With a new offensive identity, Notre Dame's wideouts must elevate. Coach Mike Brown faces his most crucial season to unlock peak receiver performance.
Notre Dame will have a different look on offense in 2026, but the expectation will remain the same. The Irish fielded one of the nation's most explosive, efficient and high scoring offenses in the country in 2025. In 2026, the offense will have a different feel after losing a pair of stud running backs, a productive tight end and their most imposing wide receiver, but the offense will need to be even better next season.
Notre Dame will likely lean a bit more on the pass game in 2026, thanks to the return of quarterback CJ Carr, a pair of veteran wideouts and the fact that there is no more Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. The current running back room is plenty talented, but there isn't a team in the country that will have a one-two punch like what Notre Dame had in 2025. With the offense leaning more on Carr and the pass game, the need for the wide receivers to be even more productive - and efficient - is even greater.
That means it's a huge year for the wide receivers, which means it's a crucial season for position coach Mike Brown. In fact, this is without a doubt the most important season of his tenure at Notre Dame. This isn't about whether you think he's done a great job, average job or bad job in the past, it's about how important this season is. Brown has a very deep and talented room, and with the offense needing to be more effective in the pass game, Brown will need his unit to play at a very high level throughout the season.
There are five areas where I believe the Notre Dame receiver room must either play at a high level, show improvement and also a key area where Brown can make sure the unit keeps playing at a high level in seasons to come as well.
1. Play With More Urgency and Precision - When compared to how things were under the previous receivers coach, there is no doubt that the overall level of play at wide receiver has improved since Brown arrived. The blocking is good, the route technique has improved and there has been improvement from a contested catch standpoint. Notre Dame's receivers also seem to make less assignment mistakes, which is a good sign.
While there has been improvement, there is also no doubt that another jump in technical proficiency is needed. That begins with the urgency with which the receivers come off the ball. In some offenses this isn't really an issue, but it is important in the Notre Dame offense. Mike Denbrock runs a pro style offense that emphasizes a high number of horizontal stretch plays, and the Irish run a lot of downfield, vertical oriented routes. In an offense like that, urgency and route precision are far, far more important than in a spread or Air Raid offense, or any offense that does more vertical stretch, mesh or post-snap switch routes and concepts.
Notre Dame's receivers have tells when they are running a deep route compared to something shorter, and the urgency with which they come off the line is the primary reason for this. There's an expression that the Notre Dame receivers need to learn and live by when running anything with a vertical release, and that is everything needs to look like a Go route off the ball. That allows them to more quickly eat up the cushion of defender, and when performed with better awareness of manipulating leverage, it can put defensive backs in more vulnerable positions when the receiver executes the top end aspect of his route. Being sharper and exploding out of those top ends would help as well.
So yes, we've certainly seen growth, but there is a need for even more improvement in this area. When the talent level is as strong as what Notre Dame will have in 2026, if the players can perform with greater urgency and technical proficiency they will be far, far harder to cover and will create even more separation. That means getting open more, but also means they can catch the ball with room to work more consistently.
2. Establish A Deeper and More Productive Rotation - Notre Dame's top receivers played way, way too many snaps last season. Jordan Faison averaged 48.6 snaps per game last season and Malachi Fields averaged 50.0 snaps per game. That's a high number especially when you consider how many blowouts Notre Dame had. Notre Dame's leader in snaps per game in 2024 - Beaux Collins - averaged just 41.8 snaps per game and both Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison averaged 30.8 snaps per game. Faison had seven games (out of 12) with over 50 snaps and he had four games with at least 60 snaps. Fields had two games with over 70 snaps. Notre Dame did not have a single 60+ snap game from a wide receiver in 2024.
Injuries played a role, but it's obvious that Notre Dame didn't have enough receivers they had confidence in to go in and play, especially against better teams. That's partly on the players but also partly on Brown to make sure he's doing everything he can to develop the entire depth chart (see below). Notre Dame has way too much talent on the current roster - and coming into the roster - to have a short bench like we saw last season, and rely on its receivers to play as much as they did last season.
