Notre Dame Needs More Than Just Michael Floyd

Earlier this week, Notre Dame received some great news with the announcement that Michael Floyd will be returning to South Bend for his senior season. If Floyd stays healthy he has a chance to not only shatter Irish receiving records, but also has a chance to compete with Andrew Luck for the Heisman.

After a phenomenal season—79 catches for 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns—Crist capped off with an effort in the Sun Bowl that enabled him to be the game's MVP, I was one that thought Notre Dame would be lucky if Floyd would come back. The fact that there is a very deep receiver class this year and the possibility of a lockout were probably the key factors that made Floyd decide to stay in school.

Now Notre Dame is in the midst of recruiting and then will be heading into spring. Going into spring, the biggest story will be the quarterback controversy.

Whether it is Tommy Rees, Dayne Crist or Andrew Hendrix who ultimately wins that job, whomever it is will have the privileged of throwing to Floyd. Getting the ball to Floyd should and will be a priority no matter who the quarterback is.

Having said that, I made a point a couple weeks ago in my recap of the Sun Bowl that my only concern in a dominant performance by the Irish was the lack of involvement in the other receivers besides Floyd.

Maybe it was just a case of Floyd dominating, so keep feeding him, but the other receivers were invisible in that game. Theo Riddick did not catch a pass and T.J. Jones only caught one ball late in the game.

Being fair to Riddick, he was injured for most of the second half of the season and really never developed a chemistry with Rees. He did start the season strong with 40 catches for 414 yards and three touchdowns. That came with Crist at quarterback. Crist had a chemistry with Riddick that just didn't get a chance to happen with Rees.

Jones had some bright spots as a freshman, but he has to do better than 23 catches for 306 yards and three touchdowns. John Goodman and Robby Toma are both going into their junior seasons. Although both have also showed glimpses of being really good, between the two of them last year they caught just 29 passes for 333 yards. Neither had a touchdown.

The bottom line is that Brian Kelly needs another wide receiver besides Floyd to step up and take his game to another level. Otherwise teams will double-team Floyd and make it very difficult for him.

The good news is that the Irish are very solid at tight end with Kyle Rudolph, provided he also comes back for his senior season and Tyler Eifert. Rudolph had 28 catches for 328 yards and three touchdowns. He did that in really only a half season before suffering a season-ending injury. Eifert had 27 catches for 352 yards and two touchdowns. He also did that in about a half season since he really play much before Rudolph's injury.

I do think that a major key to the passing game next year is keeping guys healthy. I do think that both Riddick and Rudolph would have had much better numbers had they been healthy the whole year. Now that we know what Eifert can do, it would be a wise idea for Kelly to rotate both of them in and out to keep both healthy.

I also think that Riddick staying healthy will be huge next season. Perhaps if Jones, Toma, Goodman and/or whatever new receiving recruits come in, will help keep Riddick and Floyd fresh. That will increase the odds of them staying healthy.

In closing, Floyd's decision to come back is huge. He has a chance to compete for the Heisman. However, his success is also somewhat tied to other receivers stepping up.