What’s Going on with Notre Dame’s Receivers? A 20-Year Retrospective

The Fighting Irish are a perennial exporter of elite NFL talent, but in recent seasons, it seems fewer and fewer wide receivers are rising to the levels of Notre Dame’s past wideouts. Is this reality? If so, how bad is it?

Art by The Irish Tribune

Across college football, certain programs have built reputations around the talent they produce at particular positions. Alabama is known as “Running Back-U” because of studs like Derrick Henry, Mark Ingram, and Trent Richardson. LSU is often called “Wide Receiver-U” because of their endless list of ball-hounds like Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Malik Nabers.

Over the last 20-25 years, Notre Dame has been lauded as “O-Line U” or “Tight End-U” and for good reason. Quenton Nelson, Zack Martin, Nick Martin, Ronnie Stanley, and Joe Alt highlight Notre Dame’s recent OL exports to the NFL, while Michael Mayer, Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Eifert, and Mitchell Evans round out their latest tight-end talents. For the most part, Notre Dame has remained consistent in its professional player development, but one of the most notable recent exceptions has been at wide receiver.

While the Irish aren’t necessarily known as historical leaders at wideout, there’s been a noticeable shift in the group’s recent production. Since 2000, Notre Dame’s wide receiver corps has settled into four distinct periods, each with its own impact on today’s current situation.

1. 2000 - 2006

2. 2007 - 2012

3. 2013 - 2020

4. 2021 - Present

When examining these isolated stretches, some impressive, notable, and concerning trends jump out - mainly a sharp decline in receiving production over recent years. The numbers tell a story that we need to pay attention to.

To provide greater context regarding the position’s recent struggles, we’ll examine these four periods alongside

• Notre Dame’s all-time wide receiver rankings

• The best single-season wideout performances since 2000

• Quarterback performance

• Scheme/Identity Issues

• Previous position coaches

We’ll begin by looking at Notre Dame’s all-time top-20 receiving rankings. Off the bat, there are three tight ends (Michael Mayer, Tyler Eifert, Ken MacAfee) in the mix that can be set aside, giving us 17 true wide receivers to examine. From those, we can remove everyone outside the 2000-2025 span (Derrick Mayes, Tim Brown, Tom Gatewood, Jim Seymour, Tony Hunter, Malcolm Johnson, Joe Howard, Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail, Bobby Brown). That leaves us with a top eight since 2000.

What jumps out immediately from these remaining players is the floor for touchdowns and yards. No one in this bracket has less than 18 touchdowns, and no one clocks in with less than 2,100 career receiving yards, setting a relatively high floor for all-time achievement placement.

This condensed list grows even more compelling when you take a look at each player’s tenure with the team. Six of the eight players listed here played all four years of their eligibility, with Rhema McKnight getting a 5th go-round due to injury. That leaves two anomalous players who managed to achieve their elite status in Notre Dame’s all-time rankings with just three seasons of play. Those two players are Golden Tate at the #2 spot in yardage, and Will Fuller, who sits at 5th all-time. Incredibly, Fuller comes in 2nd for all-time receiving touchdowns, just behind yardage leader Michael Floyd, and Tate trails at 4th with 26 career receiving scores.

If Fuller had returned for a 4th season and put up just eight touchdowns, a statistic he had surpassed in 2/3 of his Notre Dame seasons, he would hold the program’s record, while all Golden Tate needed was one more 1,000 yard season under his belt to steal the all-time yardage leader spot from Floyd. These two individuals achieved the highest ranks of Irish receiving in less time than their peers, showing that the trend of collegiate athletes leaving for the big leagues early can somewhat skew all-time statistics.

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The next closest receiver just outside this list in total receiving yards is Equanimeous St. Brown, who has only 1,484 yards and 13 touchdowns over his career. To be fair, St. Brown only played for three seasons before electing for the pros, but he also never posted a 1,000-yard season.

