2026 WR Kaydon Finley Recaps Notre Dame Return
Kaydon Finley’s interest in Notre Dame is obvious, which is why the 2026 Texas receiver keeps coming back to South Bend.
After a pair of visits last year, Finley returned again this past weekend for the Irish’s Junior Day.
“It went really well,” Finley said. “It went great.”
The Aledo High School standout had many highlights of the visit.
“Just talking and having that one-on-one meeting with Coach (Marcus) Freeman,” he said. “Then I met some of the other recruits that were there, so it was great. I got to talk to Noah Grubbs (pictured above) a little bit, build that connection, and then Larry Fitzgerald's son was there also, Devin Fitzgerald. It was good talking to him also.”
Finley has an offer from the Irish along with schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Miami, Penn State, UCLA and Oregon among several others.
He really appreciated the talk with Freeman.
“It was great,” Finley said. “We talk about football all the time, so this meeting was mainly just the great people that Notre Dame has and really just the academics and how no other school academically can compare to Notre Dame.
“I think Coach Freeman is one of the best coaches that I've personally been with. I think he's one of the best in the game for sure. He's a very genuine person. I think he's a head coach anybody in the nation would run through a wall for. I think of him really highly.”
The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder also enjoyed the opportunity to speak with Grubbs, the Irish’s 2026 quarterback commit.
“I was just asking him questions like why he chose Notre Dame, what's so special about it,” Finley explained. “I just think he's a very driven person. I think he's a very great fit for Notre Dame and I think he's going to be a great quarterback.”
Finley said the opportunity to catch passes from Grubbs in college “would be great.”
“It would be great to unite with Noah and build something special at Notre Dame,” he said.
Finley goes to Arizona for a visit this weekend, but is already eyeing multiple returns to South Bend in the coming months.
“The next step is probably getting up there for a practice for the second time, and then setting up an OV while I'm down here the next time.”
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