At First Look: Two New Notre Dame Receiver Recruits
Ahead of Junior Day this weekend, Notre Dame offered scholarship offers to two 2025 receivers.
The Irish had made little progress with a big number of junior receivers before changing receiver coaches earlier this winter. We’ve seen a bit of a holding pattern since the switch, but the Notre Dame coaching staff has been obviously moving on prospects at the position lately.
Here’s an initial look at each of the five pass-catchers added to Notre Dame’s 2025 roster today.
NASIR NEWKIRK
Notable offers include Georgia, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, and Wisconsin. (Total: 13)
Junior season stats: 51 receptions, 1,123 yards, 16 touchdowns, 40 solo tackles (66 total), two tackles for loss, seven pass breakups, and one fumble recovery.
At first glance, it’s impossible to notice. Whether it was a shallow route like a slant or any crossing route, a deeper shot on a post, or a vertical down the seam, Nasir Newkirk shown a flair for creating big plays over the middle of the field in 2023.
Highlight after highlight from his junior season clip display Newkirk can outpace defensive backs in the middle of the field, outmuscle opponents in contested situations, and/or find the soft area between the seams in zone coverage.
He’s built for it, according to his 247Sports profile, standing 6 feet 2 and weighing 185 pounds. Although it’s impossible to assess from a highlight clip, Newkirk appears to meet all of those criteria. In any case, this is a natural playmaker, which is typical among multi-sport athletes. And Newkirk excels in both football and basketball.
LEX CYRUS
Size: 5-10, 165
From Harrisburg (Pa.) Susquehanna Township
Notable offers include Auburn, Duke, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Wisconsin (a total of 21).
Junior Season State: 67 receptions, 1,115 yards, 13 touchdowns, and one return touchdown.
At first impression, there appears to be a lot of speed. Lex Cyrus, a 247Sports Top 200 prospect, earned the 100-meter gold medal at the 2023 PIAA Class 3A Championships. The Pennsylvania native ran an outstanding 10.67. And it shows on the football field, where the athlete is often regarded as the fastest in the state.
If you loved in-state sensation Mylan Graham last season, you should appreciate Cyrus as well. The latter has some characteristics to the former, especially the explosive ability and blistering speed he displays when collecting the ball below the line of scrimmage before blasting upfield with twitchy ability and a lot of speed.
Jet sweeps, pop passes, various screens—you name it. Cyrus is an excellent target for gadget plays. And at that speed, he poses a huge vertical danger. Overall, if he maintains his performance, this may be the type of weapon on the college stage that keeps defensive coordinators up at night.
State of the Irish: Quarterback 2023–2024
Lather, rinse, but no repeat? The Transfer Portal beckoned again at the game’s most vital position, but the Irish are better equipped to build from within in future seasons than they were at this moment last January.
Click the links below to see our past positions featured. (Note: Since the position was studied, Notre Dame has added wide receiver Jayden Harrison, a Marshall graduate transfer.)
Wide receivers
Offensive Line
https://247sports.com/college/notre-dame/longformarticle/state-of-the-irish-offensive-line-2023-to-2024-225586870/
Returning: Steve Angeli and Kenny Minchey.
Arriving: Duke Transfer. Riley Leonard, the best player lost in 2023: Sam Hartman
Best Player Found in 2023: Steve Angelini
Best Game Played by Individual in 2023: Hartman vs Wake Forest
Best game played against a defense that provided resistance: Hartman vs. NC State.
Best game played by the group in 2023: Pittsburgh (Hartman and Angeli) and TSU (Hartman, Angeli, and Minchey).
TD/Rec./Yardage Leaders: Hartman 191-308 (63.5%), 24 touchdowns to 8 interceptions, 2,689 yards.
QBR: Hartman 21st nationally, Angeli T-5th nationally during bowl games only.
Early enrollees for 2024: CJ Carr
Arriving during the summer: None
One Fact: Hartman finished 19th in QBR during his final season at Wake Forest, peaking at 12th in 2021. Notre Dame’s key quarterbacks from the beginning of the Brian Kelly Era finished as follows:
