After a first half fumble, the Notre Dame football team’s coaching staff benched wide receiver Jayden Thomas in the final game of the regular season against the USC Trojans. He knows he deserved that benching, even if he couldn’t have been that happy about it.
“You can’t go out there and put the ball on the ground,” Thomas told the media this week when talking about the regular season finale. “Trust is a big thing. If I’m out there and I fumble, the coaches aren’t going to trust me.”
Thomas has averaged just under 19 offensive snaps per game for the Notre Dame football team this season. He played a season-low seven snaps for the Irish offense against USC.That after a 2023 season in which he was trying to come back off injuries. And yet, with his touchdown in the first round of the playoffs against Indiana, it feels like Thomas is embarking on a redemption tour in his final postseason as a member of the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame football veteran receiver looking for a resurgence
Thanks to his 2 catches for 13 yards and that touchdown, his 19 offensive snaps in Notre Dame’s 27-17 win over Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff garnered Thomas the highest offensive grade of Notre Dame’s receivers at 79.0 according to PFF.
Thomas also helped his teammates find the end zone. The receiver made an important block on Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run against IU. After Thomas motioned to the right side of Notre Dame’s offensive line as if he were a detached tight end, he was asked to cut off defensive end Lanell Carr Jr. on the backside of Love’s designed run to the left. Mission accomplished.
“I’m strong enough to sometimes do what I gotta do maybe for two seconds to hold a block, whether it’s blocking a D-end or ‘backer,” Thomas said. “As you saw, all I did was basically a two-second block. J-Love took it 98 yards. If I can just give it my all and strain for that long, then we got a good chance of making something special.”
All of this means that Thomas seems to understand his role. He’s accepted his role. And he could be a real weapon for the Notre Dame football team against Georgia. He’s got one more shot to earn accolades. And then we’ll see what happens.