Notre Dame Transfer Target Beaux Collins Has Skills The Irish Want

Notre Dame has made wide receiver a major priority in the transfer portal, and the Irish have already landed a top target when former Florida International wideout Kris Mitchell committed. The Irish aren't done yet, and this past week they hosted former Clemson wide receiver Beaux Collins.

Collins is a name Fighting Irish fans are likely familiar with, and not just because he caught five passes against Notre Dame over the last two seasons. Collins was offered and was a top target of the Irish staff as a high school player before he ultimately picked Clemson.

I did a deep dive into Collins as a prospect, so let's take a look at what he brings to the game.

Height/Weight: 6-3, 210
Hometown/High School: Los Angeles, Calif./St. John Bosco

Eligibility Remaining: 1 season

CAREER STATS

Collins, a former Top 100 recruit, was an immediate part of the Clemson rotation as a true freshman. He's been a key figure in the pass game ever since, earning 27 starts in his 32 games played.

2023: 38 catches, 510 yards, 13.4 YPC, 3 TD (11 games)
2022: 22 catches, 373 yards, 17.0 YPC, 5 TD (10 games)
2021: 31 catches, 407 yards, 13.1 YPC, 3 TD (11 games)

Career Totals: 91 catches, 1,290 yards, 14.2 YPC, 11 TD

Collins played more in the slot than outside as a true freshman, but as a sophomore he moved to a more prominent outside role. As a junior  

SIZE/BLOCKING

Collins is listed at 6-3 and 210 pounds. He has added solid weight during his three years at Clemson, which has helped him improve his play strength. As a junior Collins showed himself to be a much more capable blocker. Collins also possesses very good length, which gives him the kind of catch radius you want as a boundary player. 

ATHLETIC SKILLS

Collins is a smooth, long striding athlete. He isn't a burner by any means, but he can get off the line well and his long strides allow him to chew up a lot of ground. Late in his sophomore season and as a junior he showed an improved ability to explode out of cuts and accelerate vertically. Against some quality corners he has shown the ability to get over the top much like Miles Boykin did during his career. It didn't look fast because of the strides, but he covered a lot of ground.

Collins shows good agility and foot quickness, traits that help as a route runner and also after the catch. 

ROUTE RUNNING

His route running has certainly grown and evolved during his tenure at Clemson. During his first two seasons his route package was relatively basic, which is an issue in the Clemson offense. His game also didn't really fit the Clemson system all that well, and much of his production came on short throws and deep balls, with not a ton in between. The in between is where Collins should thrive, and we saw a lot more of that during the 2022 season.

Collins played mostly on right side as a junior in 2023 due to the changes on offense, as Clemson went to more of a left-right alignment instead of field-boundary. Collins plays at different speeds, showing the ability to use his release to manipulate defenders. While this is a good asset, I would like to see Collins use his "speed release" more on short and intermediate routes to get more of a push by corners.

His top end route technique improved quite a bit over the last two seasons. Collins shows a good ability to efficiently get in and out of stop and in breaking routes, which allows him to get immediate separation. That's something he did very well in the Clemson win over Notre Dame this season. If used on more intermediate to deep routes instead of so many quick routes you could see his production take a jump, as those routes better fit his size/athleticism combination.

Collins has a good release package, but it took a jump this past season. He varies how he gets off the line against press, shows the football quickness to win, he has a good plan when coming off the line and his hand play improved as well. Collins also improved his ability to quickly get even with a defender off the release and then use a lean to get space and separation.

BALL SKILLS

There are a lot of things I like about Collins pass catching skills. As mentioned already, he's long and has a very good catch radius. He also shows fast hands, which allows him to make some impressive away from the body catches. Collins also tracks the deep ball very well and shows good concentration on vertical throws in traffic. He had a really impressive one-handed grab for a touchdown this season. Collins can win contested throws as well, even though he didn't get a ton of them thrown his way, which is another reason I felt he was misused in the Clemson offense.

At times Collins won't look a ball in all the way, and that will cause him to have more drops than his ball skills would otherwise lead to. This often happens in quick game, and not something I think we would see nearly as much if he was being used on more intermediate and deep routes.

NOTRE DAME FIT

Collins has played all over during his Clemson career, and Notre Dame likes receivers that can move around. From that standpoint alone he is a good fit into the Irish defense. His size, length and ability to get down the field and work open against zone looks also fits the boundary position, which is the primary position he would play for the Irish.

Collins adds the kind of size and boundary skills that Notre Dame's offense largely lacked once Deion Colzie went down early in the season, and was completely gone once Jayden Thomas started dealing with his own injury issues. Collins and Colzie are the two most natural boundary players in the offense, but both have battled injuries, with it being an even bigger issue with Colzie. 

The combination of Colzie and Collins being part of the 2024 depth chart would give the Irish a much-needed boost in size.