Now, credit must be given to Notre Dame’s all-time receiving leader. Not only is Michael Floyd well and away the top wideout on this list, but he leads in all three major statistical categories. During his four seasons in South Bend, Floyd compiled a record of 37 touchdowns, 3,686 yards, and 271 catches over 275 plays. He leads his former teammate Golden Tate by 114 receptions and 979 yards, and holds Notre Dame’s single-season receptions record with 100.

We then examine how exactly those top eight players got there. A few things jump out when looking at Notre Dame’s most recent 1,000-yard seasons. Between 2000 and 2004, the Irish didn’t have a single 1,000 receiver until the combination of Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, and Maurice Stovall came together in 2005. In that lone season, both Stovall and Samardzija went for 1,100+ yards, while each posted double-digit receiving touchdowns with a combined 26. That season was the last time Notre Dame had more than one wideout hit the 1,000-yard mark in the same year.

From 2008 to 2011, Floyd and Tate combined to give the Irish four straight years with at least one 1,000-yard receiver, each posting the feat in back-to-back seasons. In his 2009 1,000-yard season, Tate set Notre Dame’s single-season receiving record with a ridiculous 1,496 yards, earning him the program’s only spot on the 100 best yardage performances in college football history at #76. In the same season, Tate also tied Notre Dame’s single-season receiving touchdowns record with 15, a mark shared by just two others - Jeff Samardzija and Will Fuller.

More concerning is the gap at the other end of the timeline. The Irish were on a hot streak between 2005 and 2015, with only 2007 and 2012 marking seasons without a 1,000-yard performance, but after 2015, things got shaky. The Irish hit another multi-year drought from 2016 to 2018 without a four-digit outing until Chase Claypool barely eclipsed the mark in 2019 with 1,037 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Most concerning of all, following Claypool’s senior year performance in 2019, the Irish haven’t managed a single 1,000-yard receiver, marking the longest drought in receiver production since before the year 2000.

During the 2000-2004 quiet period in Irish receiving, Notre Dame went through three wide receivers coaches. Urban Meyer was hired on for Lou Holtz’s final season in 1996, but left for the head job at Bowling Green following the 2000 season. For the purposes of our examination, Meyer had minimal effect on the ultimate trajectory of Notre Dame’s receiving room, for better or for worse. He was on staff through a coaching change and stayed on with fledgling Irish head coach Bob Davie, who played a larger role in recruiting and performance than Meyer. The same can be said for single-year position coach Joker Phillips, who was only in South Bend for the 2001 season and left after Davie and the program parted ways.

Tyrone Willingham brought in Trent Miles to manage the wide receivers during his short stint as head coach, and both men were gone following the 2004 season. While Willingham and Miles didn’t help the wideouts perform at an elite level, some of what came next can be attributed to their recruiting and tutelage.

2000-2006

Things began to look up for the Irish when Charlie Weis came to town, alongside new wide receivers coach Rob Ianello. Under their leadership, Willingham and Miles’ recruits were coached up to a higher level, which led to a breakout in statistical performance. Samardzija, Stovall, and McKnight broke out between 2004 and 2006, cementing themselves at the top of the record books whilst ushering in their successors.

Our first quarterback in this lineup is one of Notre Dame’s all-time greats. Brady Quinn played all four years with Notre Dame, rising through the ranks from a struggling true freshman to a Heisman candidate in both his junior and senior seasons. Quinn struggled in year one with more interceptions than touchdowns and under 1,900 yards passing. He improved noticeably in 2004, eclipsing the 2,500-yard mark with 17 scores and just 10 interceptions. Notre Dame’s patience paid off, and Quinn absolutely tore up his Junior year. He tossed nearly 4,000 yards, almost 1,500 more than the year before, and threw a ridiculous 32 touchdowns with a low 7 interceptions. Quinn also took a massive stride in his overall effectiveness, improving from 54.1%-64.9% in completion percentage while jumping from 125.9 QBR to a career high 158.4. Quinn’s 2005 season performance was the last time an Irish QB tossed more than 1,000 yards to two separate receivers. Weis was known for his role as the offensive mastermind of the Tom Brady Patriots, and he brought an almost exclusively offensive mindset to South Bend. This increased emphasis allowed Quinn to tee off and hit unprecedented levels of passing production for the Irish.

