Notre Dame WR Braden Lenzy announces he’s finished playing football
One of the heroes of Notre Dame’s Gator Bowl victory over South Carolina had his last act in that triumph. Wide receiver Braden Lenzy announced his football career is over on Saturday. He’s taking his Notre Dame degree with him to the real world.
Lenzy caught a 44-yard touchdown from quarterback Tyler Buchner vs. the Gamecocks on Friday. He also went for 20 yards and a first down on a fake punt. He was the Fighting Irish’s second-leading receiver in the game with 4 catches for 89 yards.
Lenzy caught 34 passes for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2022 and had 74 receptions for 976 yards and 9 touchdowns in his career. He also ran the ball 23 times for 276 yards and 2 more scores. He arrived in South Bend as a four-star recruit from Portland (Ore.) Tigard in the recruiting class of 2018. The five-year veteran announced he’ll start working at Medasource.
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Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman lauded Lenzy’s efforts all year.
“I remember saying it after the Navy game when he had that big catch for a touchdown; you know what, you don’t know when your number is going to be called,” Freeman said after the Irish’s 45-38 win in Jacksonville. “For a guy like Braden, just continuing to do his job and run as hard as he can and run his roster protection, and that’s an unselfish position. It’s just great to see him get the opportunities to go make a play and make them today.”
In that Navy game, Lenzy had one of the catches of the year in college football when he pinned the ball against the back of the defender on a 38-yard heave into the end zone off the hand of junior quarterback Drew Pyne.
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Lenzy had 454 yards from scrimmage as a redshirt freshman in 2019, but he never reached that number in any of his three final seasons. Injuries limited him to just three games played in 2020, and he played through the 2021 season with a nagging shoulder ailment. He still caught 32 passes for 350 yards that year, both of which were team highs.
Lenzy started all 13 games for Notre Dame in 2022. He played 570 snaps, the most of any wide receiver on the Notre Dame offense. First-year wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey chimed in on Twitter.
“Congrats!!!” Stuckey wrote. “Well deserved. The growth and commitment you’ve shown this year is gonna take you to some great places. Great Finish yesterday. Can’t wait to see what you become.”
