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Notre Dame Adds NFL-Legacy Receivers Finley and Fitzgerald to 2026 Class

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Updated Jul 6, 2025, 01:06 AM

Notre Dame continued to leverage NFL bloodlines on the recruiting trail, landing wide receivers Kaydon Finley and Devin Fitzgerald within 24 hours. The pair boost the Fighting Irish’s 2026 class to 24 verbal commitments, a group ranked No. 4 nationally by ESPN.

Finley, a four-star prospect from Aledo, Texas, is No. 114 in the ESPN 300 and the 16th Irish pledge from that list. The 6-foot, 200-pound receiver chose Notre Dame over home-state favorite Texas, where his father, Super Bowl XLV champion Jermichael Finley, once starred before a six-year NFL career with Green Bay.

Fitzgerald, rated a three-star by recruiting services and ESPN’s 71st-ranked wideout, selected Notre Dame ahead of UCLA, Stanford and Clemson. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Brophy Prep standout caught 52 passes for 720 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior and is the son of 11-time Pro Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the NFL’s No. 2 all-time leader in receiving yards.

Finley and Fitzgerald join outside linebacker Thomas Davis Jr.—son of former Carolina Panthers star Thomas Davis—in an Irish class increasingly defined by professional pedigrees as head coach Marcus Freeman looks to reinforce the program’s national recruiting reach.

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