Former Notre Dame wide receiver Joe Wilkins Jr. announces transfer portal destination
A five-year Notre Dame veteran has chosen where he’ll finish his college career. Former Fighting Irish wide receiver Joe Wilkins Jr. announced Friday that he’ll transfer to Miami (Ohio).
“Blessed beyond belief to say the least,” Wilkins Jr. wrote in his social media posts on Twitter and Instagram.
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Wilkins Jr. entered the transfer portal on Nov. 7. Coming off a foot fracture suffered in March, Wilkins Jr. only played 27 snaps across eight games in 2022. He was not targeted on any of his seven receiving routes run. He finished his Notre Dame career with 11 receptions for 124 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Wilkins Jr. was the No. 772 overall player and the No. 81 cornerback in the class of 2018 according to the On3 Consensus recruiting rankings. The North Fort Myers (Fla.) product arrived in South Bend as a three-star prospect in the same class as former Irish wide receivers Kevin Austin, Braden Lenzy, Lawrence Keys III and Micah Jones. The Irish coaching staff moved the 6-2 Wilkins Jr. from defense to offense quickly after his arrival.
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Wilkins Jr. played 186 snaps in 2020. He was targeted 13 times and finished the season with 7 catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. From there, his career was marred by injuries. An MCL tear four games into the 2021 season caused him to miss the final two months of the year. He caught 4 passes in four different games for 61 yards and 1 touchdown, which came in the season-opener at Florida State.
Wilkins Jr. was primed to be a contributor in 2022 going into spring practices, but the Lisfranc fracture he went down with derailed the outlook of his whole year. He was not ever a full participant in fall camp and fell too far down a not-so-stacked depth chart to make a difference for Notre Dame. He might not have ever been 100% healthy in coming back from the foot injury.
Lenzy has one more year of eligibility. If he decides to use it elsewhere or he moves on from Notre Dame in any capacity, it’ll put a cap on the Irish wide receiving corps from the class of 2018.
