Until last Saturday at Pitt, No. 4 Notre Dame hadn’t gotten much out of it’s wide receivers through the first four games of the year.
Then it was grad-transfer Ben Skowronek leading the way during the game with a pair of long touchdown receptions that helped the receiving corps stat line immensely. As a unit, the likes of Skowronek, Javon McKinley and Avery Davis combined for 201 yards and a pair of scores against Pitt, easily their best showing of the year.
And despite the loss of Kevin Austin for the season, more help might be showing up for the group this week.
That is, if Ian Book is to be believed.
Book said of five-star recruit and freshman wide receiver Jordan Johnson on Tuesday, “Jordan Johnson did an incredible job. He took pride in being up there and knowing the plays for this week. He had some unbelievable catches, and that’s what we need to see.”
Johnson is the highest regarded receiver in terms of recruiting to sign on at Notre Dame since Michael Floyd a dozen years ago now.
It’s hard to figure that Johnson would go from not making the travel squad to simply being the next star in a week, but I suppose stranger things have happened. What is obvious is that Johnson is impressive to those who actually get to see him play.
For what it’s worth, Johnson was graded as the 37th best player in the entire nation by 247Sports in last years recruiting class and is listed at 6-2, 180 pounds in the Notre Dame media guide.