Landing five receivers this month, including a trio of four-star recruits, changes Notre Dame's 2024

Notre Dame signed a five-star Pacific Coast linebacker on Wednesday. That’s happened before.

The Irish pulled in arguably the best quarterback on the market this offseason. Did that just last winter, too. And they are already watching a consensus four-star recruit in practices, also true last spring with current freshman Kenny Minchey.

Notre Dame landed at No. 9 in the rivals.com class of 2024 rankings, its fourth straight cycle in the top 11. And 18 of 23 signees are four- or five-stars, 78.3 percent. In the last three cycles, 54 of 68 recruits signing with the Irish have been blue-chip recruits, 79.4 percent, using rivals.com rankings simply for consistency’s sake.

The one thing to set this winter’s roster additions apart from past years is the one position Notre Dame has most needed to improve, the one position that has capped the Irish success each of the last three seasons, logically costing Notre Dame at least one Playoff appearance in the process.

The Irish have added five receivers this month, quite literally doubling the size of the receivers room in 2024.

No greater folly has doomed Notre Dame’s postseason hopes the last three years than its lack of quality receivers, a deficiency compounded by a literal lack of bodies in the room. Even in 2021, when the 11-1 Irish came one upset away from reaching the College Football Playoff for a third time in four years under Brian Kelly, only Kevin Austin and Braden Lenzy caught more than 25 passes among players recruited as receivers.

Lenzy memorably ran 70 pass routes in the Fiesta Bowl loss, showing clear exhaustion as the game wound down. He had to line up for every play, the Irish were down to three receivers.

In 2022, Notre Dame consistently played exactly four players recruited as receivers — Lorenzo Styles, Jayden Thomas, Braden Lenzy and Deion Colzie. There were few others to turn to. And the Irish had just eight healthy receivers in preseason practices last August, including former walk-on Matt Salerno, a number that fell to three during the season as hamstring injuries slowed Thomas and Jaden Greathouse, a broken leg cost Salerno, a knee scope ruled out Colzie and freshman Braylon James was unable to rise above the scout team.

Some of that is bad luck.

The literal dearth of numbers was not. That was a failure of past coaching staffs, one new Irish receivers coach Mike Brown is already aware of.

“It would be a good problem to have if you did have 10 that you felt like were ready, right?” Brown said over the weekend in his first comments to the media in South Bend. “A lot of it depends on the offense. If there are predominantly three receivers on the field at a time, for instance, then you’d love to have at least six guys you feel really good about it.

“At least be two deep at each of those positions. … Most places, it’s been more 11 has kind of been the goal. I would love to have 12 guys. 10, I don’t think you feel too short.”

Brown considers 10 a minimum in the preseason. And the Irish have fallen short of that each of the last three years. Before a single Saturday mattered, Notre Dame’s offense was diminished.

Five-star linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa very well may become a star, but the Irish defense has been Playoff-quality just about every year since 2018, ranking below No. 14 in scoring defense just once in those six seasons.

Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard has the ceiling of a first- or second-round NFL draft pick, but no amount of leadership, competitiveness and arm accuracy can make up for not having anyone to throw the ball to. The same will be true of top-tier quarterback recruit CJ Carr down the line.

Adding a tackle prospect that already looks like a future first-round pick, just puts Guerby Lambert in line with Blake Fisher before him as part of a long list of Irish stars covering the last 14 years.

But at receiver, Notre Dame was desperate, and with Clemson transfer Beaux Collins, Florida International transfer Kris Mitchell, four-star receiver Cam Williams, four-star receiver Micah Gilbert and four-star receiver Logan Saldate, the Irish may have finally restocked their receivers room to a level that can match the rest of the roster.

Collins and Mitchell were vital, but the trio of four-star recruits will be the future of the program, both literally and in the trend of what they suggest.

“The core foundation of our program will still be built off of high school recruiting,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said Wednesday. “I know the transfer portal is a new thing with college football. We’re going to address specific needs in the transfer portal, but our foundation of this football program will always be addressed through high school recruiting.”

