It’s no secret that Notre Dame 2025 wide receiver recruiting is in a very tough spot. The Chansi Stuckey tenure ended with a bad taste in the program’s mouth and set new wide receiver coach Mike Brown back initially, making for a steep uphill climb. Unfortunately, there was more bad news for the Irish on Thursday when La Verne (Calif.) Bonita wide receiver Dylan Robinson opted for Washington over Notre Dame and UCLA.
The Robinson recruitment was an extremely interesting one. Blessed with outstanding size at 6-2 and 190 pounds with good straight line speed and athleticism, the California star has the potential to play at either wide receiver or in the secondary on the next level. Notre Dame valued him on offense, while both Washington and UCLA saw him as a defensive back. The Huskies even offered an opportunity to play offense at some point, really pushing the athlete projection.
In the end, that wanting to play on the defensive side of the football won out. Whatever the reason, however, this was a tough loss for the Irish. Robinson had a ton of untapped upside, bringing a lot of things to be optimistic about. He was a prominent pass catcher for Bonita as a junior, hauling in 22 receptions for 514 yards and six touchdowns. Robinson did all of that while being a playmaker on defense, recording 69 total tackles, four tackles for loss, four interceptions, and five pass breakups.
With Tanook Hines committing to USC earlier in the week, Notre Dame is hoping that they can make a late push for Las Vegas pass catcher Derek Meadows on Saturday. There’s a chance that the Irish could miss out on all three talented pass catchers, which would be an awful finish to the Summer.
From here, it appears that Notre Dame will have to expand the wide receiver board moving forward. With the season right around the corner, it is reasonable to think that the Irish staff could use the evaluation period to the best of their ability. Being patient seems like the best course of action from here moving forward.
Coach Brown is going to be under the microscope moving forward. It isn’t to the degree that all hope is lost, but it was unsettling to say the least from the recruiting perspective. Yes, Brown was not put into a great position by the previous coach but there were three key targets on the board down the stretch, and they didn’t close. That will raise some antennas.
Widely regarded as a great developer of talent, most Notre Dame fans don’t have much concern about Brown as a coach. During his career so far, he has done a tremendous job getting most of his player’s talent, which is his main duty as a position coach.
In the world of college football, however, recruiting matters at a high level. Figuring out answers in the 2025 class, as well as making early traction in the 2026 recruiting class, will go a long way toward silencing the early naysayers.
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