Notre Dame WR coach Mike Brown explains why backups aren't playing more

SOUTH BEND —For Mike Brown, now in his third full season coaching wide receivers for Notre Dame football, the concept of trust remains sacred. The fan base desperately wants to see more of backups like Mylan Graham , Elijah Burress, Matt Jeffery and freshman Bubba Frazier, especially with the starting trio of Jordan Faison, Jaden Greathouse and Micah Gilbert running up high snap counts. Brown, however, doesn’t grade on a curve. “I heard a quote a long time ago: ‘Trust is earned in drops and it's lost in buckets,’“ Brown said Tuesday Oct. 27 after practice. “That just means it's an everyday thing. Every single day, you have to continue to build trust. You're either building trust or you're hurting the trust in you.” Graham, the Ohio State transfer, has just five catches for 37 yards while his fellow ex-Buckeye, boundary threat Quincy Porter, was shut down for the season with a recurrence of a patellar tendon problem in his left knee. Irish coach Marcus Freeman has adjusted scout team duties to have younger wideouts running the Notre Dame offense more frequently in practice, Brown said. Ostensibly, that includes freshman NFL legacies such as Devin Fitzgerald and Kaydon Finley along with speedsters like Frazier and Brayden Robinson. Robinson, coming off a torn ACL, was entrusted with an end-around on a failed fake punt against Michigan State. In the aggregate, however, it has remained an elusive concept to mix in more faces on game day. Even third-year wideouts Cam Williams (zero game snaps) and Logan Saldate (28 snaps) have lost ground after combining for 99 game snaps and two receptions in 2025. Whether it’s keeping track of quarterback CJ Carr’s never-ending line checks, carrying out blocking assignments in the run game, or basic route precision, that next wave of receiver talent is still a collective work in progress. “It's all-encompassing,” Brown said. “Everybody has a little deficiency here or there, like every single person, including myself and players. We all have our deficiencies. We work on our weaknesses, and we continue to build our strengths. There's one thing (lacking) about every person.” Brauntae Johnson: Whenever safety returns, Notre Dame will gain a 'game changer' In the end, Brown said, it comes down to “overall consistency” and the idea that players need to prove flawless in practice before they’ll be inserted in high-pressure situations. “Can we trust you to be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there?” said Brown, at 37, the youngest full-time Irish assistant. “Ball comes your way, you're making a play. I try to keep it as simple as that.” Executive request: How Notre Dame football plans to expand the menu at wide receiver Another way to put it, when it comes to trust, Brown said, served as a reminder at Tuesday’s practice ahead of this weekend’s trip to Foxborough, MA, to face Navy. Six Super Bowl champions have called Patriot Place home, and it didn’t happen without extreme commitment to detail across the board. “We talked about it today, just an emphasis on ‘consistently good, not occasionally great,’ “ Brown said. “Great players, great teams, great coaches, great leaders. It's not about what they just do one time, it's about what they can consistently do. That's what makes it.” Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.