Biggest Notre Dame question mark still must be answered despite an incredible 2026 recruiting run for the Fighting Irish

Notre Dame football is on quite the 2026 recruiting hot streak recently. They earned a commitment from dynamic four-star running back Jonaz Walton on Wednesday, but that isn’t even their biggest get over the last several weeks. Other names to jump on board recently include five-star defensive end Rodney Dunham, toolsy pass rusher Ebenezer Ewetade, and fellow star runner Javian Osborne among others. 

If you are a Fighting Irish fan right now, you should be flooded with excitement for the current state of the Notre Dame program, and the future. The talent that head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff are bringing in is tremendous as a whole. Outside of that general excitement, there is still one position group that has some major questions to answer on the recruiting trail this cycle, the wide receivers.  

Heading into the 2026 recruiting class, some grace was given to wide receiver coach Mike Brown, and it was justified. He walked into a difficult situation, and a run centric offense that doesn’t typically attract big-time pass catchers. That made the 2025 class more of a test period, but was ultimately a pass as he got his feet wet in recruiting with the Notre Dame program. 

While there is a ton of momentum on the recruiting trail, a lot of Notre Dame fans wait patiently for the dynamic wide receivers to commit to this class. The Irish got an early commitment from Florida standout Dylan Faison, but due to his family ties to the program, it wasn’t exactly the most difficult pull. The other wide receiver commit in the class is Georgia athlete Bubba Frazier, a talented space weapon, but once again, not the headliner of a wide receiver class. 

The biggest issue with feeling confident about the 2026 wide receiver group is that it isn’t a very big target board right now, and it doesn’t feel like a foregone conclusion that Notre Dame is going to find a difference maker. I like where they are with former USC commit Kohen Brown, but he is a developmental speed receiver who is appropriately ranked as a three-star player right now. Some like their standing with Texas standout Brayden Robinson right now, but the diminutive slot is still taking a long look at Miami. I’m not ready to declare him Irish as of right now. 

Really the only true difference maker on the board of realistic targets as things stand right now is Aledo (Texas) High School wide receiver Kaydon Finley. The 6-0, 200-pound pass catcher is one of the more productive wide receivers in the class, having hauled in 81 receptions for 1,432 yards and 21 touchdowns last year in a strong classification of high school football. The Irish have been high on Finley for some time, and continue to battle the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies for his services. 

Notre Dame is certainly in the running, but the optimism is starting to stagnate right now. Finley has deep Texas ties with his father Jermichael Finley starring ay tight end for the Longhorns, and the allure to keep him in the Lone Star State is strong right now around him. The longer this recruitment plays out, I think the worse it is for Notre Dame. If the program does miss on Finley, I’m worried about the completeness of the class. Would a hypothetical class of Robinson, Faison, Frazier, and Brown be bad? 

No, there would be a lot to like there. The problem is that is much more of a developmental class than you would like, especially after having much of the same in 2025. That just wouldn’t answer the questions surrounding Coach Brown’s abilities as a recruiter, at least not for the high end targets.

Like it or not, Coach Brown is the weak link of the staff right now in terms of recruiting. Coach Freeman is a dynamic recruiter, as is secondary coach Mike Mickens. Joe Rudolph has attracted several outstanding offensive lineman the last couple of years, while defensive line coach Al Washington has answered a ton of questions. 

Linebacker coach Max Bullough has also shown some really recruiting chops despite his inexperience, and there isn’t a more experienced recruiter on the staff than offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. Throw in the positives we have seen of quarterback coach Gino Guidugli, and you have a very good overall recruiting staff.

At the University of Notre Dame, being a strong recruiter is a requisite. Wide receiver has been one of the spots that has got to get better, and everyone knows it. This isn’t ultimately a death sentence for Coach Brown, but we just need to see more, and at least growth this class. Finishing strong down the stretch in the 2026 cycle would go a long way from eliminating some of those question marks.