Marshall speedster Jayden Harrison brings kickoff return skills to Notre Dame

A third receiver has transferred to Notre Dame, though Marshall graduate Jayden Harrison’s greatest impact for the Irish in 2024 may come on special teams.

Harrison entered the transfer portal just last week, visiting Notre Dame this weekend and subsequently choosing the Irish over another visit to Colorado.

He began his career in 2020 at Vanderbilt before transferring to Marshall for three seasons, his 2024 eligibility only possible because of the universal pandemic eligibility waiver.

Harrison returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last season, earning some first-team All-Americna honors as a natural result. In total, he took 23 kickoffs for an average of 30.7 yards. Remove those two scores and Harrison still averaged 24.4 yards on his other 21 returns. Even that lesser average — a conservative one intended to lessen the impact of two plays with the highest variance — would have ranked No. 17 in the country last season.

Harrison’s actual average ranked No. 2 in the country, and it was the highest average among players with at least 20 kickoff returns.

He is well built, 195 muscular pounds on a 5-foot-11 frame, which somewhat belies his still-obvious speed.

That combination made Harrison a contributing receiver for Marshall, as well, catching 28 passes for 410 yards and a touchdown last season with career totals of 72 receptions for 794 yards and four scores. And a month ago, a veteran with Harrison’s speed may have been heralded as a needed piece in the Irish receivers room.

But with the transfers of Clemson’s Beaux Collins and Florida International’s Kris Mitchell, Harrison may now be a depth piece for Notre Dame on offense. Rising senior Jayden Thomas and rising sophomores Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse shined in the Sun Bowl, Thomas and Greathouse finally healthy and thus relieving some of the coverage’s focus on Faison.

That should be the leading quintet for Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard, with three incoming four-star signees burgeoning the group’s potential.

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Harrison should be a contributing piece to that room but not necessarily a leader, not like he should be as a kickoff returner. But nonetheless, Notre Dame has been slowed by a lack of bodies at receiver in recent years, so stockpiling them in quantity raises the Irish floor in 2024. The roster is now expected to have 11 receivers in preseason practices, finally nearing new receivers coach Mike Brown’s preference.

“Most places, it’s been more 11 has kind of been the goal,” Brown said last month. “I would love to have 12 guys. 10, I don’t think you feel too short.”

And Harrison brings a skill to South Bend that Freeman has long sought, a skill he identified when discussing Mitchell’s commitment.

“His speed, we were looking for speed,” Freeman said last month. “That’s what, to me, stuck out on film. He has a lot of production.”

The same can be said of Harrison, just with an emphasis on his kickoff returns.

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