2007-2012

Clausen followed in Brady’s steps as the heir-apparent leader for the Irish offense. He was yet another gunslinger Weis could use to lead his passing-first offense. Despite the seamless fit, he had a rough first year, but was no worse than Quinn’s freshman outing; however, fans and staff had higher expectations. Thankfully, Clausen responded big in back-to-back seasons, posting two 3,000-yard-plus outings with 25+ touchdowns. Golden Tate headlined the next receivers unit under Weis and worked his way up the rankings in just three seasons, finishing with two 1,000-yard outings in tandem with Jimmy Clausen before both left early, just before the entire staff turned over. 

Theo Riddick bridged the gap between Floyd and the next star, holding down the slot position for so long that he leads this group in total plays in blue and gold with 364 over four seasons. Ultimately, Weis-Clausen failed to match Weis-Quinn’s success, and the Irish went (3-9) in 2007, (6-6) in 2008, and (7-6) in 2009. The lack of team success clouded Clausen’s time with the Irish, and his pairing with Golden Tate just narrowly missed Quinn and Samardzija’s statistical production. Clausen boils down to a massive talent that just barely underperformed, but did so in the spotlight and on a struggling team whose coach was on the way out. 

Following Weis’s exit from the program, new head coach Brian Kelly brought in Tony Alford, who held down the receivers coach spot until he eventually split duties with offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock for two seasons. 

Following Clausen’s departure, the quarterback spot became a shaky position for Notre Dame. New head coach Brian Kelly split time between Dayne Christ and Tommy Rees in 2010, but Michael Floyd caught balls from each en route to his first 1,000-yard season. Kelly continued with Rees in 2011, who struggled mightily with interceptions but almost threw for 3,000 yards and helped Michael Floyd to his second 1,000-yard season. After just one year with no QB competition, Kelly had Rees fight for the job once again, but Everett Golson won out and had a respectable showing that only continued to muddy the position’s future. 

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2013-2020

In 2013, the team went back to Rees, who had his best statistical season thus far, with TJ Jones going for 1,108 yards and 9 touchdowns. Jones became Notre Dame’s next official #1 wideout option and played all four years. He compiled nearly 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns, both good for third place during his period.

Following Tony Alford’s exit, Mike Denbrock assumed full-time OC/WR coaching duties in 2014 and led the next squad of Irish receiving talent. Golson came back in 2014 for a second go-round at QB and put in the best statistical performance from an Irish QB since Jimmy Clausen in 2009, going for nearly 3,500 yards and 29 scores. His #1 option was Will Fuller, who put up his first 1,000-yard season. Similarly to Michael Floyd, Will Fuller led this next group, and by a solid margin. Fuller’s 2,512 yards is 4th all-time at Notre Dame, and was 353 more than the next closest player during this period, Chase Claypool, who stayed for an entire year longer than Fuller. 

Further, Fuller’s 30 career receiving scores put him at 2nd all-time and a whopping 11 ahead of the next player in this group, Chase Claypool, yet again. It’s quite evident that these two are far and away the leaders of this pack, and not coincidentally, are responsible for the program’s last three 1,000-yard seasons.

Deshone Kizer earned the job as a true sophomore and immediately put up solid numbers for the Irish. Unlike most of the other quarterbacks on this list, Kizer was consistent but didn’t make a massive jump from year to year. He put up above-average stats on (8-5) and (10-3) Notre Dame teams, but left after his junior year for the pros. He did help Will Fuller earn his 2nd straight 1,000-yard season, but failed to have another 4-digit wideout in 2016. Ultimately, Kizer was a consistent and above-average mobile QB, who provided a sense of stability to the position that had not been present since Jimmy Clausen. He was less of a talent than Brady Quinn, but more of a plug-and-play system guy than Clausen.

