For weeks – maybe even months – Marcus Freeman repeatedly said Jordan Faison was grading out as well as anybody on the Notre Dame roster even if it wasn’t showing up in the box score.
“I often tell you that stats sometimes do not tell you the impact somebody makes on a game,” Freeman reminded listeners following the Irish’s win earlier this month over Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
“The wide receiver position is one that is so important to understand that he can grade out 100 percent and have one catch and perception is he maybe had one catch, but the reality is, he did exactly what he was supposed to do on every single play today.”
To be fair, Faison has had at least two catches in every game he played this season, although he missed three games in September with an ankle injury.
Still, after exploding onto the scene as a freshman walk-on a year earlier, a season that was capped with a five-catch, 115-yard performance in the Sun Bowl, Faison was expected to be a game-breaking type as a sophomore.
16 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown in seven regular season games had many asking for more, despite Freeman’s continued pleas to look past the numbers.
Faison’s impact on the Irish’s 27-17 win over the Hoosiers was obvious to anybody watching. He finished with seven catches for 89 yards.
“He was rewarded obviously and targeted intentionally in certain situations and he made some big-time, contested catches,” Freeman said.
“Obviously, you look and see the things he can do with the football in his hands,” Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock added. “You’ve got to give him some opportunities to make plays.”
Still, Denbrock and the Irish aren’t ones to force the ball when the opportunities aren’t there.
“The flow of the game and some of the things that are going on dictate some of that as well,” Denbrock said.
But Denbrock has been anticipating Faison having an impact as a receiver.
“That’s obviously the vision and a need, a huge need,” he said. “The explosiveness that he adds as that other element to what we can be offensively is vital and it was great to see it come on display against Indiana. And he did a great job.
“I think the fact that he’s been healthy now for four or five weeks in a row has kind of lent to him even getting himself in a position where he feels like he’s ready and we feel like he’s ready, and now hopefully, it just keeps growing.”
To Denbrock, Faison is another example of the depth of the Irish’s pass-catching corps.
”I think that’s the value of what we are offensively. Our whole is a lot stronger than our parts. And I don’t mean we don’t have good parts also, but I think Mitch Evans can have a great game, Eli Raridon can catch a touchdown, and Kris Mitchell can do it, and J2 (Jayden Harrison) can make some plays down the field when we need it against Louisville.
“It’s just a collection of guys who just keep working and believing and when it’s their time, fortunately for all of us, they’ve been prepared and ready to attack it.”
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