CAM WILLIAMS
Glenbard South High School; Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Measurements: 6-foot-2, 194 pounds.
Accolades: At least one recruiting coverage website considers Williams to be a five-star prospect, worth noting but a distinction that comes down to literal spots in the rankings. Rivals.com, for example, considers him a four-star and the No. 35 overall prospect in the class, exactly eight spots away from five-star status.

Other notable offers: Despite his lofty recruiting profile, Williams never wavered in a 17-month commitment, only sniffing around the Midwest before that June of 2022 decision. His unwavering pledge limited his offer sheet, a flaw in the recruiting rankings system.

Projected position: If Williams’s frame expands, then a future along the boundary may await him. If he remains rather lean, then he will make more sense on the wide side of the field, operating in a bit more space.

Quick take: Williams has more speed than he usually gets credit for, getting into the 10.8-second range in the 100-meter dash. Combine that with his trusted hands and Williams should pick up where Tobias Merriweather left off, though with two more years on the clock.

Short-term roster outlook: This is not hyperbole. This is a fact. There were points during the 2023 season that members of the Notre Dame beat would quietly wonder in the press box if Williams could contribute on the 2023 team. Suffice it to say, he should be able to do so next season, even with Collins and Mitchell joining the roster.

Long-term depth chart impact: Freeman made a point of praising Williams’s speed on Wednesday. It is the type of asset that can change an offense’s profile. Of the players ahead of him on the depth chart, none of have shown downfield speed. Current freshmen Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison are both very shifty, but they are at their best in close quarters, making space out of nothing, not in pulling away on a go route.

“We want to continue to enhance our speed on the outside on both sides of the ball,” Freeman said. “That was a thing with Cam. We saw him multiple times run 4.4 (-second 40-yard dashes). We had him in camp. We had him live.”

MICAH GILBERT
Charlotte Christian High School; N.C.
Measurements: 6-foot-3, 190 pounds.
Accolades: A consensus four-star, rivals.com ranks Gilbert the No. 57 receiver in the class.

Other notable offers: A few notable offenses chased Gilbert, such as his homestate power North Carolina, Louisville and Tennessee. But South Carolina challenged Notre Dame most.

Projected position: Gilbert looks like the boundary receiver to Williams’s field.

Quick take: Also a basketball star, those high-point abilities should be especially useful when navigating between the boundary and a defender.

Short-term roster outlook: The only surprise to pulling in Collins was that Notre Dame already has Thomas and Colzie, both large-framed targets that work well along the boundary. Which is to say, Gilbert could yield to that trio in 2024 and preserve a year of eligibility.

Long-term depth chart impact: But Collins is in his final season and both Thomas and Colzie have only two years of eligibility remaining. The recruiting failures of cycles past — let’s belatedly define that: The fact that Notre Dame has no current seniors or current sophomores at receiver on the roster is the evidence of those mistakes. — clear a path for Gilbert.

LOGAN SALDATE
Palma High School; Salinas, Calif.
Measurements: 5-foot-10, 171 pounds.
Accolades: A consensus four-star recruit, Saldate is the third top-100 receiver Notre Dame signed in this class, ranked No. 82 at the position by rivals.com.

Other notable offers: Saldate’s strongest courters were all on the West Coast, namely Cal and Oregon State, the latter of which held a Saldate commitment until July.

Projected position: Brown hinted at wanting a well-stocked receivers room with equal balance among the positions. That only makes sense. And this class has that, with Saldate a likely slot receiver.

Quick take: Do not underestimate Saldate’s strength in the slot, not to mention his kickoff return abilities.

Short-term roster outlook: Greathouse and Faison should dominate slot opportunities in 2024, but Saldate could pop up as a kickoff returner.

Long-term depth chart impact: If Saldate preserves a year of eligibility in 2024, then he will be two years behind Greathouse and Faison, enough of a buffer to hang as a carrot for his future.

RELATED READING: Needed third receiver joins Notre Dame class of 2024, de-committing from Oregon State on Friday

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