OFD Recruiting: Equanimeous St. Brown is more than a name

Yes, his name is Equanimeous St. Brown. Yes, that's his real name. Yes, it's even cooler if you add in all of the the extra middle names. Yes, he did speak three languages when he committed on TV.

Even if you are someone who doesn't follow recruiting, chances are that you have heard about this kid. His parents chose a unique name for him, they even chose to add the St. part to his name, and what they did worked. People know who he is and they are likely going to know his brothers too (Osiris and Amon-Ra) when their time comes along.

If he was just a regular recruit though, then even a name like his would likely be forgotten. He is much more than a name. St. Brown is the most talented wide receiver Notre Dame signed in the 2015 recruiting class and might have the most raw tools in a receiver they have signed since Michael Floyd.

That's not hyperbole. St. Brown has those kind of rare skills that many others just aren't blessed with. At 6'5" with the ability to jump up and attack the ball in the air over top of most cornerbacks, he can be a matchup nightmare on the outside. At around 205, he looks almost slim and has a ton of room to add weight to his frame. He has the chance to develop physically into a beastly player.

When you think about it in those terms, I'm sure most people are wondering why he isn't ranked higher. Although he is a composite 4 star player, he is not the 5 star prospect that Floyd was coming out of high school. After watching several games from his senior season, I completely understand why he is not. He dropped some catches he should have come down with and didn't dominate up to his physical capabilities. So from a production stand point, he was clearly not a 5 star player.

But if we had included a ranking based purely on his potential, like Bill Connelly suggests recruiting sites should do in a post he published yesterday, then St. Brown would have a 5 star ranking because he has one of the highest ceilings in this entire recruiting class.

I'm not just basing this off of what he one day could do either. I'm basing that ranking based on the flashes he has already shown.

Even with him not being as big and strong as he is going to be in the future, he still uses his body really well to box out players and get the football. He has a tremendous catch radius and has shown he is capable of making spectacular catches with great body control as well. All of that makes him someone who can right now be compared to a player like Corey Robinson as a future red zone target.

Unlike Robinson though, St. Brown shows way more ability after the catch. He can be much more than a big body that acts as a possession receiver. Here's a perfect example of what he can do with the football in his hands at the very beginning of this clip when his school Servite (California) played Corona:

He shows the speed to outrun pursuit angles and turns a simple bubble screen into 85 yards and six points. To do that at his size is remarkable. If you're someone who listens to the OFD Podcast, then you might have heard me talk about what I saw him do after the catch at The Opening. In a 7 on 7 game against some of the best defensive back recruits in the nation, he caught a slant and took it to the house from over 40 yards out. That means he ran away from several defenders, who were also considered to be blue chip prospects, and went untouched for over 40 yards. If that didn't show people what he can do after the catch, then I don't know what would.

If you kept watching the clip after the touchdown, you probably also saw St. Brown dominating as a blocker. He finishes better than some offensive linemen. That is something he did consistently well at Servite even when he wasn't having the best day in terms of receiving yards. That kind of effort is going to help him get on the field early in his career with the Irish because he can be a huge asset as a blocker in the run game.

I saw what kind of effort Michael Floyd put into becoming a great receiver firsthand when I attended the Notre Dame coaching clinic back in 2009. We got the chance to watch spring practice a couple of times during the clinic and Floyd was impossible to ignore because of how hard he worked at everything. He ran through the bags in agility drills like he was competing in the national championship game. Everyone else seemed to be going through the motions, but Floyd wasn't having any of that. His effort sparked everyone else into working harder and it was obvious at that point why he was as good as he was at Notre Dame. He didn't just have 5 star tools, he worked like a 5 star too.

I don't know if Equanimeous St. Brown will share the same kind of work ethic that Floyd had because so few football players do. I do know that if he does work as hard as Floyd, the sky is the limit as to how good he can be for the Irish. His production may be that of a 4 star, but his potential is that of a 5 star. I can't wait to see if he can live up his enormous potential over the next four years in South Bend.