Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2025 19 For his efforts in 2024, which in- cluded the ninth-most receiving yards in the league, Fields was named third- team All-Atlantic Coast Conference. He was an All-ACC honorable mention in 2023, when he finished eighth. Fields caught 11 passes for 172 yards in his true freshman season (2021), but he missed most of his sophomore year (2022) with a broken metatarsal in his foot. That injury gave Fields an extra year of eligibility, which he will use at Notre Dame, presumably as the team's No. 1 boundary receiver to replace Beaux Col- lins. SPEED IN THE SLOT Will 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 Bad- ger 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 made 129 catches for 1,372 yards and 9 touchdowns in his ca- reer. He played in four games and made 1 grab for 6 yards as a true freshman. Since then, things have really ramped up for the 5-foot-10 native of Chicago. Pauling had 12 catches for 122 yards as a redshirt freshman. His breakout season came as a redshirt sophomore in 2023 when he accumulated 74 recep- tions for 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 up- per 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 touch- down in all of November. It was a rough finish to his penultimate season of eli- gibility, and he was likely looking for a fresh start for one more go as a student- athlete. He chose Notre Dame as his destina- tion 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 re- placement for Jaden Greathouse's com- plement in the slot. Marshall transfer Jayden Harrison exhausted his eligibil- ity in the 2024 season. Harrison came to Notre Dame as a bit of a gadget guy and return special- ist. Pauling, on the other hand, is a true wideout. He gives the Fighting Irish something they don't really have else- where on the roster in a smaller, speedy pass catcher who prides himself on mak- ing plays after the catch despite his lim- ited size. Sort of like Jordan Faison, but again, Pauling is a slot man. Faison played field receiver all year in the 2024 season. 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. DEPTH AT TIGHT END In three years and 21 games played with the Razorbacks, Ty Ty Washington, a 6-foot-4, 249-pound tight end, caught 14 passes for 212 yards and 4 touch- downs. His best season was his redshirt freshman year in 2023, when he hauled in 11 receptions for 170 yards and 2 scores. Washington entered the transfer portal after he was dismissed from the team in October for what Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman called a "violation of team rules." On the "Fourth & 5" podcast with former Razorbacks tight end D.J. Wil- liams, Washington gave his side of the story. According to KARK, Washington got word before Arkansas' Week 9 game against Mississippi State that his grand- mother had entered hospice care. He was asked to go in during the fourth quarter, and he told the coaching staff, "No." "I said I'm not going in, and I spoke to the player development guy and I told him I'm not OK and I need counseling," Washington said. "He told me to try to work it out and just fight through it on the field and go back into the game and then we'll talk about it on Monday in the meetings and stuff." Days after the Mississippi State game, Pittman made the call to remove Wash- ington from the team. "If I could go back and take it back, I would, but I can't," Washington said. "The only thing that I can basically do now is move on and go with how things are moving now. But it's always love for Razorback nation, to be honest." On the field, Washington was used primarily as a run blocker in 2024. The Leesburg, Ga., native played 116 snaps, 37 on pass plays and 79 on run plays, ac- cording to Pro Football Focus. The biggest game of his career came on Oct. 7, 2023, when Washing- ton caught 7 passes for 90 yards and 2 touchdowns against Ole Miss. He might not be Notre Dame's No. 1 tight end in 2025, but Mitchell Evans and Da- vis Sherwood are moving on after their true senior seasons and rising junior Cooper Flanagan injured his Achilles in the Sugar Bowl. Washington was a necessary depth addition. ✦ Malachi Fields, who hauled in 113 receptions for 1,619 yards and 10 touchdowns the last two years at Virginia, brings No. 1 wide receiver potential to Notre Dame. PHOTO BY JOE MAIN/COURTESY UVA ATHLETICS NOTRE DAME'S TRANSFER PORTAL COMINGS & GOINGS COMING Name, Pos. Previous School Malachi Fields, WR Virginia Will Pauling, WR Wisconsin DeVonta Smith, Alabama, DB Alabama Ty Ty Washington, TE Arkansas GOING Name, Pos. New School Tyson Ford, DL Cal Aidan Gobaira, DE James Madison Jaden Mickey, CB Cal