One of my frustrations last season was watching receivers - especially Faison and Will Pauling - go way below full speed on certain routes. It was primarily when they were the third or fourth option, and while that might work in some offenses, that can't work in the Notre Dame offense and with CJ Carr at quarterback. I can point to multiple snaps last season where Carr went to the backside, only to see Pauling or Faison not getting into the open spot because they were taking the play off. When you ask your receivers to play so many snaps, in an offense that asks them to run so many deep routes, they are going to find breathers in snaps where they are the third or fourth option in the read. They can't do it as the primary and they can't do it in the run game.
Having a deeper rotation will make the top wideouts more effective. Imagine how good Faison will be in the fourth quarter when he's working on snap 35-40 instead of 55-60, and when the corner is on snaps 55-60. That extra juice could be quite meaningful.
3. More Diversity In How and Where Receivers Attack - One of the things I loved about Denbrock's offense at LSU in 2023 was how well they moved their receivers around, especially Malik Nabers. That season, Nabers lined up in the slot 53.6-percent of the time and outside 46.0-percent of the time. The out wide snaps included being to the field and boundary, depending on the call and situation. Even 6-4, 205-pound Brian Thomas Jr. lined up in the slot 13.2-percent of the time. Last season, Faison lined up in the slot just 10.3-percent of the snaps, and he was at 16.5-percent in the slot in 2024. Greathouse was in the slot 94.1-percent of the time in 2024, and Pauling was in the slot 93.8-percent of the time this past season.
You knew where Faison was going to be every snap, and you knew where Fields was going to be every snap, and Pauling, and especially Greathouse. Being more diverse with where they line up makes it harder for defenses to know where they are going to be, and it also allows Notre Dame to create more favorable matchups from week to week. It also allows them to better utilize the unique talents of the different wideouts. Faison showed last season he can be effective outside, but he also is a natural slot player in many of the things Notre Dame likes to do with its wideouts. Greathouse is also a natural slot, but there are outside things he can effectively do.
Notre Dame also needs to do more with its receivers from a stacking and motioning standpoint. They did more of this in 2024 and it was highly effective. It would be great to see more of that in 2026.
4. Better Efficiency In The Deep Game - Notre Dame was far, far more aggressive with its pass game in 2025 than it was in 2024, and I expect that number to increase in 2026. In 2024, Notre Dame completed just 17 passes of 20+ yards and 31 passes of on attempts from 10-19 yards to its wide receivers (non backup snaps). That was in 16 games. In 2025, Notre Dame completed 18 passes of 20+ yards and 31 passes from 10-19 yards to its top receivers (non backup snaps), in 12 games. Notre Dame attempted 55 throws at 20+ yards and 40 from 10-19. The offense was quite good in the 10-19 game, completing 77.5-percent of those throws, compared to 53.4-percent in 2024.
But the deep game was far less efficient, completing just 32.7-percent of the deep throws to the receivers, compared to 44.7-percent in 20224. The improvement overall as a team was at tight end. Tight end Eli Raridon caught all eight targets beyond 20 yards, while the tight ends in 2024 caught just two of four targets.
We are going to see the deep ball continue to be a big part of the offense, but doing so more efficiently when targeting the receivers is an absolute must.
5. Continue Developing The Entire Depth Chart - One of the biggest challenges when working with a room that has 15 players is developing the entire depth chart. Yes, it's great that Notre Dame added a pair of very talented portal players, but that doesn't mean Brown and the offensive coaches should stop caring about trying to figure out how to get the most out of Cam Williams, Micah Gilbert and Elijah Burress. Or that coaching up the freshmen becomes less important. We don't know how the depth chart will shake out, or what injuries might occur that force the depth players onto the field. Last year the answer was just shorten the rotation and play the starters more. That can't be the answer in 2026 or in future seasons for a thousand reasons, with the primary one being the depth of talent on the roster.
It's up to Brown to make sure the entire depth chart is being developed. Marcus Freeman can help by ensuring that Brown has the help from a coaching standpoint to make sure the entire depth chart can be developed. I expect that to be the case, but it's up to Brown to make sure whatever help he has is doing the work needed to coach and develop the talented younger players. That not only helps the team in 2026, it absolutely helps them in 2027 and beyond.
If Mike Brown does the job I think he's capable of the Notre Dame receivers should have an outstanding 2026 season, and they will fuel an even more dynamic and explosive offense. It will also go a long way towards defining his reputation as a coach at Notre Dame.
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