Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 OCT. 18, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED S ometimes the best coaching move is the one you don't make. Which is kind of the approach Notre Dame wide receivers coach Mike Brown took when it came to rounding out star running back Jeremiyah Love's overall skill set when the junior would migrate over to Brown's meeting rooms and drill lines last spring. "He's just such a special dude," Brown said after a recent Irish football practice ahead of the home matchup with North Carolina State Oct. 11. "He does a lot of things just natural. And so, for me, it was more staying out of his way." And knowing what Love did need, and not taking a one-size-fits-all approach to tutoring him and a wide receiver group that was flourishing at such a high level through the first five games, it coaxed Irish fans to ponder when was the last time the receiver group was this good? Will Fuller and his surrounding cast in 2015? The Michael Floyd/Golden Tate stretch with quarterback Jimmy Clau- sen in 2008 and 2009? The second-year Irish wide receivers coach is doing so with a former walk- on, in junior Jordan Faison, leading the way and a former two-star recruit, in graduate transfer and redshirt senior Malachi Fields, right behind him. Brown is performing on the field and on the recruiting trail, where he has compiled one of the strongest wide re- ceiver classes in years with five 2026 class commitments, led by four-stars Kaydon Finley, Brayden Robinson and Bubba Frazier and three-stars Devin Fitzgerald and Dylan Faison, the latter the younger brother of Jordan Faison. The younger Faison is the nation's No. 1 lacrosse recruit, and he plans to play both sports, like his brother. And he'll do so be- ginning this coming spring, when Dylan will suit up for coach Kevin Corrigan's powerhouse program instead of spending that semester as a senior in high school. "It's an outstanding wide receiver class, the best Notre Dame has had in a long, long time," longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, of Prep Football Report, offered. "I think what fell into place for Mike Brown was just getting to know Notre Dame and learning how to sell it, and that takes time. "Plus, Marcus sets a high standard for all his assistant coaches in recruit- ing, and Mike Brown went and met that standard." Brown himself doesn't discount the role Notre Dame's run to the national title game played. "Winning helps," he said. "The best recruiting tool you can have is winning football games. But, with all the things that go on nowadays, I think it's as im- portant as ever to build relationships. "And I think when you build genu- ine relationships with the right types of people, you'll have the right types of guys in your program. That's what the focus is. Yes, there are a lot of other dis- tractions. But at the end of the day, it's about building relationships. "Yes, winning helps add, but you build genuine relationships and kids know you care about them. Kids just want to be coached. They want to be put in good situations. They want an opportunity to win. Those are the things that we preach." That and pointing to the guy throwing the passes these days, redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr. "Who's throwing the ball makes it easier too," he said with a smile. And Brown smiled when he talked about how his wide receiving corps em- braced the dirty work of run-blocking with enthusiasm. And how they relished special teams duty. And how they stayed invested even with a top-heavy rotation. And how No. 1 slot receiver Jaden Greathouse was handling limited touches before a leg in- jury sidelined him for the past couple of games after his breakout run in the Col- lege Football Playoff last January. "It's tough, and we talk about it a lot," Brown said. "I don't think it's some- thing that you hide from. We have a lot of conversations about it. He's been great. And that's a credit to who he is. "I'm sure he's probably frustrated, as any competitor would be. But a little bit of that comes with playing that posi- tion. You look across the NFL. You look at some of the top guys, and you see Justin Jefferson, 1 catch for 11 yards. It happens sometimes. "That's the nature of the beast. But we'll continue to do a good job of find- ing different ways to get him more and more involved as we move forward. "We look for different ways to con- tinue to get more and more guys in- volved and playing more every single week. We haven't been perfect, but we're headed in the right direction." ✦ Brown has landed a strong 2026 group of wide receiver commitments, with three four-star and two three-star prospects. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Mike Brown Is Getting Irish Wideouts Up To Speed Eric Hansen covers Notre Dame athletics for On3, with a focus on Irish football. He can be reached on X @ EHansenND THE DEEP READ ERIC HANSEN