Notre Dame's wide receiving room is off to an electric start as the Irish approach the midway point in the season. Virginia transfer Malachi Fields and junior Jordan Faison are the team's two leading receivers and are on pace to end the regular season with 765 yards and 784 yards respectively. There hasn't been a single wide receiver to finish the entirety of a season over 600 receiving yards since Kevin Austin achieved that feat in 2021. Fighting Irish wide receiver coach Mike Brown has been proud of his unit five games into the season and highlighted a few key players yesterday after practice.
"He's grown a lot," Brown said about team captain and Wisconsin transfer Will Pauling. "It's been fun to watch him mature. I met him when he was 16 years old, so I've known him for quite some time now. He's always been competitive; he's always been really talented, but watching him grow as a leader has been the most special thing about it and speaks volumes. He got here however many months ago, and then he's voted team captain speaks volumes about who he is and the person that he's become outside of the playing field."
Brown has also been extremely impressed with Faison, who has played the most snaps out of the receiver room and currently leads the team in receptions and yards. We, as fans, speculated what a healthy Faison would mean to this offense. This season has confirmed what we all believed; the Florida native is an impactful piece to this passing attack.
"I think he's getting more and more comfortable playing in our system and understanding the game," Brown stated. "He has an unbelievable feel for where guys are. I don't know if that's a lacrosse thing or what, but he's got great feel and spatial awareness which makes him really slippery. Guys just slip off of him. It's a credit to him and just learning where he fits in specific concepts and understanding defenses a little bit better. I think all of those things, when you put them together, are the improvements that you see. I’m really excited to continue watching him grow."
Brown's praise wasn't specific to just his wide receivers. We've seen running back Jeremiyah Love become a crucial part of the passing attack. Love has 14 receptions for 160 yards and three receiving touchdowns on the season. His work in the offseason has paid major dividends so far.
"He's such a special dude," Brown said about Love. "He does a lot of things just naturally. For me, it was more about staying out of his way. You teach him little things here and there, but he's really, really natural. The biggest thing is just him learning coverages, learning zones and learning leverage. It had less to do with the technique. It was more of just learning how do I move a guy? Where can I sit in zone coverage? We would give him little tidbits that would help him as he transitioned whenever he would motion out or if we just lined him up out there."
A heavy emphasis was placed on cleaning up drops from a season ago. In 2024, Notre Dame's pass catchers accounted for 26 total drops through 16 games. This season, the Irish pass catchers have accounted for three total drops. Tight end Eli Raridon had two in the season opener and Faison had one against Texas A&M.
"The more and more you catch footballs, the better you get at it," Brown explained. "And we have to continue to put them in situations in practice in contested-catches situations as much as possible with keeping them healthy and keeping them safe. But we'll continue to find creative ways to do that individually."
Notre Dame's receivers are poised for a big season, and that's without Jaden Greathouse having his much anticipated breakout game. Quarterback CJ Carr has been sharp and his receiving corps has played a big role in his success this season.
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