Notre Dame doesn’t use the transfer portal like Lincoln Riley and USC, as the Trojans have become college football’s version of shopping on Black Friday. The end result may be great but the process in getting there makes you want to vomit.
Notre Dame has been known to pick their spots in the portal, however. We’ve been tracking all the quarterbacks who enter the portal for obvious reasons, but a compelling non-quarterback entered Tuesday. It’s especially compelling for Notre Dame because it’s a program just down the road that the Irish have poached a couple of talents from in recent years.
Malik Washington was Northwestern’s leading receiver this past season and entered the portal Tuesday. He’s listed at 5-9, 180 pounds and although nobody would describe him as a burner, he consistently makes plays on the ball. It should also be noted that perhaps no Power Five team has had less production from their quarterbacks in the past two seasons.
Washington hauled in 65 receptions for 694 yards (10.7 avg) this year, the sixth-highest total in the entire Big Ten. He did find the end zone just once but then again, Northwestern threw for just 10 touchdowns all year.
Notre Dame had massive receiver issues this season as a sophomore [autotag]Lorenzo Styles[/autotag] was the only one to amass 300 yards. If it wasn’t [autotag]Michael Mayer[/autotag] chances are it wasn’t getting done in the passing game and the group of receivers would certainly use some help and experience.
Wide receivers coach [autotag]Chansi Stuckey[/autotag] has the cavalry coming but counting on several underclassmen is a risk I certainly wouldn’t prefer taking. Growth and development will help Styles, [autotag]Deion Colzie[/autotag], [autotag]Tobias Merriweather[/autotag], and the incoming freshman group, but it would certainly be nice to have some proven veteran experience as well and Washington would accomplish that.
And heck, [autotag]Ara Parseghian[/autotag], [autotag]Ben Skowronek[/autotag], and [autotag]Brandon Joseph[/autotag] all worked out alright so why not do it again?
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