SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In a perfect world, Notre Dame wide receivers coach Mike Brown would like to have six wide receivers in his rotation during the season.
“There's got to be six deserving snaps,” Brown said Wednesday following spring football practice No. 7.
But in the “perfect world” Brown described, that would leave five scholarship wide receivers out of the rotation in the 2024 season. However, as seen last season with Notre Dame’s wide receivers, the position can be difficult to keep healthy and will likely need more to contribute.
“When you try to only play three guys,” Brown said, “if you're playing with three receivers on the field, that stuff wears on you and you start to get tired down the stretch, so you gotta have a good, healthy rotation. I think it's hard to rotate more than two guys at a specific position.”
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And yet Notre Dame seems to already be at least two deep at the three starting wide receiver spots this spring with two more receivers — Clemson transfer Beaux Collins and freshman Logan Saldate — joining the team in the summer. If the seventh and eighth receivers deserve roles in the rotation, it will be up to Brown and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to figure out how to keep them all involved.
Brown needs to see two things from receivers to be included in the rotation.
“Consistency and playmaking ability,” Brown said. “Knowing what you're doing, knowing why you're doing it, and being able to do it on a high level on a consistent basis."
Brown, who joined Notre Dame’s staff in December and coached in the 40-8 Sun Bowl victory over Oregon State on Dec. 29, already learned what to expect out from wide receivers Jayden Thomas, Deion Colzie, Jaden Greathouse, Jordan Faison and KK Smith in his first few weeks on the job in South Bend. This spring he’s added Florida International transfer Kris Mitchell, Marshall transfer Jayden Harrison and freshmen Micah Gilbert and Cam Williams into the mix.
They’re all getting chances to prove what they can provide for the Irish this fall.
“We put as much pressure on them as we can to try to simulate a game,” Brown said. “We throw them in there, move them around in different spots, put them in different situations, and you see how they respond.”
When those challenges come, how a player handles them can help separate one from another. Unfortunately for the Irish, the wide receivers are losing valuable practice time with injured quarterback Riley Leonard. The Duke transfer was already in need of developing quick chemistry for Notre Dame’s passing game, and now the window has been condensed as he recovers from his second ankle surgery of the year.
Leonard is still throwing some balls around in practice while limited, but it’s not close to what’s needed to simulate game situations. Regardless of who’s throwing the football, Brown wants his receivers to remained focus on their own growth.
“I don't care if I'm throwing it in individual [drills] or [quarterbacks] coach Gino [Guidugli] — it doesn't matter,” Brown said. “Are you doing your job? Are you where you're supposed to be? And then when the ball comes your way, do you make it?
“Now, you can say that, right, but there is a timing aspect and things like that. I think that has to be our focus right now. Regardless of who's throwing the ball, we got to understand, do we know why we're doing what we're doing? Are we in the right places? Are we handling our part?
“Don't worry about what's going on behind the center. That part will work itself out. But just focusing on ourselves and the things that we can control right now and when the ball comes, make the plays."
The value Kris Mitchell, Jayden Harrison bring to Notre Dame
The college careers for Mitchell and Harrison are pretty different.
The 6-foot, 184-pound Mitchell slowly developed with little production in his first three season at FIU. After becoming a regular starter and decent contributor in 2022 (23 catches for 348 yards and four touchdowns), he exploded with 64 catches for 1,118 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
The 5-10, 194-pound Harrison’s peak as a receiver at Marshall also came last season with 28 receptions for 410 yards and one touchdown. Harrison, who’s biggest impact was felt as an All-America kick returner, surpassed his previous career highs of 23 receptions for 254 yards set in 2021.
The experience and speed that duo brings is much needed.
"Just their veteran presence is huge,” Brown said. “We've got some young guys in our room. Guys that were here last year, a lot of them are young. And then obviously you got some freshmen coming in. So they've been really good in a leadership role from that standpoint, showing guys how to work. And then I think it's a good change of pace and bringing some competition to the room too. So they've been really, really good. Really good additions to our room."
The hope for Brown is the habits Mitchell and Harrison show will catch on with their younger teammates.
"I think a lot of it is just the little things that they do,” Brown said, “even if it's taking care of their bodies and how they're showing up to the building coming in early, doing those things. How they're putting in extra work when they're coming out here and they're leading stuff on their own.
“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. And then not far behind him, there comes Kris Mitchell. And it's every single morning.”
How Jayden Thomas is getting better
For all the potential at Notre Dame’s wide receiver position heading into the 2024 season, only one of them has caught more than 20 passes in a Notre Dame uniform: senior-to-be Jayden Thomas.
Thomas, who has 46 career catches for 671 yards and five touchdowns, surpassed 20 catches in each of the past two seasons but not by much. A 25-catch, 361-yard, 3-touchdown sophomore season didn’t serve as a launching pad for Thomas last season, thanks in large part to a hamstring injury that nagged him throughout the second half of the season and forced him to sit out two games completely.
The 6-2, 218-pound Thomas started to look more like himself in the Sun Bowl with four receptions for 59 yards and one touchdown. He’s worked to transform his body even more this offseason.
“He's quick, a lot quicker than I thought he was, which has been good,” Brown said. “He's done a good job for us into the boundary. We ask him to do a lot of different jobs. And he's taking ownership of it.
“He's another one of guys who's been around here. And he knows how things go around here. So he's been another really good leader for us over there and doing things into the boundary, him and Deion both.”
Thomas will be asked to play the same role that Alec Pierce played for Brown at Cincinnati, which led to Pierce becoming a second-round selection of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts in 2022. Though Brown sees them as different types of players, he hopes to see Thomas show some of the same skills.
“Alec was an outstanding contested catch guy,” Brown said. “So we'll see as he gets more and more opportunities how he develops in that area. But he's just really smart, which gives him a really, really big edge on a lot of guys. He's smart; knows what to do. He knows why he's doing it and he's where he needs to be when he needs to be there.”
What makes Jaden Greathouse different
After a few months of observing Greathouse, Brown already sees the sophomore-to-be playing faster as a result of playing with confidence.
A better understanding of the game can help Greathouse improve on his 18-catch, 265-yard, 5-touchdown debut season. So can a healthy hamstring and an opportunity to play more comfortably in roles that best suit him. The 6-1, 205-pound Greathouse was asked to move outside from the slot position due to injuries last season. He may be better suited to handle those opportunities this year.
“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. And 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."
Extra points
• Jordan Faison’s physical focus has been on his lacrosse season this spring, but Brown likes the way he’s stayed connected with what the Irish are doing on the football field.
"Jordan's done a great job,” Brown said. “He's locked in. 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.”
• Deion Colzie missed some time with a surgery on a dislocated finger, but he was already back participating in full practice this week. The 6-4, 212-pound senior is staring at what feels like a now-or-never season for his Notre Dame career.
Colzie is competing with Thomas and will eventually be joined by Collins as boundary receivers.
“He's really smart,” Brown said of Colzie. “He's been physical for us when we need him to be in all the jobs we ask him to do, and he's made plays. It's gonna be a good competition, and it's gonna be a good competition at all of our positions. And so I'm excited just to kind of watch.”
• Micah Gilbert, a 6-2, 204-pound freshman, already made enough plays this spring to be featured with a short video montage by Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish Media. The four-star recruit out of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian came prepared to make an impact sooner rather than later.
“He's done well,” Brown said. “He's made some plays. He's young still. He's made his mistakes, but it's been good to see him. He made some big catches down the field. Made one today. He's made several through camp. I think he's gonna be a good player. He's got a bright future. A really bright future."
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