Breaking Down The WR Room As Fall Camp Begins
Notre Dame’s wide receiver room received a major renovation heading into the 2024 season — and I’m not talking about the carpets.
A new position coach in Mike Brown and a fresh influx of dynamic talent makes this season’s room look unrecognizable compared to seasons past.
Let’s break down who’s back, who’s new, and who’s set to emerge as the playmakers for the 2024 Fighting Irish as fall camp starts Wednesday:
Returners
Notre Dame has three contributors returning to South Bend in Jayden Thomas, Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison. All three saw limited time in 2023, either from injuries or, in Faison’s case, being a freshman walk-on.
Faison (pictured) was one of Notre Dame’s breakout players last season — and he wasn’t even supposed to play. Originally, Faison came to South Bend for lacrosse, but after walking onto the football team, was too impressive to keep off the field in 2023.
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native didn’t see much physical action throughout the spring as he was a key player in the lacrosse team’s campaign for a national championship. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t engaged in building towards the 2024 football season.
"Jordan's done a great job, man. He's locked in,” Brown said. “Obviously he's doing lacrosse, but he's been at every meeting. He does a really good job of engaging in the meetings. He's at practice. He's locked in and knows every play that's going on. So he's right there. A lot of it is mental, obviously, but he's done a good job. And we'll see once the summer rolls around and we get a full room we'll see how we progress from there."
Greathouse is a guy who can slide all over the field, whether it be lining up at the boundary or in the slot. The Austin, Texas, native led the Fighting Irish in touchdown receptions (five) despite missing time due to a hamstring injury, and all five came from the slot.
“He's a bigger body playing in the slot, which is a little bit different,” Brown said. “Most of the slots are smaller guys. But he still has the quickness. He understands how to set defenders up and how to move you guys. He understands zone coverages and spaces and zones and knows where to sit. And so he's got a really, really good feel. Natural feel. And then his catch radius is really good. He's made some really tough, contested catches here in camp. Even if you're there, you put the ball in his vicinity. He's done a really good job of coming down with it.
“So we'll have to figure out different ways to use him and move him around. We've challenged him, we've thrown him outside, we put him inside, we put him to the field, to the boundary. He's got a unique skill set that I think can handle a lot of things."
Thomas is a guy many envisioned as Notre Dame’s No. 1 option at receiver, but after dealing with a hamstring injury that limited him last season and a more crowded receiving corps, that could be in question.
Coming into fall camp, Brown is impressed with how Thomas has treated his body and how it could help him elevate his performance on the field.
“It's been good just to watch him and the discipline that he's taken from what I've heard is different from what's been in the past just as far as how he's eating, what he's eating and all the little things he's done to take care of his body. So really excited about that and excited to just continue to watch his progression."
New Faces
What makes this year’s wide receiver room more exciting than years past is the new faces filling the room — and these faces are filled with talent.
Transfers Beaux Collins, Kris Mitchell and Jayden Harrison are all expected to make significant impacts on the field this fall.
Collins is a graduate transfer from Clemson who hasn’t seen any on-field action in South Bend just yet and had to deal with a plantar fascia injury. The 6-foot-2 receiver is now healthy and expected to play a role on the boundary this season. He snagged nine of 16 contested targets last fall as a Tiger.
The biggest factor that played into Collins transferring to Notre Dame last December?
Riley Leonard.
“The fact that he’s doing this, he’s serious about his business,” Collins said. “(Leonard) wants us to grow closer off the field, so that when we do come together this year, there’s no kinks in the link.”
Mitchell is going to be the deep threat Notre Dame lacked in 2023. The transfer from Florida International ranked fourth in deep ball targets, according to PFF, and set the single-season receiving yards record at FIU (1,118).
Brown is excited about what the speedy receiver is bringing on the field, and the veteran presence he is providing off of it.
“As we're doing some of the actual playing stuff, just their experience and them understanding the game and their knowledge and the little nuances of things are a lot more natural for them in a lot of circumstances than they are for some of the guys that haven't had as much experience,” Brown said. “So it's really good for the young guys to be able to see that as an example on the field and off the field. And then just be able to just kind of continue to raise the bar."
Harrison is coming in from Marshall, and while he’ll factor into the receiving corps, he is also a dynamic kick returner. The senior is an All-American specialist who has three career kick returns.
He’s another veteran who will add some much-needed experience to the room.
“I'm walking in here in the morning and Jayden Harrison is walking in at the same time, right, and he's the first one in the building that I see,” Brown said.
The Fighting Irish also have a pair of dynamic freshmen receivers in Cam Williams and Micah Gilbert.
Williams was a top receiver in the 2024 class, coming in at No. 43 in ISD’s Fab 50. With the addition of veteran receivers, Williams may not explode on the scene right away, but he’s set up to be one of the best receivers in South Bend for the next couple of years.
Gilbert wasn’t quite as highly-touted coming out of high school, but the Charlotte, N.C., native shined throughout the spring. Many around the team have reported that Gilbert stood out among the younger receivers and could be a gem in South Bend.
So who plays?
Brown was vocal through the spring that he would like to run through a six-man rotation of receivers this fall. Who exactly will fill in that rotation, especially the fifth and sixth men, will play out over the next couple of weeks.
“When you try to only play three guys, if you're playing with three receivers on the field, that stuff wears on you and you start to get down the stretch, so you gotta have a good, healthy rotation,” Brown said. “I think it's hard to rotate more than two guys at a specific position.”
Mitchell, Greathouse, Harrison, Collins and Thomas will more than likely be in that rotation. Other receivers including Deion Colzie, KK Smith, Williams, and Micah Gilbert will be depth pieces that compete for the sixth spot in the rotation and to fill in for injuries.
“I mean injuries are 100% in football, right? And so you got to have guys that are ready,” Brown said. “So in a perfect world, you say you got six guys that you feel really, really good about. You got a seven and maybe an eight that could fill in and roll how you need them. Hopefully there's eight that you feel great about and then you got a lot of problems."
This remade receiving group should bring an explosive element to Notre Dame’s offense that it has been missing in years past. Combine that with an elite college quarterback in Leonard and the Fighting Irish should be able to put some serious points on the board this fall.
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