(Editor’s note: Our first five-yard penalty for alphabetizing mistake. Carry on.)
Notre Dame’s wide receiving depth chart is fast becoming one of the toughest two-deeps to crack. And that was before the freshman class stepped on campus. Among that new group is Jalen Guyton, the most electric playmaker on the top team in the state of Texas.
Guyton comes to South Bend from Allen, Texas, where he put up video game numbers as a high school senior. So while the road to the field might be backed up with guys like Will Fuller, Corey Robinson and Chris Brown, Guyton will be given every opportunity to fight for his chance.
Let’s take a look at the native Texan.
JALEN GUYTON
6'0", 180 lbs.
Freshman, No. 83, WR
RECRUITING PROFILE
Three-star recruit who was No. 39 on the Dallas Morning News’ Top 100. USA Football U-18 participant. State Champion at Allen.
Guyton had offers from Arizona State, Baylor, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Stanford and Texas A&M.
FUTURE POTENTIAL
Without getting a look at him with the Irish, Guyton reminds me of a prep-version of Will Fuller, the type of high school player who just explodes off the highlight reel. Sure, Guyton was buoyed by playing with 5-star QB prospect Kyler Murray. But Guyton made Murray look good, too.
Guyton won’t jump off the screen by his sheer physicality, but if he can run—and it sure looks like he can—he’ll be able to get behind defenses and make them pay vertically. Brian Kelly praised his versatility on Signing Day, talking about the ability to move Guyton around to all three positions, just like Allen did during a senior season where Guyton scored a ridiculous 22 touchdowns and had 1,700 receiving yards.
A statistically dominant incoming freshman who just did so at the highest level of high school football in the country? Not a bad place to start.
CRYSTAL BALL
While I think Guyton might be one of Notre Dame’s most under-the-radar recruits, I also wonder how he’s going to find his way onto the field. On the outside, Guyton needs to find snaps behind Will Fuller, Chris Brown and Corey Robinson. In the slot, there’s Amir Carlisle, C.J. Prosise (he’s still going to play some receiver) and guys like Torii Hunter, Corey Holmes and Justin Brent that’ll likely be in front of him.
That said, if Guyton is good enough to see the field, he’ll likely do so. Possibly in a “designated deep threat” role that we saw from Fuller and Brown as freshmen, if only to get his feet wet. He also could be a candidate for a late-start redshirt, seeing the field in the first few weeks before shutting it down for the season, just for a taste.
There’s no obvious fit for Guyton, who has nice size but hardly is a human mismatch. But that doesn’t mean the future’s not bright for a well-developed high school player who enters Notre Dame with probably the most impressive senior season of any recruit.
THE 2015 IRISH A-to-Z
Josh Adams, RB
Josh Barajas, OLB
Nicky Baratti, S
Alex Bars, OL
Asmar Bilal, OLB
Hunter Bivin, OL
Grant Blankenship, DE
Jonathan Bonner, DE
Miles Boykin, WR
Justin Brent, WR
Greg Bryant, RB
Devin Butler, CB
Jimmy Byrne, OL
Daniel Cage, DL
Amir Carlisle, RB
Nick Coleman, DB
Te’von Coney, LB
Shaun Crawford, DB
Scott Daly, LS
Sheldon Day, DL
Michael Deeb, LB
Micah Dew-Treadway, DL
Steve Elmer, RG
Matthias Farley, DB
Nicco Fertitta, DB
Tarean Folston, RB
Will Fuller, WR
Jarrett Grace, LB