Faison's stellar past production hints at an even bigger final season, poised to cement his legacy among Notre Dame's elite receivers.
The outlook on Notre Dame's wide receiving corps is vastly different than it was during head coach Marcus Freeman's first year at the helm. The depth of talent and margin for error in the room has increased significantly. There's nine to ten players in the room that will be battling it out for a spot in the six-man rotation throughout the offseason. One of the players we know will be a feature in the Notre Dame offense in 2026 is wide receiver Jordan Faison who looks to have one final breakout in South Bend.
There's three different levels to a player breaking out. The first level of a breakout season is a player going from not playing a ton to being an integral part of the rotation. The second level of a breakout is a player going from a key rotation guy to a starter. The final level of a breakout is going from a starter to a certified dude on their respective side of the ball. Faison could end his Notre Dame career as one of their most productive receivers in the last decade.
As things stand today, Faison has tallied 98 receptions, 1,318 yards, averaged 13.4 yards per catch and has nine touchdowns on his career. That's more career receptions than Equanimeous St. Brown, Miles Boykin, Braden Lenzy and Kevin Austin. That's more career receiving yards than Boykin, Chris Finke, Lenzy, and Austin. Faison also has more career touchdowns than Finke and Austin and is tied with Lenzy and current Notre Dame wide out Jaden Greathouse.
The Florida native is only 167 receiving yards and five touchdowns away from surpassing St. Brown in career production. Former Fighting Irish standout Chase Claypool leads the chase over the last decade in career production with 150 receptions, 2,159 yards, an average of 14.4 yards per catch and 19 total touchdowns. The 5-11, 183-pound rising senior still has a shot at surpassing Claypool's career receptions and average yards per catch.
After looking at the numbers, it's not an exaggeration to say that Faison has the opportunity to be one of the most productive Notre Dame wide outs over the last decade, and his breakout performance in 2025 backs that up. It's the first year we've seen Faison fully healthy since his freshman season and he became a routine go-to target for redshirt freshman CJ Carr. They connected 49 times for 640 yards and four touchdowns last season; Faison ended the 2025 season as the team leader in receptions and yards.
BREAKOUT PREDICTION
If Faison just repeats his production from last season, he'll be the second most productive wide receiver at Notre Dame over the last decade since Claypool in 2019, but I think there's another level he can get to. Last season, we saw what the Florida native looks like when healthy, but his full potential within the offense wasn't reached. This season, I expect offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to expand Faison's role on the offense.
In 2025, we saw a lot of deep out routes, deep comebacks and screens to the 5-11, 183-pound shifty receiver, but not a lot of plays to get him the ball in space on the move. Almost everything after the catch started from a stationary position. We've seen what Faison can do with the ball in his hands on the move; I think back to the slant route he caught in the Orange Bowl from Steve Angeli during the final drive of the second quarter.
Another thing we will see in 2026 is a more fresh version of Faison. The receiver rotation will be deeper this season with Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter coming over from Ohio State and the emergence from Micah Gilbert, Elijah Burress and hopefully Cam Williams. In 2025, Faison averaged almost 46 snaps per game and played over 60 snaps against Texas A&M, NC State, USC and Pitt. Ideally, Faison's average drops by three to five snaps per game, not due to performance, but in the spirit of keeping him fresh.
We've seen what a healthy version of Faison looks like within the Notre Dame offense. A fresh and more experienced version of the Florida native is poised for one final breakout within the Notre Dame offense. It will look different than what Claypool did in 2019 or what Boykin did in 2018, but it will still be extremely effective and electric to watch. He is Carr's primary target from last season and will be looking to build on the strong foundation he laid in 2025.
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