Notre Dame football: Miles Boykin’s unreal catch lifts Irish

Notre Dame wide receiver Miles Boykin made one of the most incredible plays you’ll ever see in college football to send the Irish to victory over LSU.

Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin has all the physical skill and build to be a monstrous college receiver. Today he finally made the kind of play that lived up to that promise.

Boykin’s absurd one-handed catch and run propelled the Irish to a stunning win over LSU in the bowl season for the second time in four years.

This was catch-of-the-year-type stuff, the likes of which most of us haven’t seen from a Notre Dame receiver since maybe Michael Floyd. And it might end up the play of the day no matter what happens in the later, more important bowl games today. It was THAT awesome.

https://twitter.com/FightingIrish/status/947942884560523265

I mean, come ON!

The catch itself is crazy, of course. The ball just seems to stick to his hand, even in somewhat wet conditions. Truthfully, who knows if he could duplicate it if you asked him to do it again right now.

But then to maintain balance, shrug off a tackle, stay in bounds and on his feet as defenders fell around him and run to the end zone? Wow. Unbelievable effort. This play seemingly had everything.

First off, let’s also give some props to freshman quarterback Ian Book. I expected him to play in today’s game, but I did not think he’d permanently replace Brandon Wimbush in the second half.

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And what does he do on the biggest stage of his young career? Oh, he just completed 14-of-19 passes for 164 yards with two touchdowns, ran for 36 more and fearlessly delivered multiple dimes in tough situations.

Not unlike the Music City Bowl against LSU three years ago today, Notre Dame struck gold turning to a young quarterback. And of course, that’s only going to make this year’s quarterback competition that much more interesting.

Now, back to the man of the hour.

On top of this ridiculous play, Boykin added two more catches to finish with three grabs for 102 yards. Earlier in the game, he also caught a contested ball from Book, this one along the left sideline.

For a guy with just 15 catches for 232 yards coming into this game, what a way to step up.

Next: Kevin Stepherson done at Notre Dame?

Who knows if the 6’4”, 225+ pound receiver can truly break out as a top pass-catcher for Notre Dame in 2018? His track record over his first two seasons hasn’t indicated that.

But when the Irish needed a clutch play on the bowl game stage, Boykin delivered in the biggest way you possibly could. Seriously, how much more outstanding can you get than this?