SOUTH BEND, Ind. — With an unwieldy Sun Bowl MVP trophy in hand and a football future ahead of him that suddenly looked way more promising than he even let himself dream, Notre Dame wide receiver Jordan Faison forced himself to take stock of a new reality in late December.
Including a potentially painful aspect of it.
Forty-seven days after the freshman from Fort Lauderdale helped orchestrate a 40-8 romp over 19th-ranked Oregon State Dec, 29 in El Paso, Texas, for Notre Dame’s 10th win of the 2023 season, the defending national champion Irish men’s lacrosse team was scheduled to play its season opener.
With Faison, a three-time high school All-American in that sport, not having picked up a stick since he was attending high school at Pine Crest in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“At first, I didn’t think I could [both sports],” Faison said Wednesday after Notre Dame’s seventh of 15 spring football practices, a four days ahead of a national lacrosse showdown Sunday in Durham, N.C. (Noon ET, ACC Network) between the No. 1-ranked Irish (6-1) and No. 3 Duke (10-2).
The very team Notre Dame beat 13-9 on May 29 in Philadelphia for the national title.
“After the football season, I was like, ‘Dang, this is going to be hard, especially with school,” Faison continued of his reckoning about perpetuating being a two-sport college athlete. “Going through this spring process has kind of changed my mind — The way the coaches are making a modified schedule for me and kind of taking a load off.
“Also working with the trainers to keep my body right, it’s been a big help. Seeing how it’s been going so far, I definitely think [I can do it now].”
The numbers would certainly back that up.
Faison, a 5-foot-10 midfielder, scored his first college goal 28 seconds into his college debut on Feb. 14 against Cleveland State. And he’s scored at least one goal in every Irish game since, ranking third in goals on a team loaded with returnees from last year’s squad, with 14, and fifth in points, with 17.
He’s a big reason why the Irish lead the nation in both scoring offense (16.57 goals per game) and shooting percentage (.378). Individually, Faison is shooting 50%, best on the team and fifth nationally.
“The sports definitely translate with each other,” he said. “Not only the moves, but also the mental aspect. Reading defenses in lacrosse and football are both kind of the same.”
But it took some time in January to shake the residue of a long layoff.
“ I came out there for the first [lacrosse] practice, and it was almost like I forgot how to play the sport,” Faison said. “The guys helped me get back on track and kind of developed me. That development kind of happened rapidly. I’m very grateful for them.”
And grateful for another kindred spirit going through somewhat of a parallel experience. Former Notre Dame and Alabama QB Tyler Buchner transferred back to ND this semester after leaving last may to compete for the starting QB job with the Crimson Tide and is a reserve on the Irish men’s lacrosse team.
Buchner did start one game for the College Football Playoff semifinalists in head coach Nick Saban’s final season, then fell to No. 3 soon thereafter. His prime motivation for returning to Notre Dame is to get his ND degree, but he hasn’t closed the door on more football — somewhere.
Buchner was a viable Div. I prospect in lacrosse before football took off but hadn’t played competitively since his sophomore year at the Bishop’s School in San Diego.
He’s seen three cameos for the Irish this season, with a groundball being his lone statistic to date.
“It’s been cool. We kind of came together,” Faison said of Buchner. “Coming from our gaps — even though his was longer than mine — both being fresh out there on the D-1 lacrosse level, so we were both kind of rusty.
“We joked back and forth about not being as good as we once used to be. Having a guy to be able to go through that with was awesome. He’s developing as well within his game. So it’s been pretty cool to see.”
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Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman has given his blessing this spring to prioritize Faison’s lacrosse development over his football progress, though football isn’t on a complete pause by any means.
“I have a pretty modified schedule,” he said. “I get my playing in kind of at the beginning of the week, depending on what the workload is, and then I’ll kind of work on football based off that.”
On Wednesday, he was observing, which is more typical than practicing this spring. But new wide receivers coach Mike Brown, who took over from purged predecessor Chansi Stuckey in time to coach Faison during Sun Bowl prep, likes what he is seeing out of the player who racked up the fifth-most receptions (19, for 322 yards and 4 TDs) by a freshman wide receiver since 2010, despite only playing in seven games.
The Irish coaches delayed his debut until midseason, because NCAA rules regarding multi-sport athletes meant by playing one down in one game, Faison would have to be moved from a men’s lacrosse scholarship to one of football’s 85.
"Jordan's done a great job, man. He's locked in,” Brown said. “Obviously he's doing lacrosse, but he's been at every meeting. He does a really good job of engaging in the meetings. He's at practice. He's locked in and knows every play that's going on.”
Well mostly.
He knows enough about the fresh offense new offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock is installing that he can rave about it.
“It’s definitely high-powered,” Faison said. “A heavy pass offense, 11 personnel a lot, which us wide receivers can’t complain about. So, we’re kind of loving that. At slot, we’re moving around all the time with the motions, getting different matchups. I can’t complain. I’ve loved it so far.”
But his head is still swimming a bit.
“New playbook. Dealing with that is definitely a little difficult,” he said. “Hearing [Denbrock] on the little mic is kind of funny. [I have to] ask the quarterbacks about what he’s talking about.”
The football world Faison will walk back into full time in June will feature plenty of new bodies — the Irish will have 11 wide receivers total if everyone stays — and those 11 will be competing for a spot in a rotation Brown would like to max out at six, if that.
At Faison’s slot-receiver position alone, there’s ascending sophomore Jaden Greathouse, Marshall transfer Jayden Harrison and June-arriving freshman Logan Saldate.
“Every day I’m itching [to play football],” Faison said. “Watching my guys make plays, I love watching them, that kind of family we have in our receiver room. Of course, being an athlete and being competitive, you want to be out on that field every second you can. Kind of being restricted, it will get to you sometimes. But you have to know when to control.”
It’s an attractive enough blueprint, though, that Faison’s younger brother, Dylan, has opted to follow it fairly closely.
On St. Patrick’s Day, the 5-11, 170-pound two sports standout at St, Andrews School in Boca Raton, Fla., became the first verbal commitment in Notre Dame football’s 2026 class. He’ll also double in lacrosse but he’ll be on football scholarship from the start.
Jordan walked on to the football team and had a partial lacrosse scholarship until making his football debut Oct. 7 in a 33-20 loss at Louisville.
“He’s his own player,” Jordan said. “He’s a very gifted individual. He’s coming up very well. When he was given the opportunity to come to Notre Dame, he couldn’t pass up on it. So he jumped the gun with it.”
And doing so with the confidence Notre Dame will embrace the two-sport dream, right down to a huge chunk of the football roster showing up at Irish home lacrosse games.
“It means a lot,” Faison said. “At some other schools, football and lacrosse or other sports don’t really have a good relationship. That relationship between them has been huge.
“Obviously, if we’re at a school where the relationship isn’t so good, they’ll probably tell you you’re not doing that. They’d kind of be controlling. Here they’ve been so open and so supportive. It definitely shows that I made the right decision of where I came to play.”
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