2026 WR Kaydon Finley Ready For Notre Dame Return

Kaydon Finley‍ saw Notre Dame in person earlier this year and the 2026 Texas receiver is set to see the Irish again soon.

The Aledo High School standout has offers from dozens of schools like Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arkansas Tennessee, Georgia, Oregon and UCLA among several others.

He was in College Station for the season-opener between Notre Dame and Texas A&M.

“It went well,” Finley says. “It was a great visit.”

Despite being a guest of the Aggies, Finley had one eye on the Irish.

“I thought their defense played really good,” he says. “They have definitely a top 10 defense, I thought from that game, in the nation.

“I really like the receiver #5 (Beaux Collins). I think he's really good. He could be a great player this year.”

Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois a week later didn’t mean as much to Finley.

“It really doesn't impact my look at Notre Dame since I talk to the coaches a lot,” he says. “It definitely was a shock seeing them lose to NIU, but I know that they'll bounce back.”

Finley visited South Bend back in April. He’s kept in touch with the Irish since and has plans to return.

“I've been talking to Carter Auman a lot and Coach (Mike) Brown,” he says. “Me and Carter have been talking.

“I'm actually going to be there for the Louisville game.”

Finley is looking forward to getting back and seeing more for the game on Sept. 28th.

“Just the gameday atmosphere, how the campus is on gameday and all that, how the stadium is too,” he says of what he’ll be looking to see.

The messages from Brown have been simple.

“Really just to stay down and really just grind right now,” Finley says of what he’s heard from the Irish receivers coach. “This is a big year for me, so really just to grind this year out and be the best I can be.”

He has some other visits planned for the rest of the fall.

“I'll be at OU in November,” he says. “I'll be at Texas for the Georgia game and then I'll be back at A&M for the Missouri game.”

The Irish are clearly the outliers among the group, at least from a geographical standpoint, and that’s a credit to the staff, according to Finley.

“When I went down there for my visit this spring, I just felt like it's home there. It had a homey feeling, definitely in South Bend. But I'm just going to keep my options open and just see where whatever fits me right.”