SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jordan Faison came to Notre Dame as one of the nation's top lacrosse recruits.
Football was more of an afterthought for the prep quarterback who played in a Wing-T offense.
Now the roles are reversed. Once content with walking on to the football team, Faison gave up lacrosse so he could become a prime target on a national championship contender.
“I felt better prepared,” Faison said when asked about his first five games since
walking away from lacrosse. “Going through the spring and then ultimately fall camp (with football), I can kind of tell there was a difference in the little break I gave my body, and then ultimately now.”
The third-ranked Irish (5-0) see a difference, too. Faison leads the Fighting Irish with 25 catches, 371 receiving yards and four touchdown receptions this season, emerging as a prime target on an offense averaging 41.2 points a game and a team that has won 15 straight, all by 10 or more points.
Notre Dame's next test comes Saturday against another longtime rival, Stanford (2-3).
And things could not be going any better for the 5-foot-11, fourth-year receiver. He caught a career-high eight passes for 132 yards in the rain at North Carolina last weekend.
“I’m feeling great,” Faison said. “That’s also a testament to our support staff, training staff who take care of us, and then us taking care of our own bodies as well.”
Faison's journey to this point hasn't been easy or traditional.
After helping Notre Dame win the 2024 lacrosse national championship as a freshman, he had to learn how to play in more conventional offense as he continued playing both sports. Then last spring, he decided to make football his sole priority, and everything changed.
“I didn’t really know much about receivers my early (college) years,” he said. “Seeing how far I’ve come is definitely huge. From little things, from footwork and techniques to understanding defenses, understanding offense, looking back and seeing how far I’ve come is pretty cool.”
What sets Faison apart from other receivers? Coach Marcus Freeman believes it's Faison's ability to make moves at full throttle.
“I think it’s the speed in which he runs his routes, the precision of when he makes his cuts, the timing with the quarterback getting him the ball,” Freeman said. “He can attack you in many different ways through quickness or overall just straight-line speed. I think all those things contribute to him finding ways to get open and (gain) the confidence (quarterback C.J. Carr) has in him being open to throwing the ball."
Notre Dame needed Faison to take a jump after losing its top two running backs, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, in the first round of April's NFL draft.
So Faison made a commitment to spend more time on football. The result is a chemistry with Carr that has reached another level.
“There’s not a time I can remember that we were not on the same page,” Faison said. “(Defenses) are definitely just throwing a bunch of different looks at us, trying to confuse us, trying to hide things. So we’ve definitely got to dive in during the week, studying game plans and studying defenses and understanding tendencies and what they’re going to do."
Even though Faison has more time for football now with lacrosse out of the picture, he insists he hasn't changed his approach to a sport that could soon become a career.
“We’re all going to go out there and perform,” Faison said. “Coach is going to call plays. We’re going to run them, it's beat the guy in front of you. That goes for all the guys on offense. Win your one-on-ones, and it obviously will (be enough to) win the game.”
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