The main theme of the post game press conference from Brian Kelly following the loss against Clemson in the 2018 playoffs was they need more skill. He felt his Irish team could match up physically with the eventual national champions along the lines, but they were undone by far greater skill from the Tigers. Their receiving corps outplayed Notre Dame’s secondary, while the Irish offense could not create space from their counterparts.
The goal for the 2020 recruiting class was clear: acquire more top-end talent from the skill positions on offense. Heading into the 2019 season, Notre Dame had zero offensive skill players ranked in the composite top 50 per 247 sports.