Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2026 5 R emember when Notre Dame was one player — not one play, one player — away from beating Ohio State in 2023? That player being the nonexistent one along a Fighting Irish defensive line the Buckeyes exploited and scored a game-winning, punch-it- in, goal-line touchdown against in the closing seconds because Notre Dame only had 10 men on the field? Seems silly to go all the way back to that when the Irish have accomplished so much since and are in a better spot as a program now than they were then, but hear this out. It's got some relevance for a similar situation Notre Dame might face three years later, and it actually has more to do with the idea a different player who wasn't on the field in that game could have been the driver of a different result. Not the missing defensive lineman. A particular wide receiver who didn't play at all but could have easily made a play that swung the decision in Notre Dame's favor had he been given the chance. Jordan Faison. What we saw in Notre Dame's April 18 spring scrimmage was that Faison is clearly starting quarterback CJ Carr's No. 1 target, again, just like he was in 2025. And he was one of Notre Dame's top targets in the second half of the 2023 season, too, accumulating 19 catches on 25 targets in seven games to close out the year. Faison didn't see the field one time in the first six games of the season, which included the loss to Ohio State, and he still finished top five on the team in season-long receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. It was difficult to project a walk-on lacrosse player as a permanent fixture of the Irish offense when Notre Dame was already playing multiple true freshmen at wide receiver in Jaden Greathouse and Rico Flores Jr. A Greathouse ham- string injury intensified in the middle part of the season, though, and Faison was thrown into the fire for a lack of confidence in any other options. He de- livered by catching both of his targets for 48 yards and a touchdown in his sea- son debut at Louisville. Was Notre Dame one big-time Fai- son touch away from taking down Ohio State a few weeks earlier? Maybe. The Irish had a better chance of beating the Buckeyes at home than they did Louis- ville on the road, so don't go compar- ing those apples-to-oranges results and saying the Irish still would have lost to Ohio State just like they did to the Car- dinals even if Faison played. The reality is the margin of defeat versus the Bucks was just three points, and we'll never know if Faison could have made that up and more with a score of his own. Key words: We'll never know. No need to dwell on something so majorly hy- pothetical. But also no need to invite identical hypotheticals into the purview going forward. We'll never know if, say, Devin Fitzgerald could help Notre Dame win a game in his true freshman season if he doesn't see the field in a meaning- ful situation. Is he to 2026 what Faison was to 2023? The X-Factor of the Notre Dame offense? If he is, the Irish better figure that out before October. There isn't any excuse for leaving winning personnel on the sideline lon- ger than necessary. If a dude can play as a freshman, then play the dude as a freshman. Period. It's worked for Notre Dame on defense. Fitzgerald proved his worth with a pair of impressive touchdowns in the April 18 scrimmage, albeit against depth-chart backups and beyond. But touchdowns are touchdowns, just like the one he scored in the Blue-Gold Game April 25, and Fitzgerald has a knack for them. Just like Faison. Just like defensive freshmen of years past, cornerbacks Dallas Golden and Mark Zackery IV in 2025, for exam- ple, who had a knack for sticky coverage as first-year players. "You've got to master what you get," head coach Marcus Freeman said. "I don't care if it's against the threes, the twos, the ones. When you master what you have right in front of you, you'll get more. I don't care if it was against the threes. He made some big plays." Again, circumstances are different for Notre Dame now than they were in Freeman's second season as head coach. There isn't an Ohio State-caliber oppo- nent on the schedule in September. The Irish roster has improved tremendously. Odds are if Fitzgerald doesn't get play- ing time in the first month it's because Notre Dame has capable wideouts who deserve receiving their reps over him — and over the likes of Elijah Burress, Jerome Bettis Jr. and Kaydon Finley, for that matter. Notre Dame has four NFL legacy wide receivers, sons of former professional players, and none of them are guar- anteed to play a significant role in the Irish offense. Only keep them sidelined if they truly have not earned the right to get on the field, though. If it becomes clear Fitzgerald, for instance, can do what he's done to the twos and threes to the ones, then play him on Saturdays. Simple as that. ✦ Freshman wide receiver Devin Fitzgerald was a touchdown machine during Fighting Irish spring practices. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER Early Identification Of Offensive X-Factors Is Critical Tyler Horka has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2021. He can be reached at thorka@blueandgold.com GOLDEN GAMUT TYLER HORKA