Why Notre Dame TE Holden Staes is confident after standout first practice
Sophomore Notre Dame tight end Holden Staes stood out during Wednesday’s practice, the first of fall camp. He was constantly open, either beating his man or finding the soft spot in the Irish zone, and he caught pretty much every ball that came his way.
Wearing his new No. 13 — it’s both his mom’s lucky number and significant to his dad’s side of the family — Staes looked like a different player in more ways than one.
The way the 2022 four-star recruit viewed it, he just felt comfortable running his routes and securing the football. Irish offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Gerad Parker agreed.
“I think he’s more detailed and more confident,” Parker said. “Why is he more confident? He’s repped it more and his body is different.”
Staes was a noticeably more dangerous receiving threat than he was in the spring, when Parker had to be honest with him about his progress, or lack thereof. Parker told the Westminster Atlanta graduate a few practices into spring camp that he needed to improve his preparation.
Once April came — Parker said it was the last six practices of spring camp — Staes started preparing and performing like Notre Dame believes he can.
“He got there at the end of spring, and we really challenged him to have the same summer and same fall,” Parker said. “And he’s well on his way right now.”
Still, development isn’t linear.
Staes told reporters after practice Thursday that while he wasn’t upset with himself for his effort, he didn’t feel like he grabbed as much attention as he did Wednesday. He judges his practices based on catching passes and maintaining his footwork in the blocking game, and he said he didn’t do all of that on Day 2 of fall camp.
“I think I always need to be the hardest person on myself, just because that’s gonna bring the best out of me, whether it’s good or not,” Staes said.
In order to stack solid practices more consistently and earn more than 83 snaps (his total from 2022) this fall, Staes hit the playbook. He made it a point for his job and the jobs of those around him to become second nature.
That’s a big part of the preparation Parker was talking about. If Staes’ mind is too focused on where he’s supposed to be, he can’t play as fast as he wants. Record-setting Notre Dame tight end and Staes’ 2022 fall camp roommate Michael Mayer taught him several tricks for manipulating defenders, but he can’t use them if he hasn’t mastered the basics.
At this time last year, Staes hadn’t mastered the basics.
“When you’re learning the playbook and you’re unsure when you line up out there, like, “Oh, am I running the right route?” It’s hard to play at 100 percent,” Staes said. When I’m not doing that, that’s obviously not my full potential. So now, just feeling really comfortable with the playbook, knowing what I’m doing. I feel like I’m maximizing myself out there.”
Staes notably produced during practice on Wednesday while playing with multiple quarterbacks, including sophomore Steve Angeli, but he got plenty of reps with graduate transfer Sam Hartman, too. The competition for snaps with the first team at tight end remains wide open, and Staes feels his chemistry with Hartman is in a good spot.
“Sam was just always a leader this past offseason, getting us out in the indoor [facility], just throwing whenever we had free time,” Staes said. “I try to be there for him every time, to develop that chemistry and just be on time with him. Knowing once we get out here that he can trust me when he throws the ball that I’m gonna catch it and be there for him. So I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
For those reasons, Staes is confident he can rebound from his subpar Thursday practice. He likely spent much of the afternoon assessing what he did wrong, learning from it and preparing for Friday morning.
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