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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have a roster full of players and coaches, and we want to talk about them all. One Foot Down’s player profile series will take a look at every single one of them, and hopefully we all learn a little bit more about these guys, and Notre Dame’s chances for the upcoming 2020 season.
Del Alexander, WR Coach
DelVaughn Alexander has been the Wide Receivers Coach for the Irish since the 2017 season. He has been a good impact on the wide receivers since then, honing in the skills of many talented receivers over the last few seasons. Del came into the program having coached the wide receivers at Arizona State from 2012-2016. Thus, he coached against 2 different Irish squads in 2013 and 2014 when the Sun Devils played the Irish in Dallas and then in Tempe. This might have been part of the quarterback play, but the Sun Devils had 3 passing TDs in each of the two contests against the Irish. The Irish of course won a nailbiter in 2013 and then got smoked in 2014. But, Del set them up for success. He also played at USC, so he knows about competing against Notre Dame.
Spirit Animal
Severus Snape
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Snape is the supposed bad guy, but in reality he just wants to love and support the good guy. Del comes from USC and then a former opponent in ASU to come be a part of the good guys at ND. ...Always...
2020 Outlook
Since taking over in 2017, there have been some very solid three seasons for the Irish wide receivers. Alexander has seen the rise of Miles Boykin and his getting drafted in the 2019 draft. There was also the meteoric rise and no fall of The Maple Bandit, Chase Claypool, who got drafted in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Not to mention, Del also helped to coach Chris Finke, The Slippery Fox, from walk-on to very solid receiver and team presence. In conjunction with some overall solid QB play in the last three seasons, Del has worked to get the recievers clicking as well. The receiving corps continued to be pretty dynamic for Del’s three seasons. His coaching can continue to be super effective now with names like Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys, and Javon McKinley. There is still skill, there, but the ones who are more seasoned still need to show up to be true veterans and lead the wide receivers.