National Champions Have Elite NFL Pass-Catchers. Does Notre Dame?

It's not so much a trend as it is a prerequisite to win a national championship. While national champs can come in all shapes and sizes, one thing has persisted into the 12-team Playoff era.

Good luck winning it all without a top-end NFL pass-catcher. Take note, Notre Dame.

Championship Teams Win With Elite Playmakers

In 12 years of the Playoff era, only two champions failed to have a future first-round pass-catcher. Who were those teams, you ask?

The 2018 Clemson squad, which saw Tee Higgins come off the board at No. 33 overall (1 pick away from Round 1) in the 2020 NFL Draft en route to a $115 million contract, and the 2014 Ohio State squad, which saw Devin Smith get selected No. 37 overall in the 2015 NFL Draft.

(That team also had top-40 pick Curtis Samuel and in 2016, Michael Thomas was selected No. 47 overall before he became a multi-year All-Pro and the NFL's all-time single-season leader in receptions.)

Shoot, even that run-heavy 2023 Michigan squad had tight end Colston Loveland, who eventually was a top-10 pick and became a late-season star for the Chicago Bears.

You actually don't need to make it a College Football Playoff era trend if you want to include the likes of 2013 Florida State (No. 28 overall pick Kelvin Benjamin) and 2012 Alabama (No. 4 overall pick Amari Cooper).

The last champ who truly didn't have a first-round talent catching passes was 2011 Alabama. It also had peak-Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy and a defense that allowed 8 points per game. Needless to say, it could overcome that.

The question now is whether or not Notre Dame has the receiving stars

That'd be no small feat at a place that hasn't had the best recent history of producing top-end wide receiver prospects.

The tight ends have been solid. Michael Mayer was selected No. 35 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. So far, he's the only Irish receiver/tight end who came off the board in the first two rounds during the Marcus Freeman era.

The last time that the Irish had a Round 1 pick at one of those positions was Will Fuller back in 2016. He's the lone such player to accomplish that feat at Notre Dame in the Playoff era. How much that explains the Irish's inability to win their first national title since 1988 is debatable.

So will a lacrosse-less Jordan Faison be that guy? What about a healthy Jaden Greathouse? Or will the anticipated breakout of Micah Gilbert take the sport by storm?

There are at least options within that group.

If Faison's focus on football turns him into a route-running savant, that could be on the table. We already saw Greathouse light it up on the biggest stage, and for all we know, he'll pick up where he left off against Ohio State after a lost 2025 campaign.

And Gilbert has Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock knocking on wood in hopes that he'll stay healthy and deliver on the potential that he flashed with CJ Carr's memorable first career touchdown pass in last year's opener.

CJ Carr extends the play and finds Micah Gilbert for a beautiful TD! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/E2bFYx3DfE
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 1, 2025

All three of those guys scored touchdowns in top-10 matchups. Say what you want about Notre Dame's regular-season schedule, but any path to a national championship will likely feature at least three of those in the Playoff.

In this era of the sport, it's extremely rare to have three returning receivers who have already succeeded on that stage. That matters.

If you don't think that matters, go back to when the Irish punched their ticket to the national championship against Penn State

What was the shocking stat that came from that semifinal game? Penn State's wide receivers didn't account for a single catch (credit the Irish secondary and the ineffective Drew Allar for that). You could argue that it was the all-important difference in a game that was decided by three points.

Of course, so was Greathouse's ankle-breaking 54-yard touchdown that tied the game with five minutes to play.

RILEY LEONARD. JADEN GREATHOUSE. NOTRE DAME TIES THE GAME. pic.twitter.com/x0ZwemOMGJ
— The Sports Place (@offsportsplace) January 10, 2025

What we've seen in these title runs is that at some point, your receivers have to step up and make a play. Notre Dame watched its title dreams come to a crashing halt when Jeremiah Smith did that to cap off Ohio State's title.

Sorry. Too soon.

It's unfair to Smith to say that he's the type of player that all champions need. With all due respect to the Notre Dame pass-catchers, they don't have one of those. Miami might be the only team in America who boasts a receiver (Malachi Toney) that enters 2026 in the same conversation as him.

But as Notre Dame inevitably racks up wins and Carr puts up eye-popping numbers, watch if that future first-round pass-catcher emerges. It's significant.

It could just determine whether the 1988 punchline becomes a thing of the past.

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