Notre Dame Lands Transfer Wide Receiver Will Pauling

Notre Dame has landed its second wide receiver from the transfer portal in two days, this time picking up former Wisconsin pass catcher Will Pauling. The 5-10, 190-pound wideout comes to Notre Dame with one season of eligibility remaining.

Pauling originally signed with Cincinnati as part of the 2021 class, and he spent two seasons with the Bearcats. The Illinois native was recruited by Mike Brown, and he followed Brown to Wisconsin. Brown is now the wide receivers coach at Notre Dame, and Pauling will now follow Brown to South Bend.

Pauling took a redshirt season in 2021, catching just one pass for six yards in four games. As a redshirt freshman with Cincinnati he caught 12 passes for 122 yards. During his redshirt sophomore season at Wisconsin, Pauling led the Badgers with 74 caches, 837 receiving yards and six touchdowns. 

This season was a tough one for Pauling. He started off well, catching 21 passes for 202 yards in the first four games but was injured in the team's win over Purdue. Pauling wasn't fully healthy the rest of the year and then missed the final two games of the season. He caught just 21 passes for 205 yards in the last six games.

Pauling caught nine passes for 83 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Alabama. His best career performance came in the 2023 ReliaQuest Bowl against LSU. Pauling caught eight passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns, including a 53-yard score. 

Pauling projects to play the two field positions (Z, Slot), and he adds a veteran presence to the depth chart. He is a shifty player that can make plays after the catch and he has enough speed to get down the field. He has chain moving skills and Wisconsin quarterbacks completed over 62-percent of their throws when Pauling was targeted. Pauling did drop 16 passes over the last two seasons, which is an area of concern.

Pauling will come to Notre Dame with 129 career receptions for 1,372 yards and nine touchdowns.

Notre Dame will continue building around talented sophomores Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison, but Pauling adds veteran depth to the position group as the Irish continue to develop talented young players like Cam Williams, Micah Gilbert, KK Smith and Logan Saldate.

Notre Dame also landed Virginia wide receiver Malachi Fields, who is the impact player the Irish needed from the portal in this class.