Jordan Faison update: When will two-sport star rejoin Notre Dame lacrosse team?

Notre Dame wide receiver and midfielder Jordan Faison has not practiced with the men’s lacrosse team yet after helping lead the football team to the national championship game, Irish men’s lacrosse head coach Kevin Corrigan confirmed Thursday afternoon.

Corrigan fully expects Faison to rejoin the team this season, which begins Wednesday against Cleveland State in South Bend. Notre Dame is the two-time defending national champion in men’s lacrosse, and Faison was a starter on the 2024 edition.

“We’re not in any hurry right now with him,” Corrigan said. “What a terrific run, from MVP of the [Sun] Bowl game last January to a national championship in the spring, straight back to football and a run to the national championship game in the longest football season, by the way, that anybody’s ever played. So we’re not in any hurry to get him back on the practice field right now.”

Faison came to Notre Dame as a highly-ranked lacrosse recruit and a walk-on football player, and he fully expects to play both sports throughout his college career. For now, though, he needs to recharge and he’ll miss the beginning of the lacrosse season as a result.

When Faison comes back, he’ll join the near-unanimous preseason No. 1 team. Notre Dame received 21 of the 22 first-place votes on Inside Lacrosse.

“He needs a little rest, mentally and emotionally as much as physically,” Corrigan said. “He’ll be back with us at some point, I think, and we’ll go from there. Really happy for him and the unbelievable experience that he’s been having since he got to Notre Dame.”

Faison’s career so far with the Irish has surpassed expectations in both sports.

He broke into the wide receiver rotation in October of his freshman year, catching 19 passes for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns. When he joined the lacrosse team as planned in January 2024, Corrigan and his staff initially wanted to ease him into action and let him take his time as he transitioned from football season.

They quickly realized that wasn’t going to work.

“We kind of threw that plan out after about a week and said, ‘That guy’s pretty good. We could probably use him.'” Corrigan said.

Faison started all 17 games at midfielder his freshman year, scoring 22 goals and dishing out 8 assists. He also set up Notre Dame’s last-second win over Cornell with a caused turnover in the final minute, and he scored a nifty behind-the-back goal as the Irish beat Maryland in the national championship game.

Back with the football team in 2024, an ankle injury derailed much of Faison’s season but he proved his worth in the College Football Playoff. Throughout the first two rounds against Indiana and Georgia, he led the Irish with a combined 11 receptions for 135 yards.

After the work he put in on the football field, Corrigan said it’s very much up to Faison when he decides to return to lacrosse.

“I told Jordan, ‘You call me. I’m not gonna call you,'” Corrigan said. “We’re just leaving him alone, and when he’s ready, he’ll get back out.”

Tyler Buchner, Matt Jeffery ‘stepped right in’ after football season

Aside from Faison, there are two connections from football to men’s lacrosse in South Bend: Tyler Buchner and Matt Jeffery.

Buchner, of course, started games at quarterback for both Notre Dame and Alabama before leaving football altogether to join the men’s lacrosse team as a midfielder with the Irish. He later walked back onto the football team at wide receiver, where he did a little bit of everything. He played scout team quarterback during Army and Navy weeks, signaled in plays from the sideline and executed two successful fake kicks, one on the ground and one through the air.

Jeffery was the No. 1 men’s lacrosse recruit in the class of 2024 — also as a midfielder — and he walked onto the football team as a wide receiver as well. He made the travel roster as a backup on special teams, and he played some wide receiver in garbage time against Purdue and Miami (Ohio).

Both Buchner and Jeffery are expected to contribute on the lacrosse field this season.

“They’ve both stepped right in,” Corrigan said. “They’re both excellent players who are going to help us a lot this year.”

Jeffery’s teammates describe him as a “freak athlete,” with “crazy raw talent.”

“This guy’s gonna be good,” defenseman Shawn Lyght said. “Right now, he’s just trying to pick up that lacrosse IQ again, get a stick back in his hand. But as soon as he puts everything together, he gains all that confidence, he’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with.”

Buchner, meanwhile, played in 11 games as a reserve midfielder in his first season as a lacrosse players since high school.

“He looks even better than he was last year, so he’ll be good,” attackman Chris Kavanagh said.