Notre Dame wide receiver done for the season with torn MCL

An already struggling Notre Dame receiving corps just took another blow on Thursday. 

Irish head coach Brian Kelly announced wideout Joe Wilkins’ season is over due to a torn MCL. The redshirt junior suffered the injury in a loss against Cincinnati on Saturday.

Wilkins is a back up behind starter Avery Davis, but the physical veteran has been improving each year of his career at Notre Dame and provided leadership to a position unit that entered the year without a proven No. 1.

In 2018 as a freshman he saw action in two games, and he increased that number to six in 2019. Last season, Wilkins caught his first career touchdown pass and finished with seven receptions for 63 yards, including leading the team in receptions against Duke in Notre Dame’s season opener.

He had four receptions and a touchdown this season, a 23-yard grab which involved wrestling the ball away from a Seminoles defender.

Wilkins has two more years of eligibility thanks to a redshirt freshman year in 2018 and a COVID-19 year in 2020.

Irish passing game already in trouble

All season, the three quarterbacks the Irish have played have struggled to get on the same page as the wide receivers. Granted, the young offensive line’s play has a lot to do with that, but it always seems like the passer and wideouts are a step away from consistently connecting.

Additionally, Irish receivers have had a huge problem with dropping passes in critical moments with nine on the season, none perhaps as big as Kevin Austin’s second-half drop last weekend. The senior had multiple drops against Purdue as well.

In Wilkins’ absence, Irish fans will likely see more of their very young receivers, namely true freshmen Deion Colzie and Lorenzo Styles. 

Both former four-star players made their debut in blue and gold against Toledo on Sept. 11 and recorded their first receptions. Styles caught a pass against Cincinnati last week as well, which set up one of just two Irish touchdown drives on Saturday.

Notre Dame’s passing offense has been wildly inconsistent and heavily reliant on big plays this season. They are averaging 12.86 yards per completion (29th in the FBS), but the average completion percentage amongst quarterbacks Jack Coan, Drew Pyne and Tyler Buchner is just 58.9%.

Kelly has said he will not announce a starting quarterback prior to Saturday night’s game against Virginia Tech, but whoever is it will face the 35th-ranked pass defense in the country. The Hokies are allowing just 190.3 passing yards per game.