Brian Kelly reveals who will fill in for Avery Davis at slot receiver

Young wide receivers have been stepping up for Notre Dame all season, but their role just got even bigger.

Following the news that wide receiver Avery Davis tore his ACL on Saturday against Navy, Irish head coach Brian Kelly revealed the plan at the position for the remainder of the year.

“Lorenzo [Styles] will move into the slot,” Kelly said Monday. “Styles will stay at the slot position. He had been moving in and out of that position. For example, he got 16 snaps. Avery got 44. So you’ll see a flip there, obviously.”

While Styles’ role in the Irish offense was already growing each week, he will get even more playing time in Davis’ absence. Notre Dame only has five scholarship wide receivers available now, and three of them are true freshmen. 

“You’ll see Kevin Austin play some X,” Kelly added. “When he’s playing X, Deion [Colzie] plays some W. So you’ll see an insertion of a little bit of what those guys have normally done, but we’ll move the parts around a little bit.”

Austin is Notre Dame’s leading receiver. He is averaging 17.1 yards per reception and has five touchdowns. 

Redshirt junior Braden Lenzy and true freshman Jayden Thomas are the other receivers available for the rest of the year. Lenzy has had an underwhelming season, while Thomas has yet to see the field. Kelly has brought Thomas up from the scout team and said that while he likely won’t see a lot of game action, they are preparing him to be ready in the event of another injury.

All-hands-on-deck offensive effort likely for the rest of 2021

Kelly added running backs Kyren Williams and Chris Tyree will also appear in the slot position from time to time. Williams has really taken on an all-purpose role this season with 34 receptions for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Tyree has 16 catches for 132 yards and a score as well. 

Finally, the Irish will move tight end Michael Mayer around in a way similar to what he did with an old Irish favorite. 

“If you remember what we did with Tyler Eifert, he lined up into the boundary, which allows us to kick some of those receivers to the field,” Kelly said.

Eifert was a Notre Dame tight end from 2009-2012 and was the No. 21 overall NFL Draft pick in 2013. The 6-foot-6 Indiana native recorded 140 catches for 1,840 yards and 11 touchdowns in South Bend, and he won the Mackey Award in 2012.

In less than two years, Mayer has 87 catches for 943 and five touchdowns. He is chasing many of the records Eifert set at Notre Dame.

The Irish finish out the season against three struggling defenses; Virginia is No. 122, Georgia Tech is No. 112, and Stanford is No. 98 nationally in total defense. 

A recently clicking Irish offense will look to post high points totals to finish out what could be an 11-1 regular season.