Notre Dame’s wide receiver rotation has become one of the louder talking points coming out of the BYU loss, and Mike Brown didn’t try to duck it on Tuesday.
The Irish are spending the week sorting through why certain receivers have barely seen the field in games where the opposition has pushed them, and Brown said the staff is working through how to broaden the group. At the same time, he made it clear why the current pecking order keeps holding.
“It’s all about consistency,” Brown explained. “And the guys have done a good job.
I know there’s a lot of questions about rotations and it’s not that anybody’s doing anything wrong. I do have trust in our guys.
I think our guys have continually gotten better. We’ve had, since I’ve been here over these past three years, Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse.
They’ve been two of the better players on our offense. Sometimes when you get into those situations, it’s those big moments in those big games.”
Brown’s point was simple: Notre Dame has receivers it believes in, and in tense spots, the staff keeps going back to the players who have already delivered.
“You think back to so many of our big games that we’ve had, those guys have made plays over and over and over again,” Brown continued.
He said the coaches understand the need to widen things out, even if the trust in Faison, Greathouse and Micah Gilbert keeps them at the front of the line.
“You tend to lean on the guys that have done it time and time again in those moments. With that being said, honestly, we gotta get more guys into the rotation and we will.”
Brown said the staff is looking at ways to improve that process, and he echoed what Marcus Freeman said Monday: the coaches want more production from the players behind the top trio, and the rotation has to get better.
“Moving forward, guys are continuing to work and we’re working to get better at it every single day.”
For now, the timing of when Notre Dame opens things up more remains uncertain. Against Navy, the Irish should have the chance to spread snaps around and give backups like Jerome Bettis Jr. and Mylan Graham some opportunities. Against Miami, though, the same issue could resurface quickly.
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