Kevin Austin's Combine Performance Shows That Once Again Notre Dame Doesn't Have A Speed Problem

Kevin Austin is the latest Notre Dame wide receiver to blow up the combine

It seems like we hear this every year since Matt Balis showed up as the Notre Dame director of strength and conditioning .... a Notre Dame wide receiver has dominated at the NFL Scouting Combine.

The latest is Kevin Austin, who put forth arguably the best all-around combine performance of any wide receiver last night. There were faster 40-yard dash times, but not many, and no one had the combination of production in the sprints, jumps and movement drills.

Austin had an official 40-yard dash time of 4.43, which ranked 9th out of 32 receivers to run it at this year's combine.

Austin had a 39-inch vertical jump, which ranked 3rd.

Austin had an 11-foot brad jump, which ranked 5th.

Austin ran a 6.71 in the 3-Cone drill, which ranked 1st. 

Austin ran a 4.15 in the 20-yard shuttle, which ranked 2nd.

Austin was the ONLY receiver in this draft class to rank in the Top 5 in the vertical, broad jump, 3-Cone drill and the shuttle.

He did this while checking in at 6-2 and 200 pounds. 

This is all great for Austin, who needed this kind of dominant performance to overcome what was an inconsistent career capped off by an inconsistent senior season.

This performance helped him quite a bit, but we have come to expect that from Irish receivers in recent years. It followed brilliant combine performances from Miles Boykin (2019) and Chase Claypool (2020). 

Their combine performances continue to dispel the notion that Notre Dame somehow lacks elite speed or athleticism or explosiveness at wide receiver. They don't, and they haven't for some time now. Notre Dame had one of the fastest wide receiver corps in the country in 2015, led by Will Fuller, who ran a 4.32 at the combine. Boykin, Claypool, Austin and Braden Lenzy were all part of the same receiving corps in 2018.

You know, the receiving corps that played against Clemson in the playoff, and the corps that Brian Kelly said lacked the explosiveness to score on Clemson. It was an absurd comment at the time, typical of the excuse making that Kelly made for his own failures, and it an even more absurd comment after every combine performance by an Irish receiver.

Think about this. 40-times for Notre Dame's receivers in that 2018 game vs. Clemson.

Claypool - 4.42
Boykin - 4.42
Austin - 4.43
Chris Finke - 4.56

Plus you have Braden Lenzy, who is possibly faster than all of those wideouts.

Here are Clemson's numbers:

Amari Rodgers - 4.52
Tee Higgins - 4.59
Hunter Renfrow - 4.59

IB's Ryan Roberts, who also covers the NFL Draft, believes Justyn Ross would have been a high 4.3 or low 4.4 player prior to his injuries, so the Tigers did have one player who could really move.

Yet Clemson's receivers made big plays in that game while Notre Dame's did not. They also made big plays in their national championship victory over Alabama that season.

Notre Dame's issues on offense, especially at wide receiver, were never about a lack of speed or explosiveness. Notre Dame had quarterback woes Kelly was unwilling to admit, it had some scheme problems in the past and the fact is the last five years the wide receivers simply were not coached and prepared well enough to turn the elite athleticism into consistently elite production.

Claypool had a monster second half of the 2019 season, which resulted in him putting up very good numbers (66 catches, 1,037 yards, 13 TD), but it took four years to get Claypool to that point, and much of what he did was about his elite physical tools. Boykin and Austin never topped more than 900 receiving yards in a season and neither saw double digit touchdown receptions. 

Both also had just one productive season, albeit for different reasons. Austin would have been a bigger factor in 2020 as well if not for a summer injury.

Consider that Purdue receiver David Bell had seasons of 1,286 yards (93 catches) and 1,035 yards (86 catches) and another season where he was on pace for well over 1,000 yards without a Covid shortened season. Bell ran an official 4.65 in the 40-yard dash yesterday while posting a 33" vertical, a 4.57 in the shuttle drill and a 7.14 in the 3-Cone drill.

Boykin ran a 4.42 in the 40-yard dash, had a 4.07 in the shuttle, a 6.77 in the 3-Cone drill and leaped 43.5 inches.

Claypool ran a 4.42 in the 40-yard dash and leaped 40.5 inches.

None of them were the player that Bell was, and the primary reason is Bell was a very well coached, savvy football player who knows how to play the position at a high level.

When you pop on the film of Boykin, Claypool and Austin ... and just about every other Notre Dame receiver in recent seasons you saw a bunch of very physically gifted players that struggled to play the game with the technique, fundamentals and nuance that you see from other top receiving corps. 

Sloppy route technique often led to the unit having trouble producing against the better teams on the schedule the way it did against opponents it could simply out-athlete.

We saw this especially with Austin this year. At times he was outstanding, and at other times he was invisible. Austin showed no feel for getting off the line, and he isn't as big as Boykin and Claypool, who could simply use their size to get off the line. Like his former teammates, Austin struggled with top ends on his routes, and as they did he showed very little feel for how to use his stem and body to manipulate defenders during his route.

Austin's struggles to get off the line frustrated him, and that led to him not coming down with catches in those games (Purdue, Cincinnati, USC as the best examples) that his talent level would otherwise indicate.

It's scary to think about, but what the wide receiver corps could have done if the position coaching was as good as the strength and conditioning coaching. 

Kelly liked to blame his team's lack of explosiveness on the perimeter after embarrassing postseason losses where the offense failed to show up. The real problem, however, was his inability to address the real problems, which in this instance was his coaching hires, his unwillingness to rectify those hires and his overall influence on the offense.

Notre Dame's current group of receivers is no different. The unit lacks depth because of the former position coach not being able to keep players on the roster and shortcomings on the recruiting trail from a numbers standpoint, but the guys that do return are athletic and talented.

A wide receiving corps with athletes like Lorenzo Styles, Braden Lenzy, Avery Davis, Deion Colzie and Tobias Merriweather isn't one that lacks explosiveness or speed, no matter how much the former coach tried to convince people that was the problem.

The good news is that this group will still have the same strength coach, but there's hope that this unit will finally have a level of coaching that matches their ability. If Chansi Stuckey is the coach I hope/think he can be, and what my sources tell me he will be, things are going to change quickly.

That talent plus good coaching (at wide receiver and offensive line) has me fired up to see what this offense can do in 2022.

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