2026 WR Kaydon Finley Planning Notre Dame Return
Kaydon Finley has been waiting for this final year of recruiting for a long time and the 2026 Texas receiver is excited it’s arrived.
“It feels great,” Finley says. “Ever since I've gotten offers, I've been looking forward to this year, especially with official visits coming up. This is the first real offseason of my recruitment. I'm excited for what the Lord has in place for me.”
The Aledo High School star has several scholarship offers from schools like Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida State, Miami, Tennessee, Penn State, Oregon, UCLA and Washington among several others.
Finley made a pair of trips to South Bend earlier this year and intends to return next year. The Irish have stayed in consistent contact with Finley with head coach Marcus Freeman and receivers coach Mike Brown reaching out to him on Sunday.
“We lost our playoff game (Saturday), so Coach Brown was just checking in with me, seeing how I was doing,” Finley says. “Then, Coach Freeman invited me out to the Junior Day this winter.
“I've got a lot of love for Notre Dame, so just knowing that I'm a top priority guy for them means a lot, especially coming from such a successful football school and also a great coaching staff. It just reassures me.”
Finley is hoping to make the trip up to Notre Dame’s Junior Day in late-January.
“I'm going to try to,” he says. “I don't know what's set for the calendar yet, but if I have nothing then, then I'll definitely come.
“I for sure will get up there at least one time this offseason. I'm hoping to go more than once, but I'll just see how it lines up.”
When he gets back, he’ll be looking to get a better feel for Notre Dame as well as offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock.
“I just want to hang out with the coaches more, get to know them a little more,” he says. “I got to talk with Coach Denbrock a lot last time. I just want to sit down and have some more conversations with him. That's really all I need to see from the coaching staff now.
“I already know how they coach and I know that they're already a great coaching staff and they know how to win. I just want to build a better relationship when I get up there.”
Finley isn’t prioritizing any school over another just yet in terms of visits.
“I'm really trying to get to all the schools I have offers from and if I get more offers from other schools, then I'll for sure try to get to most of them or all of them if I can,” he says.
And he doesn’t have any sort of timeline for a final decision.
“Whenever I feel ready, I think I'll make the right decision in my recruitment. Whenever I'm ready to make that big decision is whenever I'm ready.”
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