Micah Gilbert Is Ready To Compete For Notre Dame

Notre Dame and freshman wide receivers catching passes have not typically gone hand in hand. From 2010-2021, it seemed that Fighting Irish fans had a better chance of a Sasquatch sighting at Notre Dame Stadium than they did seeing a freshman receiver becoming a productive member of Notre Dame’s offense.

One reception for 41 yards by highly touted freshman Tobias Merriweather did nothing to change that philosophy in Marcus Freeman’s first season in 2022. But the scales did shift in 2023 when three freshmen receivers, Rico Flores Jr., Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse, each finished among the team’s top six most productive pass catchers.

Whether that translates into more production for a new group of freshman receivers in 2024 is yet to be seen, but early enrollee Micah Gilbert arrived on campus last month with the mindset to prove himself.

"I came in here (so) that I can compete,” Gilbert recently said. "I’m just here to learn from the older guys. I’m taking it one day at a time. It’s college, everybody here competes at the same level, but everybody here is good. That’s why we’re all here. So, take it, learn from the older guys, but I’m trying all I can do to compete with them and stay on the level that they are.”

Gilbert comes to Notre Dame from the highly successful Charlotte Christian program in North Carolina. He set a program receiving record with 1,200 yards during his senior season. Gilbert also did it against high-level competition, and he believes that helped prepare him to compete at Notre Dame.

"Just playing against better players required a lot more of me," Gilbert explained. "So it made me be more intense, be more detailed on everything that I did and allowed me to perform better.

"We had a pretty heavy load of competition in the North Carolina area, but we also had to travel a little big to play some of those higher-level teams,” Gilbert continued. “My senior year we traveled to Georgia to play against Calvary Day School, who obviously had a loaded squad. We played against Christ School, who had a lot of high-level prospects on their team, Providence Day School, who had a lot of high-level prospects on their team. So, just playing around those guys and getting to know them and competing against those teams really helped me to develop and see where I needed to be to be at this level and perform at my best level.”

The 6-2 Gilbert is a bigger-bodied receiver that is currently listed at 206 pounds, which is roughly the same weight as rising Jayden Thomas when he enrolled as a freshman. Thomas is now listed at 223 pounds.

"I would say I’m a bigger receiver, so I have a physical frame,” Gilbert described. "I’m more physical, I create some mismatches, a very high-catch radius from long arms and my speed goes along. A lot of people say that my speed may not be there but it’s faster than you would expect. It creates some mismatch problems, and I would say just a physical guy who can go out there and do the details stuff to get the job done.”

Gilbert comes from an athletic family as well. His father, Mark, played basketball at Duquesne, his sister, Naomi, played college basketball and his brother, Mark, played football at Duke before moving on to stints in the NFL and USFL. Gilbert’s cousin is also Hall of Fame cornerback Darrelle Revis, and his uncle is former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Sean Gilbert.

"With a lot of family coming from the level and performing at higher levels, it puts a lot of pressure but also, it’s a lot of knowledge for myself,” Gilbert explained. "I know what I’m kind of getting myself into. I give a lot to my brother, because he’s probably my biggest coach throughout all of this with him playing at Duke and then performing professionally. He’s coached me through the whole process, just what to expect, to coming up here to just put the time and the work in.”

In addition to Gilbert, fellow wide receiver Cam Williams is also an early enrollee at Notre Dame this spring. Fellow freshman receiver Logan Saldate will arrive on campus for summer workouts in June.