Evaluating Notre Dame's wide receiving corps entering 2024 season

One of the more interesting position groups for Notre Dame entering the 2024 college football season is their wide receiving corps.

Joining On3’s Andy Staples on The Andy Staples Show on Monday, Tyler Horka of Blue and Gold spoke on who Riley Leonard will be passing to when the Fighting Irish take the field in 2024.

“Hodgepodge group of guys,” Horka started. “They just got three from the transfer portal. Beaux Collins of Clemson being one of those. He’s actually the one that’s not on campus. Jayden Harrison of Marshall, Kris Mitchell of Florida International. Both of those guys are on campus, and they’re expected to be at spring practice, like I was talking about earlier next month. That’s when we kind of figure out the pecking order, and the hierarchy of all this, when we see these guys on the field for the first time, but you’ve got those three transfers.

“You’ve got three, I believe it is, true freshman coming in. Cam Williams is the big one of those three. He was borderline five-star. I think he got dropped down to a four-star in On3’s latest rankings. He’s a dude that can contribute right away, so I think he’s in the mix, and then you have that interesting group of returners, like Jaden Greathouse, Jordan Faison.”

As it pertains to Faison, the Notre Dame wide receiver broke out in a big way in 2023, and figures to be a big part of Notre Dame’s plans in 2024.

“I think I was watching Notre Dame’s lacrosse game the other day, which by the way, Jordan Faison scored a goal and he scored a goal in all three lacrosse games that he’s played in his college career, for the defending national champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish. So that’s impressive,” Horka explained. “But the commentator said he was talking to Sam Hartman at the Senior Bowl a couple of weeks ago, and Sam Hartman said, ‘Yeah, Jordan Faison, by the end of the year, was our best wide receiver at Notre Dame.’ So that’s a good thing and a bad thing, because it’s obviously an unforeseen talent that came up and now you have a guy for the next three years, but if a scholarship lacrosse player, who was a walk-on for your football program, Sam Hartman is definitively telling you, ‘Hey, he’s our best wide receiver,’ what does that say about the other guys? I’m not sure. It says a lot about Jordan Faison, but I’m not sure what it says about the other guys.

“But I agree with you Andy, that’s the big question, will this team have receiving potential? We’re going to find out a little bit next month, and then obviously August 31 in College Station, we’ll see who Riley Leonard is throwing to then.”

Alas, it remains to be seen how Notre Dame’s offense shakes out, but it’ll certainly be something to keep an eye on, as the Irish aim for the College Football Playoff in 2024.