Mike Denbrock left the program after the 2016 season, and Brian Kelly brought in Del Alexander to head up the receivers’ room.

2017 began yet another series of back-and-forth battles for the QB spot for Brian Kelly and the Irish. Reps were mostly given to Brandon Wimbush, who excelled in mobility but was a below-average passer, forcing the team to put in Ian Book for a steadier pocket presence. Either way, the two collectively didn’t break 2,500 yards and only tossed 20 touchdowns. 

2018 was a replica of the year before, just in reverse. The Irish went with Book’s more consistent passing threat, only supplementing with Wimbush’s legs. It paid off, and the 2018 Irish went 12-1 with a trip to the CFP. Book improved enough to keep his job for 2019, where he put up even better numbers. He set career highs in yards with 3,034, and the most touchdowns by an Irish QB since 2006 with 34. This was the last time Notre Dame had a 1,000-yard receiver, with Chase Claypool being Book’s #1 target. 

2020 was a step back for Book statistically, but the Irish fought through a strange COVID season and finished (10-2) without a 1,000-yard receiver. Overall, Book was an excellent leader, but a safe choice to lead the offense, and one that didn’t particularly push the ball vertically down the field.

After Fuller and Claypool, there’s a group of players in this period that together form a unique group. This “almost elite” group put up respectable numbers but seemed to fall just short of expectations. While each group on this list has had the stars and the backup, there’s multiple above average wideouts on this list that either didn’t stay long enough to achieve greatness, weren’t dominant enough to be the clear #1 option, or hang just below the cusp of Notre Dame’s elite outside threats. 

Chris Brown and Chris Finke each get a pass here, as both played supporting roles during their time and were more complementary pieces than #1 go-to options. Brown backed up Fuller while Finke backed up Claypool. It’s the players around these 4 that leave something to be desired.

Tori Hunter and St. Brown were bridge players between the Fuller/Brown tandem and the Claypool/Finke duo that never seemed to break out fully. St. Brown was supposed to be the #1 option, but only stayed for 3 years, never achieving the 1,000-yard mark or double-digit touchdowns in a single season. If St. Brown was the #1, then Hunter was his #2, which means he put up respectable numbers, but put up less than 1,000 yards total in his three-year career, and his six touchdowns are tied for the least on this list.

Miles Boykin is one of the more complicated figures in this group, as he didn’t play his freshman year but put up similar numbers to four-year Finke. In actuality, Boykin should have been competing head-to-head with Claypool for the #1 spot, but ended his time behind both of them statistically, with his best season being 882 yards and 8 touchdowns.

A decent share of the wide receiving corps’ shortcomings in this period should be attributed to Del Alexander’s coaching. For one reason or another, Alexander failed to fully develop Notre Dame’s increasingly deep and talented pool of wideouts. With the exception of Claypool, most of Alexander’s players failed to launch from rotational pieces into dominant targets on the college level, and his coaching failed to elicit the on-field production the team was looking for. 

2021-Present

Since roughly 2021, not a single Irish receiver has posted a career total of 1,000 yards, much less in a single season, and none have worked their way into the top 38 of all-time Notre Dame receivers. Both Lenzy and Tyree posted single-digit touchdown catches over their 4 year careers, and neither managed over 500 receiving yards in a single season. Ironically, Tyree was never a true wideout, and the coaching staff only moved him out wide due to a need for speed and production on the outside. Even then, he managed to produce equal or better numbers than his receiving counterparts. The more you look into the production numbers of this unit, the more evident it becomes that, more than any other factor, the Irish have not had a true #1 option that has stepped up and owned the top spot since Chase Claypool and Will Fuller before him.

