Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman seems to be exiting the spring period feeling awfully confident in the trio of early-enrollee wide receivers for the Fighting Irish.

Braylon James, Jaden Greathouse, and Rico Flores Jr. all signed with Notre Dame as 4-star recruits. Though Flores (1 catch, 2 yards) and James (no catches) had quiet days, Freeman expects all three of his freshmen receivers to fill roles within the offense come the fall. Greathouse, of course, enjoyed a phenomenal debut.

On the first official play from scrimmage, he brought in a 21-yard pass from Sam Hartman. His success continued when Steve Angeli took over for the Gold team, and finished with 11 receptions for 118 yards.

”I didn’t even know, 11 for 118 is a pretty good stat line. He stuck out. He played well. He played really well,” said

Freeman afterward. “All three of those freshmen are going to help us. All three of those freshmen will play for us this year. I’m really confident that those three guys will help this football team.

“It’s g

ood to see Jaden step up today. Like I said, when the lights are on, you want to see who will step up and make plays and all three of them have been really, really good additions to our program throughout the spring. That wasn’t just a one-time performance. All three of those guys have shown to be productive throughout spring.”

The wide receiver group as a whole looked encouraging for Notre Dame.

Junior Jayden Thomas brought in 4 catches for 71 yards and a touchdown in the first half. Four different players produced at least 1 chunk play through the air. With Hartman expected to lead the offense, Notre Dame could have a much more threatening outside game in 2022.