Equanimeous St. Brown figuring things out for Notre Dame

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Ever since he came to campus last summer, Equanimeous St. Brown has been pointed to as being the next big-time wide receiver at Notre Dame.  

He earned a backup role — albeit, behind Will Fuller — as a true freshman in 2015 and entered his first spring practice with plenty of hype earlier this month. His blend of straight-line speed, good football I.Q. and 6-foot-4, 205 pound frame is mouth-watering for Irish coaches as they look to identify players who can make up for all the targets lost by the departures of Fuller, Chris Brown and Amir Carlisle. 

“He’s always been a kid who really is smart and understands our offense, he’s picked it up very well, so knowledge hasn’t been the issue,” wide receivers coach Mike Denbrock said. “It’s been more experience and game experience as he goes.”

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Most of Notre Dame’s prior go-to receivers had at least some experience — certainly more than St. Brown — before exploding for receptions, yards and touchdowns in South Bend. Fuller had six receptions for 160 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown against Air Force, his freshman year; T.J. Jones saw steady increases in his production leading up to his 70-catch, 1,108-yard senior season. 

St. Brown doesn’t have anything close to that level of gameday involvement, having played in seven games last fall and catching one pass for eight yards. His season highlight was a blocked punt against USC that showcased his elite athletic ability, though a mid-November shoulder injury meant he didn’t get the benefit of valuable bowl practice reps in December. Denbrock said St. Brown still was shaking the rust off during the early part of spring practice.

Much of St. Brown’s development to help combat that lack of experience will take place during spring practice and over the summer, when Notre Dame players don’t have to train with an eye on beating Texas Sept. 3 just yet. Denbrock said St. Brown is still figuring out when to pick his spots to be physical and bully defenders, for example, which can come by going against Cole Luke, Nick Watkins and Notre Dame’s other cornerbacks. 

Without that experience, St. Brown is still learning how best to use his ability. 

“Some of it, he’s gonna have to figure out on his own — when to kind of muscle up and be more of a physical presence because he’s got the size to do it, when to try to outrun somebody, when he’s gotta break him down athletically, whatever that happens to be,” Denbrock said. “That comes with knowledge of the game and experience.”

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Denbrock, though, is confident St. Brown will figure things out sooner rather than later.

“He’s gonna be a big factor in what we do,” Denbrock said. 

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