If the Notre Dame football team wants to add Mount Carmel star Marshaun Thornton, they’ll have their work cut out for them. Coming into the year, Thornton was one of the best receivers in the 2028 class. The way he’s started the season should only make him even more attractive to plenty of Power conference schools.
The 6-foot-2, 180-pound 4-star wide receiver from Chicago, Illinois, has emerged as one of the Midwest’s most heavily recruited receivers while playing for a Mount Carmel program that won the Illinois Class 8A state championship in 2025 and that rallied on Friday from a 30-0 deficit to beat St. Joseph Regional (N.J.), 48-44.
That Thornton hails from Chicago is a bonus for a Notre Dame program that’s worked hard to recruit the Windy City over the last few years. However, he has also received offers from Arizona State, Auburn, Bowling Green, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Washington and Wisconsin. With still more than a year before the wideout can sign with a school, he’s approached 30 total offers.
Thornton so far has shown exactly why so many schools are so interested in his services in Mount Carmel’s first two games of the season. In their opening contest, his team suffered a disappointing 42-23 loss to East St. Louis. Despite the setback, Thornton tallied 5 catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns. On the night, he averaged a whopping 29.8 yards per catch, and both TD receptions came from more than 35 yards out. Thornton was the entirety of Mount Carmel’s offense last week as he also returned a kick 78 yards for another touchdown.
Notre Dame WR target Marshaun Thornton had two touchdowns in the first half, including this outstanding catch on a go ball in traffic.
— Jack Soble (@jacksoble56) August 29, 2026
This sparked Mount Carmel's comeback, from down 30-0. @BGInews pic.twitter.com/gmdYgd5Rhl
Notre Dame football target Marshaun Thornton scores twice in Mount Carmel’s 30-point comeback
On Friday night, Thornton continued to show his blazing speed as he caught two more touchdowns, including a 27-yard reception that made up the final deficit in the game. His first TD, which he hauled down despite the defender hanging all over him, was Mount Carmel's first score and sparked their incredible comeback.
As a sophomore in 2025, Thornton caught 48 passes for 881 yards and 16 touchdowns, averaging 18.4 yards per reception after a solid freshman season. Despite seeing less action, the wide receiver still recorded 24 receptions (a 23.5 YPC average) for 555 yards and five touchdowns.
So far, Thornton has taken two unofficial visits to see Notre Dame. He made a gameday visit last October and then came back during spring practice in April. While analysts believe the race for Thornton will come down to the Fighting Irish or the Illini, Marcus Freeman and Co. will almost assuredly try to shut the door on Bret Bielema’s crew by getting Thornton to another game this fall. It’s clear he’s worth rolling out all the red carpets.
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