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44 | February 1, 2018 | The New Lenox Patriot Sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Alumni spotlight
Provi alum, Citrus Bowl hero talks catch, future at Notre Dame
Tim Carroll
Contributing Editor
In the Providence Catholic communities,
Miles Boykin may have
been a pretty well-known name.
But prior to Jan. 1 in the Citrus
Bowl, the casual Notre Dame football
fan probably had not heard too
much about Boykin.
That changed with his performance
at the Citrus Bowl, where he
hauled in a one-handed catch with
1 minute and 28 seconds remaining
against Louisiana State University,
made two defenders miss and
reached the end zone for the gamewinning
score. The touchdown
gave the Fighting Irish a 21-17
lead, which they did not relinquish.
Prior to the Citrus Bowl, Boykin,
a junior who has two more seasons
of athletic eligibility, had hauled
in nine catches for a total of 151
yards in the 2017 regular season. In
2016, he made a total of six catches
for 81 yards.
During the game against LSU,
Boykin made three catches for a
total of 102 yards, including the
55-yard game-winning touchdown.
His numbers and late-game heroics
earned him the bowl game’s
most valuable player honors,
which may have come as a surprise
to the aforementioned casual Notre
Dame fan. But it was all but expected
by Boykin and Notre Dame
coach Brian Kelly.
“It was probably the second
day of prep for LSU, down at the
bowl in Orlando, and we were just
stretching, and [Kelly] was passing
me,” Boykin said in a phone
interview. “He stopped and said,
‘Miles, you’re winning MVP this
week. You’re going to win MVP of
the game.’”
Given his previous production,
Boykin initially thought it was a
suspect claim.
“I just kind of looked at him
like, ‘OK,’ and just kind of finished
stretching,” Boykin said with a
laugh. “He kind of said it a couple
more times later on in that week.
But it became pretty clear to me
that, after probably the third or
fourth day of game planning, that
Miles Boykin was a starting wide receiver on Providence football’s
2014-2015 roster that won the Class 7A state championship. BURNS
PHOTOGRAPHY
I was going to have a chance to
make some pretty big plays. I had
an opportunity to win MVP.”
Boykin said that as soon as he
found out he was the game MVP,
Kelly looked at him and said, “‘I
told you so. You didn’t want to believe
me, but I told you.’”
The catch
Notre Dame, which earlier in the
season had national championship
aspirations, had some inconsistency
at the quarterback position
in the bowl game, which led to
Brandon Wimbush — the starting
quarterback for most of the season
— being pulled in favor of backup
Ian Book.
But the change under center did
not faze Boykin, who had been taking
reps with the No. 1 and No. 2
offense throughout the season.
When Boykin heard the play
call, he was pretty sure he was going
to be the one getting the ball.
“There’s certain plays that we
have, and, if we’re pressed up to
the boundary, he has to throw that
‘go’ ball,” Boykin said. “Especially
against a team like LSU, which
plays press man [coverage].”
But knowing that the throw was
coming to him and hauling it in, especially
in the one-handed fashion
that he did, are two different things.
“We try not to practice [onehanded
catches]; sometimes, it
kind of just happens,” Boykin said
with a chuckle. “We always try to
get two hands on the ball.
“Being a receiver isn’t just about
making the easy catches; it’s about
making the hard catches, as well.
Obviously, we’d love the quarterback
to be perfect every single
time, but that’s not going to happen.
Just like they want us to be perfect
every single time, that’s not going
to happen. So, we understand that
we have to make a play on every
ball [we can], and anything we can
get our hands on, we have to bring
it in.”
Irish receivers may not spend
practice time on one-handed
catches, but Boykin said they do
spend time practicing making defenders
miss. Once Boykin made
the highlight-reel catch down the
right sideline, he still had some
work to do, beating LSU defensive
backs Donte Jackson and
John Battle.
Boykin said wide receivers do a
drill called sideline tackle, in which
wideouts are one-on-one with a defensive
back and get one move to
try to get past him. He also said
receivers have to run after catches
made in practice for 10-15 yards.
The catch did not come in a national
championship game, but it
was one of the more exciting plays
of the college football season. And
it may well hold up as an iconic
moment in the storied history of
Notre Dame.
Miles Boykin’s highlight-reel catch and run for a touchdown came
with 1 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to put the
Fighting Irish up 21-17 and eventually win the game. Photo submitted
“It’s an awesome feeling,”
Boykin said when asked what it is
like to know his catch will be replayed.
“It’s also very humbling,
because at the same time, I’m not
done playing at Notre Dame yet,
so I want to be able to add to that
and add to my legacy there and
continue to thrive and continue to
grow as a player and as a person.”
Return to Providence
Boykin took some time during
his winter break to return to Providence
Catholic Jan. 9. He said he
always goes back to his former
high school when home for break.
Coming off his Citrus Bowl
MVP, he probably could have
returned with great fanfare, but
Boykin was looking for more of
a low-key, informal meeting with
some of the teachers and coaches
who helped start him on his path to
Notre Dame.
“They’re always proud of me,
regardless of what I do,” he said.
“That was a place where I really
started to grow as a person, I think.
So, it’s always good to go back
there.”
In addition to spending some
time with Providence football
coach Mark Coglianese, Boykin
said he chatted with “pretty much
everybody I had as a teacher while
I was there.”
And while they told him how
proud they were of him, his football
career was not their primary
concern.
“They wanted to know if I was
going to get my degree, and that
was really what they were most
worried about, how school was going
and how I’m doing in life, in
general,” Boykin said.
What the future holds
His former teachers and coaches
will be happy to learn that Boykin
does intend to earn a degree in
marketing from Notre Dame, and
he wants to do so in just three and
a half years.
But he plans to continue making
strides on the field, too. The next
step is to be the primary receiver for
the Irish. With his performance in
the Citrus Bowl and fellow receiver
Equanimeous St. Brown’s declaration
for the NFL draft, that is a real
possibility.
He said he plans to work on everything:
“Catch every single day,
work on my footwork and routerunning,
which is huge [at this
level].”
Boykin and his fellow Notre
Dame students returned to school
Monday, Jan. 15, and, in pursuit of
his goals for next year, he said it
will be right back to work.
“I’m sure the receivers and the
quarterbacks will pick our times to
run routes and do football activities,”
he said. “Other than that, it’s
just time to hit the weight room.”