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Transfer portal: Notre Dame gets commitment from Wisconsin WR Will Pauling

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•12/24/24•

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(Photo by Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

Merry Christmas, Notre Dame fans. Your presents came in the form of two wide receiver commits out of the transfer portal in as many days.

First it was Malachi Fields of Virginia on Monday. Then it was Will Pauling of Wisconsin on Christmas Eve.

Pauling played for current Notre Dame wide receivers coach Mike Brown at Cincinnati in 2021 and 2022 and at Wisconsin in 2023. He remained a Badger in 2024 even after Brown took the Notre Dame job, but he has followed his former position coach to South Bend for his final year of eligibility.

Pauling has 129 catches, 1,372 yards and 9 touchdowns in his career. He only played in four games and had 1 catch for 6 yards as a true freshman. Since then, things have really ramped up for the 5-10 native of Chicago.

Pauling had 12 catches for 122 yards as a redshirt freshman. His breakout season came as a redshirt sophomore in 2022 when he accumulated 74 receptions, 837 yards and 6 touchdowns. He played 13 games that year. This year, he only played in 10 but still had 42 catches for 407 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Badgers.

Pauling took a hard hit to his upper body in Wisconsin’s game against Rutgers in mid-October. It affected his availability and productivity for the rest of the regular season. He only caught four passes for 26 yards and 1 touchdown in all of November. It was a rough finish to his penultimate season of eligibility, and he was likely looking for a fresh start for one more go as a student-athlete.

He chose Notre Dame as his destination to make it happen.

Given Pauling’s short stature and the fact he played 359 of his 446 snaps in the slot this season, it’s pretty obvious Notre Dame went after Pauling as a replacement for Jaden Greathouse’s complement in the slot. Notre Dame is losing Marshall transfer Jayden Harrison to an exhaustion of eligibility at the end of this season.

Harrison came to Notre Dame as a bit of a gadget guy and return specialist. Pauling, on the other hand, is a true wideout. He gives the Fighting Irish something they don’t really have elsewhere on the roster in a smaller, speedy pass catcher who prides himself making plays after the catch despite his limited size. Sort of like Jordan Faison, but again, Pauling is a slot man. Faison has played field receiver all year.

Diversity is a key in any wide receiver room, and between Fields — a 6-4, 220 bruiser — and Pauling, Notre Dame sure did diversify through the portal this week.

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