2021 began an unfortunately inconsistent period with the Irish, as they looked to the outside for a gunslinger and began a trend. Jack Coan transferred into the program and had a surprisingly good season, tossing over 3,100 yards for 25 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions en route to an (11-2) Irish season. Uniquely, the Irish just barely missed out on a 1,000-yard receiver, with tight-end Michael Mayer hitting 840 receiving yards with 7 touchdowns, and Kevin Austin with 888 yards and 7 scores. This was the closest an Irish QB-WR tandem has gotten to 1,000 yards since Book-Claypool in 2019.

Part of the wide receiver’s shortcomings came from something out of their control - scheme. Throughout the course of Brian Kelly’s tenure, the Irish were able to lean on tight end play, specifically with Tyler Eifert and Michael Mayer. As we’ve examined in the stats, these tight ends’ above-average production contributed significantly to a decline in overall wideout numbers. This, combined with 1,000+ yard running backs like CJ Procise, Josh Adams, Kyren Williams, and Audric Estime meant the Irish offense had too many weapons to spread the love evenly and not enough need to develop a struggling position group that gave them just enough production.

After Brian Kelly departed South Bend for LSU following the 2021 season, Del Alexander also parted ways with the Irish, and new head coach Marcus Freeman brought in Chansi Stuckey to take over the receivers for 2022.

That year, the Tyler Buchner experiment failed early, and the Irish settled on little-known QB Drew Pyne, who put in a solid if not uninspiring stat line of just 2,000 yards and 22 touchdowns but remained accurate with only 6 interceptions. While the Irish didn’t have a 1,000-yard receiver, Michael Mayer went for 809 yards and 9 scores, leading the team in all categories, but the next closest receiver had less than 400 yards.

Cue the savior himself, transfer Sam Hartman. He arrived in South Bend in 2023 to much fanfare, but individual and team-wide expectations weren’t met. While Hartman was a much-needed reprieve from Pyne, he only threw for a little over 2,600 yards, 24 scores, and 8 interceptions. It was a third straight season of one-and-done QBs, and Notre Dame’s receiving core further suffered because of it, unable to form any long-lasting QB-WR relationship. 

The hiring of Chansi Stuckey had provided some hope for the position group’s turnaround, but Stuckey was let go after almost two seasons with the Irish and little on-field production from the wide receivers unit. His exit prompted an exodus of Irish wideout talent amidst the confusion, and critics began to credit Stuckey’s lack of overall experience for the group’s continued struggles and the loss of the room’s faith. Thankfully, the Irish held firm and responded with a solid hire in that of Wisconsin’s Mike Brown, who took over the wide receivers coaching spot, and the group once again braced for a comeback.

Enter the 4th one-and-done quarterback, Riley Leonard. Leonard led the Irish to their best season finish since 2012, going all the way through the new 12-team CFP, Notre Dame’s longest path to the National Championship game ever. With that said, we need to talk brass tacks here. Statistically, even with the extra postseason games, Leonard only put up 2,800 yards through the air and the fewest passing scores of the one-and-done QB period. Additionally, he tied the mark for the most interceptions during this time, but finished with the highest completion percentage of the group. To his credit, he was hands down the best mobile QB the Irish have possibly ever had, and those stats partially contribute to his statistical shortcomings through the air. Regardless, Leonard contributed to a 5th straight season without a 1,000-yard receiver for the Irish, with the group’s top two targets only amassing 1,082 yards and 7 scores between them. 

As we enter the 2025 season, Notre Dame only has 3 wide receivers with statistical experience in the blue and gold. Greathouse and Faison have been the only consistent assets for Notre Dame’s wide receivers room, and will once again be joined by two upperclassmen transfers and a slate of inexperienced freshman talent.

