26 days until Notre Dame football: A stat the Irish could set a record in
BlueandGold.com will release a countdown article highlighting a significant Notre Dame football statistic every day until the 2024 season opener at Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas. Today, there are 26 days until the Irish and Aggies kick off at Kyle Field.
Notre Dame had a team kick return average of 26.29 yards per return in 2023, which was good for the third best mark in that statistical category in the 135-year history of Fighting Irish football. Perhaps the Irish will go a few steps further and break the record in 2024.
Why? Jayden Harrison is here now.
Harrison, a Marshall transfer, ranked second in the nation and was an All-American kick returner by averaging 30.65 yards per return in 2023. He was one of five returners to have multiple touchdowns in the kick return game.
Ironically, with Harrison’s efforts, Marshall slotted in just ahead of Notre Dame in the national rankings. The Thundering Herd averaged 26.30 yards per kickoff return as a team in 2024. Notre Dame is chasing an all-time best program figure of 29.6 set in 1966.
It won’t all be on Harrison to try to set a new Notre Dame record. Junior Jadarian Price can definitely play a role as well. Price actually had Harrison beat in kick return average in a much smaller sample size. He took 10 kicks for 134 yards to average 34.4 yards per return. Ninety-nine of those yards, though, came on one return — a fourth-quarter touchdown against USC.
Harrison returned 23 kicks for 705 yards and 2 touchdowns. The media has really only seen Harrison in a wide receiver role early in fall camp. Teams don’t generally run live kickoff drills in practices for the sake of avoiding injuries. But we’ll all likely be quickly reminded of Harrison’s All-American skills in a special teams capacity when Notre Dame takes on Texas A&M in the season-opener on Aug. 31.
Whether right or wrong, until Harrison actually does make a difference as a receiver he’s going to be viewed by national media and more casual Fighting Irish fans as a kick return specialist. Of course, he can expand upon that title. He can deem himself a wall-to-wall playmaker if he gets in the mix offensively. He is on the Paul Hornung Watch List, which is given to the most versatile player in college football. No matter what, though, it’ll be fun to follow what he does in a Notre Dame uniform as a return man.
”Right now, I’m just focused on being better every day,” Harrison said. “One percent better. Attacking one thing at a time and keep my head down and putting in the work.”
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