Notre Dame is taking a hard look at its wide receiver rotation after the group got squeezed down to the bare essentials in the final moments of the loss at Brigham Young.
Coach Marcus Freeman said Monday he has already made it clear to the offensive staff that the Irish need to find more ways to get reserve receivers on the field. The issue became impossible to ignore in the Oct. 17 game, when the rotation narrowed late and Ohio State transfer Mylan Graham was the only backup wideout to see action.
Jaden Greathouse, Jordan Faison and Micah Gilbert were on the field for 77-plus snaps in an 81-play outing, and Graham did not enter until a two-play stretch with Notre Dame at the BYU 14 and the clock slipping away. Faison also briefly came off the field in what looked like exhaustion during a 79-play night for him at altitude.
“I’ve been outspoken about it with the staff,” Freeman said Monday Oct. 26 ahead of this weekend’s matchup with unranked Navy (2-5). “We have to find ways to get those guys in the game, but it’s also a challenge to them: How do you continue to be more consistent in practice so there’s no hesitation to put you in the game?”
Freeman said the plan before kickoff was to work Graham and other reserves into the game around the fourth offensive series. That never really happened. When that possession arrived with 1:29 left in the first half and Notre Dame trailing 21-10, the idea went out the window.
“You always come into a game with a plan on when you want to get certain guys in the game,” Freeman said. “But then the game sometimes dictates who you want in the game at that moment. … In two-minute situations, you want your most dependable guys in that moment.”
The Irish then came away empty after CJ Carr’s attempted spike was ruled a lost fumble, and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock opened the second half with the starters at wide receiver.
“That becomes the flow of the game,” Freeman said. “In those toughest moments, you’re going to go with the guys you truly trust.
But that’s not to slight these other wide receivers. These guys are ascending, and we have to play them more.”
The BYU game was a sharp break from Notre Dame’s blowout against Stanford on Oct. 4, when 13 different wideouts logged at least one offensive snap and Graham played 29 times. The tighter games before and after that point tell a different story, though.
At North Carolina on Oct. 3, two-sport standout Matt Jeffery played nine offensive snaps, and no other non-starter got onto the field in the 37-26 win. The previous week at Purdue, six wideouts played, including Graham for 18 offensive snaps, Jerome Bettis Jr. for 12 and Jeffery for 11. In the Week 3 game against Michigan State, reserves combined for only 21 snaps at wideout, with Graham getting 17 and Bettis Jr. four.
Freeman said he has confidence in the whole room, but he wants the staff to be more deliberate about getting those players into games.
“I have a lot of confidence in the entire wide receivers’ room,” Freeman said. “We have to be more intentional about getting (them) in the game, but it works twofold. They have to continue to be consistent in practice so there’s no hesitation.”
So far, the numbers show how little the backup receivers have been able to add. Non-starters in Notre Dame’s receiving corps have totaled just 21 catches for 285 yards and one touchdown, Jeffery’s 4-yarder at Purdue. That accounts for 14.5% of the team’s receptions, 15.6% of its receiving yards and only 5.9% of its 17 scoring catches.
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