Jordan Faison's Rapid Rise To Notre Dame Scholarship Receiver
To say things have gone well for Jordan Faison this fall would be a gross understatement. The freshman has gone from a scholarship lacrosse player/walk-on football wide receiver to a full-blown scholarship football player at Notre Dame in less than half a season.
“A scholarship’s a scholarship,” you may be saying. Not so fast, my friend. While the average size of a Division I men’s lacrosse roster is 51 players, each team is allotted a maximum of 12.6 scholarships. Going from roughly a 25% lacrosse scholarship to a full football scholarship is a big deal.
“The feeling of going to a football scholarship feels better,” Faison said recently. “More so my parents probably money-wise, but yeah, it was definitely good feeling.”
Per NCAA rules, if a player has a scholarship in a sport other than football but takes even one snap in a football game, they must automatically be put on a football scholarship. The rule is in place to prevent football programs from skirting the 85-player scholarship limit.
That moment came in the Louisville game when Faison saw the field in the first half against the Cardinals. His first career reception was a 12-yard gain to help the Irish convert a 3rd down. Later in the drive he caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Sam Hartman.
“We worked that whole week, working on that safety," Faison recalled. "Then as soon as I'm running my routes, one-on-one, I see the safety disappear, I knew I had them. Then it was just Sam, he dropped the nice ball on me.”
Like any overnight sensation, the process of Faison getting to the field on game day didn’t actually happen overnight. When the Irish wide receiver room began to experience a rash of injuries, Faison went from the scout team to the “varsity” and his preparation to play began.
“Coming into it, we had a game plan,” Faison remarked. “We had the play set up and going into the game, it was like I've been working for this moment. As soon as I get on the field, it's like take advantage of the opportunity.”
“I was definitely nervous going into the game, as anyone really would be,” Faison continued. “But then as soon as you go into the field, it's like a feeling of you've played this game your whole life. It's just like any other game, so you get into the motion. Once you're running, you kind of lose all feeling. That feeling builds up and then ball’s in your hands. Next thing you know and you're just making plays.”
Faison’s skills became easily apparent during Notre Dame’s fall training camp. The 5-10 receiver had speed and quickness to burn and caught seemingly everything thrown his way. His receiver skills looked more advanced than a two-star recruit who had just one DI offer (Iowa) after playing quarterback and safety in high school.
“Coming in I was just relying on my speed, but now I realize the game so much bigger than just running around,” Faison explained. “You've got to make your cut, you got to read defenses, you got to use your hands with DBs are trying to get on you.”
Faison took his scout team duties seriously in the opening weeks of the season, pushing Irish defensive backs like Thomas Harper and Clarence Lewis with his work as a slot receiver. He took encouragement from them and other cornerbacks like Cam Hart and Benjamin Morrison, who told him regularly that he was making them better in their game preparation.
"We’re going to need his help," Irish offensive coordinator Gerad Parker said of Faison. "He’s got a live set of legs. He’s competitive. He competes for the ball."
He’s on football scholarship, but the plan is still for Faison to play lacrosse for Kevin Corrigan’s reigning national champion team in the spring semester. He had offers in that sport from programs like Ohio State, Duke, Penn State and several Ivy League schools, but he came to Notre Dame because they were one of the only schools that would let him give both sports a shot.
“I talk to the lacrosse guys a lot,” said Faison. “They're very supportive about it. They're supportive when I was going through my recruiting process with the lacrosse when I was telling him I want to play two sports, and even through now, they're texting me congratulating me and just making sure I'm ready for lacrosse season, too.”
There won’t be much time to rest once football ends after whatever bowl game the Fighting Irish play in. The lacrosse regular season begins in February.
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