over Georgia Tech?

The Irish began the game with a possession that lasted 8:44 thanks to a nice mixture of runs and passes along with a few third-down conversions. It ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Ian Book to Joe Wilkins Jr. That’s the first score for Wilkins at Notre Dame. Book completed all seven of his pass attempts for 49 yards during the drive.

Despite having to wait longer than usual to see the field, the Irish’s defense did not miss a beat. It allowed Jahmyr Gibbs to pick up 5 yards on the ground on third-and-1, but took those yards right back when Gibbs was tackled behind the line after taking a pass from Jeff Sims. Soon after, the Yellow Jackets punted it away and then appeared to recover a fumble but a hands-to-the-face penalty. The Irish took advantage of their second life by getting close to the end zone again as the quarter ended.

Watch: Book finds Wilkins for early lead vs. Georgia Tech

Notre Dame strikes first as Ian Book finds Joe Wilkins for an 8-yard touchdown giving the Irish an early 7-0 over Georgia Tech.

What a drive the Irish started out the game with a 15-play, 81-yard scoring drive that ended with Ian Book finding Joe Wilkins for a short 8-yard touchdown.

That was the first score for Wilkins in his Irish career.

That gives the Irish an early lead over the Yellow Jackets, 7-0, early in the first quarter.

 

Notre Dame notes: Kelly’s Monday presser focuses on red zone, travel, and more

The highlights of Brian Kelly’s Monday meeting with the press include red zone issues, wide receiver rotation, Jahmir Smith leaving and more.

The Irish have been in a unique situation this season, they have yet to hit the road for a game this season. When their trip to Wake Forest was reschedule due to a rash of Irish football team members testing positive for COVID-19, the schedule just worked out that way. Well, Kelly addressed his team traveling to Pittsburgh this weekend, the issues in the red zone, a player leaving the program and more in his regularly scheduled Monday afternoon press conference. Here are some of the big topics Kelly touched on today.

-The red zone offense needs to be better as Kelly said “we’ve got to be better in that area moving forward.” That’s a huge understatement.

-Going to Pitt this weekend will be treated like a home game on Friday. The team will be very careful during their travels, no team meals, eating at Heinz Field concourses and Kelly wants to “create an atmosphere where we can control it the best we can.”

-Kelly might have pinpointed some issues with the wide receivers because “it has been a revolving door” at the position. With new faces and others working back from injuries, the Irish head coach thinks they may have pushed them too hard in practice. It’s obviously a “work in progress” as he stated.

-Kelly pointed out three players (Isaiah Foskey, Jack Kiser and Joe Wilkins) that need to play more. After Saturday’s win against Louisville, he had notes that said “how do we get them involved more.”

-Running back Jahmir Smith has left the team, Kelly said “he’s decided at this time he is not going to be playing football.”

-Kurt Hinish has been great this year and Kelly attributed it to a few factors, but mainly his high football IQ. “He (Hinish) knows what they’re (the offense) is trying to do scheme wise.”

-On the offense’s strengths and weakness, Kelly said “right now we’re so much better running it than throwing it. I want people to respect our ability to throw it.” The offense will keep at it, “we’re going to push the ball vertically down the field, we’re going to have to be better at it.” He knows there are some issues in “attacking defenses down the field in our passing game, were not there yet. We have to get going.”

-On Pitt’s defense: “game wreckers on defense, they’ll play physical and they’re well coached.”

Tale of the Tape: Leading Receivers – Joe Wilkins vs. Bryce Miller

Technically, Kyren Williams is Notre Dame’s leading receiver, but for the purposes of this post, that wouldn’t be right.

Technically, Kyren Williams is Notre Dame’s leading receiver, but for the purposes of this post, that wouldn’t be right. Instead, we look at junior Joe Wilkins Jr., the junior from North Fort Myers, Florida. Only four receptions is proof that Ian Book isn’t quite used to his new targets yet. However, one reception for 20 yards is proof that Wilkins is capable of the big play, and it’s possible he’ll have more than one such opportunity against USF.

The Bulls’ top receiver, Bryce Miller, didn’t showcase much in his season opener either. To be fair, he suits up for a team that chose to emphasize its run game out of the gate. If he can’t do better against the Irish than what we see above, it’s going to be a long afternoon for him and the rest of his team. An offense simply doesn’t walk into South Bend with a strategy that would have worked better generations ago.