Chansi Stuckey discusses how to replace Avery Davis’ production

Notre Dame wide receivers coach Chansi Stucky knows the impact of losing star wide receiver Avery Davis will be a great one.

On Saturday, the program announced Davis suffered an ACL injury to his right knee in practice on Friday that will sideline him for the entire 2022 season. He previously tore his left ACL in November 2021, ending his year prematurely then as well.

Afterwards, a reeling Stuckey spoke about how it’ll take a village to replace Davis, but certain wide receivers are already stepping up.

“Avery — he’s such a big void that’s left there. It can’t be filled by one person,” began Stuckey. “You have to do it as a group. Braden [Lenzy] has been stepping up what he’s doing. Lorenzo [Styles], Deion [Colzie] has even been stepping up. So it’s kind of a conglomerate of the whole unit that’s doing the job and trying to fill that void.

“I think it’s made some guys step up who weren’t expected to step up, so that’s been very, very good on our end.”

Davis posted 27 catches for 386 yards and four touchdowns in 2021 prior to the injury. His top Irish football moments came against Clemson in 2020 when Davis caught a 53-yard pass to set up a subsequent 4-yard score, tying the game at 33-33 and sending it to overtime. Notre Dame topped No. 1 Clemson 47-40 in double overtime that night.

Moving forward, Avery Davis will be on the mind of not just Chansi Stuckey and the Notre Dame receiving corps — but the team as a whole. It’s a heartbreaking situation, but the star wide receiver will be rooting on the Fighting Irish every step of the way.

Tommy Rees on impact of losing Avery Davis: ‘You’re not going to find a guy that’s more respected’

Although on the field, it’s a hit to the Fighting Irish wide receiver depth, Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees spoke more about Avery Davis as a person and what he means to the program off the field while examining the impact of losing the wide receiver.

“You’re not going to find a guy that’s more respected than Avery Davis,” Rees said. “From his peers to the coaches, the way he’s handled himself, you want to talk about heartbreak for a program, everybody has felt that for Avery. For him to fight through everything early in his career, to find a role, own that role, be voted a captain, tear his knee, decide to come back and then for it to happen again, you can’t ever justify it.

“All we can do right now is love AD and give him our support and be there for him through these tough times. You saw the impact on the group last night. You could feel it. That’s who AD is. There’s not a guy in this program that wouldn’t do anything for that kid. We’re going to love him and support him and be there for him.”