Why Deion Colzie is the 23rd most important player for Notre Dame in 2023
We’re three days into BlueandGold.com’s annual countdown of the top 25 most important players on the Notre Dame football roster, and there have already been two wide receivers to appear on the list. Multiple more to come.
Junior Deion Colzie is the No. 23 most important player on this year’s Fighting Irish squad.
Why Colzie is No. 23
Size and strength.
Colzie is the tallest Notre Dame wide receiver at 6-4 3/4. He’s the second-heaviest at 211 pounds, only trailing freshman Jaden Greathouse at 213. Greathouse checked in as the No. 25 most important player for Notre Dame this year.
Toward the end of the 2022 season, Colzie started benefitting from his physical advantages. He caught six passes for 148 yards and a touchdown in the final three regular season games of the year. An average of 24.7 yards per reception is dynamite. The first touchdown of his college career against USC in the 2022 regular season finale looked an awful lot like what could become a common occurrence in 2023.
Pairing with a quarterback in Sam Hartman who likes to connect with wideouts deep down the field, Colzie might be in a perfect spot to have a breakout campaign. All he has to do is stay healthy, which is something that eluded him in the first half of his sophomore season. He dealt with a knee injury in fall camp that lingered into September and October. He did not register his first reception of the season until he had three for 44 yards against Syracuse on Oct. 29.
What a successful season looks like for Notre Dame’s Colzie
In Colzie’s perfect world, he’s the Notre Dame leader in receiving yards by the end of the season. Excluding Tobias Merriweather‘s one catch for 41 yards, Colzie led Notre Dame with 21.3 yards per reception in 2022. He only had nine catches, though.
Virginia’s Lavel Davis Jr. led the FBS with 23.2 yards per catch on 16 receptions last season. The more catches a player comes away with, the harder it is to average something in the 20s. Only seven players in the FBS who caught at least 10 passes hit that mark last year.
The yards per reception number is less important than Colzie’s sheer volume. If he emerges with upward of 50 catches for somewhere in the ballpark of 800 yards and half a dozen touchdowns, he will have had a super successful season. Think Kevin Austin Jr. in 2021; he had 48 catches for 888 yards and 7 scores.
With Hartman throwing the passes, Wake Forest had five receivers with 500 or more receiving yards last year. Notre Dame would love to match that, and if it is to happen Colzie has to be in the group. He should shoot for a base line of 500 yards. And again — his health is paramount in getting there.
Behind the ranking
The top 25 was determined in the same manner as the Associated Press Top 25. Five BlueandGold.com staff members submitted their ballots, and each position on the ballot was given a point value. The top ranking was worth 25 points, No. 2 was worth 24, No. 3 worth 23 and so on down until No. 25, which was worth one point. The players with the 25 highest point totals made the list.
Talent and the projected depth chart were key foundations for the poll, but voters placed a premium on these questions: 1) If you subtracted this individual from the roster, how much of a setback would it be? 2) If this less proven player emerges and makes an impact, how much does that raise the ceiling (or lower it, if a breakout does not happen as expected)?
Individual rankings
Tyler Horka: No. 16
Todd Burlage: No. 16
Jack Soble: No. 23
Steve Downey: NR
Kyle Kelly: NR
BlueandGold.com’s Notre Dame top 25 so far
No. 23: Junior wide receiver Deion Colzie
No. 24: Graduate student linebacker Marist Liufau
No. 25: Freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse
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