Everything Is On The Table For Michael Mayer’s Sophomore Encore
Editor's Note: This story ran in the Blue & Gold Illustrated 2021 Football Preview magazine. Order the magazine here.
Tommy Rees, despite his relative inexperience in the coaching profession, already has a deep understanding of how to make an offense function when its best receiver is a tight end.
Back when Notre Dame’s second-year offensive coordinator was a Fighting Irish quarterback in the early 2010s, the passing attack often featured tight end Tyler Eifert. In 2012, Rees’ junior year, Eifert posted a team-best 685 receiving yards and tied for the lead in catches with 50. The season before, Rees was the primary quarterback when Eifert led all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) tight ends with 63 catches and 803 yards.
The schematic philosophies that put Eifert in position to produce are relevant to Rees this year. Notre Dame has another unicorn tight end in sophomore Michael Mayer, who just might be its best matchup problem and go-to receiver in 2021.
Rees can dig into those old mental files to help ensure Mayer’s production matches the physical gifts displayed in 2020. Featuring a tight end in 2021, he says, is no less viable than it was 10 years ago.
“I don’t see why it should be any different,” Rees said.
Mayer’s sophomore encore to the best statistical season from a Notre Dame freshman tight end is an exciting project for player and coach. Mayer is a 6-4½, 249-pound walking mismatch.
One play, he’s unloading violence as a blocker. The next, he’s evading tacklers and running after the catch with the grace and suppleness of a gazelle.
These are the traits that make observers remove the concept of a ceiling when discussing his football career and draw the Rob Gronkowski parallels. He’s a threat to all tight end program records until he leaves.
As a freshman last season, Mayer tied wide receiver Javon McKinley for the team lead in catches (42). He led all Notre Dame tight ends with 564 snaps and racked up 450 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
With McKinley gone and Notre Dame’s receiver room still enveloped in unknowns, there’s a path for Mayer to be the Irish’s top pass-catching option like Eifert was in 2012. He was the program’s first tight end since Eifert to co-lead the team in receptions.
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