Jordan Johnson Transfer Impacts The Notre Dame Depth Chart

The departure of Jordan Johnson could have a damaging impact on the present and future depth chart

The departure of talented sophomore wide receiver Jordan Johnson has certainly created a great deal of discussion in Notre Dame circles. The debates about who is to blame for his lack of playing time and departure will likely carry on until the season starts. The debate about whose job it is to get a player with his ability up to speed - his, the coaches or a combination - will also rage.

I've made my opinion about that known, but now I want to talk about how this practically impacts the Notre Dame depth chart.

To begin, look at the remaining receivers on the roster and how much eligibility they posses.

* - refers to fifth season

Notre Dame has 10 scholarship receivers on the depth chart for 2020, including incoming freshmen Deion Colzie and Jayden Thomas, who were not on the roster in the spring.

NOTRE DAME DEPTH GOOD FOR 2021, SORT OF

Notre Dame has plenty of talent returning to the roster, and now veterans like Kevin Austin, Braden Lenzy and Lawrence Keys III were players that people - like myself - were pushing to get more playing time in the past. They were Jordan Johnson before Jordan Johnson.

They are now the veterans and should dominate the top two rows of the depth chart along with fifth-year senior Avery Davis and senior Joe Wilkins Jr.

Notre Dame also has rising sophomore Xavier Watts, who I gave a higher upgrade ranking to than Johnson, and they were in the same class. The Irish also have two very talented freshmen that on most top programs would have a great shot at playing early (Lorenzo Styles Jr., Deion Colzie).

There is plenty of talent, but if we are being objective it's not as simply as pointing to the names on the roster and saying, "Notre Dame will be fine."

Austin has broken his foot twice in the last year and has caught just six career passes. He's immensely talented - arguably Notre Dame's most physically gifted wideout - but he's inexperienced and his foot injury makes it unknown whether he will be the same athlete he was prior.

Lenzy and Keys have both struggled to stay healthy, especially Lenzy, who missed multiple games in each of the last two seasons due to injury. Lenzy was a shell of himself in 2020 due to reoccurring hamstring issues. His injury history makes him far from a sure thing when it comes to knowing he'll be able to answer the bell every week.

Wilkins is a solid player, but he's not the talent that Johnson was, he's battled drop issues and he's had his own share of nagging injuries the last two seasons.

Watts is talented but he seems to be in the same boat that Johnson was, which is way behind the others, and there doesn't seem to be much urgency from the staff to get him ready to go.

Then there is the freshmen. Without any context their presence should provide comfort, but that's exactly what Notre Dame fans thought about Johnson, who was higher ranked than all of them coming out of high school. And Notre Dame hasn't exactly earned a reputation for getting freshmen receivers ready to play the last decade.

Here's the point, if Notre Dame's current depth chart stays healthy the Fighting Irish wideouts should be just fine in 2021, just fine, but that's a big, big if.

There are some practical concerns in regards to Johnson being on the more talented one-on-one players and having much better size than most of the depth chart not named Austin, Wilkins or Colzie, but there are things the staff could do to alter the offense enough to not having to rely on size should the bigger wideouts go down.

FUTURE NOTRE DAME DEPTH IS A PROBLEM

Where this departure proves most problematic is looking past 2021.

Austin, Lenzy, Keys and Wilkins are seniors, and while all have an additional season of eligibility I'd be a bit surprised if two of Austin, Lenzy and Keys are back next season. With their injury histories if both have productive seasons it might be a challenge to convince them to stay. If they battle injuries again then you're bringing back players that can't stay healthy, which would make no sense.

Davis is already gone and the fact is Wilkins is a solid player, but you aren't beating Clemson and Alabama with him as your go-to player.

If Notre Dame is able to convince three or four of the fifth-year seniors to return that creates a problem for other positions because it means fewer potential fifth-years at other spots, and it takes a chunk off the scholarship numbers for the 2022 recruiting class.

Notre Dame needs to hit a home run in the 2022 recruiting class, but then again the player they just lost was the highest ranked wide receiver recruit to sign with Notre Dame in the last decade, so they clearly are no sure thing to be ready to play as freshmen.

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