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Those names work against your point, though by ndzippy

I thought your point was that the only receivers who put up big numbers as freshmen (at least at Bama, Clemson, OSU, etc.) have Round 1/Round 2 NFL talent.

I went through players at ND who had/have legit NFL talent to see how we compared. I guess I should have caught TJ Jones, who played in the league (honestly, I thought his first year was under Weis). I don't believe Robinson or Stepherson were ever seen as "NFL-caliber".

I guess my point is that a lot of factors go into getting good production out of freshmen: talent, ability to learn the offense, depth chart needs, etc. The issue with Kelly is that we've been bringing in highly-rated players (check the talent box), and we've needed more production out of the position (check the depth chart needs box), and, still...we never seem to get much of anything out of the youngsters.

I also think we need to expand the conversation beyond freshmen. Here is the percentage of WR yards that went to freshmen & sophomore WRs at the schools you referenced:

- Alabama: 37% of catches / 33% of yards
- Clemson: 35% / 32%
- Ohio State: 58% / 55%
- Oklahoma: 73% / 77%
- Notre Dame: 0% / 0% (not a typo)

This is, and has long been, a huge problem for Brian Kelly.