Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman on search for new team leaders
Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman on identifying and developing a new group of team leaders, aka ‘problem solvers.’
SOUTH BEND —Notre Dame football has its own version of the recent indirect quarterback exchange that saw Nico Iamaleava go from Tennessee to UCLA and projected Bruins QB Joey Aguilar go in the opposite direction as Iamaleava’s replacement.
For the Irish, the de facto “trade” was at boundary wide receiver, where Virginia graduate transfer Malachi Fields is due to enroll in June while four-year Irish contributor Jayden Thomas is set to take his place in Charlottesville, Va.
At 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, Thomas made 64 catches for 838 yards and seven touchdowns in his three seasons in the rotation. The product of Paulding County, Ga., finished out his Irish career in nearby Atlanta with 19 plays (12 on offense) in the CFP championship game loss to Ohio State.
Thomas made 12 starts in 2022-23 and recorded at least one catch in 12 straight games. That included a five-catch, 66-yard outing in the 2022 Gator Bowl win over South Carolina.
Thomas added a 5-yard touchdown catch against Indiana in the CFP opener at Notre Dame Stadium in December.
Fields, meanwhile, is a converted quarterback who stands 6-4 and 220 pounds. A product of Monticello High School in Charlottesville, Fields also played cornerback and returned kicks in high school before turning his attention to receiver.
Named third-team all-conference last year, Fields was voted one of five permanent team captains at the end of a 5-7 season for the Cavaliers.
A broken foot caused him to miss all but one game in 2022, but he responded with back-to-back strong seasons, exceeding 50 catches…
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Publish date : 2025-04-30 13:58:00
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