Greathouse seems to have the highest upside of any returning Irish wideout, but will have to more than double the production from his best season so far to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark. Faison has been a pleasant surprise, but it says quite a bit that a walk-on lacrosse player could outshine preexisting three and four-star talent. Coach Brown has been serviceable in his first season with the team, but only time will prove whether the hire was the right call or not.

The most encouraging thing for the Irish should be the quality at the top of this group. Proven commodities like Greathouse and Faison should hold things down, while experienced upperclassmen like Field and Pauling can jump in and get their fair share of the action.

Malachi Fields arrives as Notre Dame’s hot portal addition this offseason, having put up stellar numbers over the last two years at Virginia. He finished 2023 with 58 catches for nearly 1,000 yards and 5 scores, each good for 2nd among Cavs receivers. He followed that performance up with an almost identical stat line in 2024, but this time around, he led the receiving corps in all three major categories. He caught 4 balls for 81 yards against Notre Dame this past season, and announced his transfer to South Bend in late December 2024.

With back-to-back years of consistently above-average production on a woefully inadequate Virginia team, Fields likely has the greatest chance out of any Irish receiver to break out and hit the 1,000-yard mark this season.

Will Pauling spent two years at Cincinnati with little on-field production before transferring to Wisconsin. He had a breakout year in 2023, leading the Badgers in all three major categories while nearly hitting the 1,000-yard mark. Unfortunately, Pauling was hampered by several nagging injuries and missed some time in 2024. He failed to match his stats from the previous season and finished with roughly half the production. Still, his performance was good enough to place 2nd on the team in receptions, yards, and scores, and he managed all this while playing for a struggling team in a major conference like the BIG 10. Pauling underwent offseason surgery on his right foot after formally transferring to Notre Dame and is reportedly fully recovered.

Then we are left with a bevy of young talent. Every freshman coming in is a 4-star recruit (with the exception of Bettis Jr.), and there’s never been a more talented group of young wideouts ready to take the next step. Freeman must maintain continuity with his staff and ensure Brown and Denbrock stay in South Bend, removing the excuse of inconsistent coaching from the equation and preventing another mass exodus of disillusioned players. Denbrock specifically has shown he can do it with talents like TJ Jones and Will Fuller, and at the very least, he’ll be able to assess if coach Brown has these boys moving in the right direction or isn’t the right fit for the job.

Going Forward

Ultimately, Notre Dame’s receiving core has taken a few steps back, but the change is more a regression to the mean rather than a true inadequacy. The Irish are still recruiting well at the wideout spot and are arguably playing with the most talent they’ve had in recent memory. While that may seem to contradict the idea that Notre Dame is underperforming at the position, the increase in average talent at wide receiver makes the lack of statistical success more indicting. A sizable portion of the blame should indeed be levied at the talent themselves, but equally at fault is a long-term combination of average to sub-par position coaching, a lack of staff continuity, schematic issues, and the real elephant in the room - the lack of a true gunslinger at QB, all combine to create an uphill battle for Irish wideouts.

Thankfully, Freeman and Denbrock seem to have settled the quarterback debate and look to be running with the rookie, CJ Carr. While this will be a gamble, we can see quite clearly from past data that multi-year starters tend to have higher production ceilings. Freeman has stressed the importance of figuring out the quarterback battle early and developing QB-WR relationships as early as possible. This may be a clue to Notre Dame’s offense trending towards a more diversified playcalling scheme.

As for the future, Notre Dame is currently in the best possible position to reverse this concerning trend. They have a deep pool of receiver talent - and growing deeper, and an uncharacteristically stable coaching staff, specifically on the offensive side of the ball. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, things can really only get better for the Irish. For example, look what they managed with a QB rental struggling to throw the ball to a receiver group with no alpha. Notre Dame’s typically above-average receiver production has settled into that of an average to slightly below-average group, and this trend has been present for quite a few years now. Thankfully, that means the Irish likely won’t regress further and are due for an uptick in production.

Another 1,000-yard season feels closer than ever, but the real question going forward is - who pulls it off?

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