Notre Dame football: What can we expect from Tobias Merriweather in Year 1?
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team is bringing in a star in Tobias Merriweather, but what can we really expect from him in Year 1 in South Bend?
In the 2022 recruiting class, the Notre Dame football team was only able to get a commitment from one wide receiver, and that was Tobias Merriweather. Luckily for the Irish, Merriweather was the best recruit at the position group that they had gotten a soft commitment from, and he is someone who is going to be exciting to watch next season, and beyond.
Standing 6-foot-4, Merriweather is a long wide receiver, possessing the kind of deep threat ability that will make up for the loss of Kevin Austin Jr. to the 2022 NFL Draft. Last year, we saw true freshman Lorenzo Styles Jr. step onto the scene and perform at a high level, and Merriweather is going to be expected to come in and do the same in 2022.
Notre Dame football does return Styles Jr., Braden Lenzy, and Avery Davis to name a few, and while the position group is talented, it does not have the kind of numbers other programs do. Merriweather is going to get every chance to make an impact in Year 1, and I believe he has the size to come in and make plays right away.
What can Notre Dame football expect from Merriweather in 2022?
That brings us to the question of what we can expect from Merriweather in 2022, his first season on campus with the Irish. Lenzy, Davis, and Styles Jr. are going to go into the spring as the starters, and rightfully so, as they are all established players within Tommy Rees’s offense.
However, behind those three it gets very muddled, and there is no reason why Merriweather can’t come in and move up the depth chart in a hurry. In terms of pure talent, he may be a top-3 receiver in this group already, and you can be sure that if Rees feels he can help the team right away, he will be put in a position to do so.
The truth is, the Irish are going to need all hands on deck when it comes to the wide receiver group this year, and Merriweather is going to be a big part of what they do, especially late in the year. I expect him to haul in around 40-45 passes as a true freshman, racking up over 500 yards receiving while showing flashes of his big-play ability every week.