Notre Dame Football: 3 freshmen who’ll have instant impacts in 2022

Lawrence Keys III and Kevin Austin Jr. are both gone to the transfer portal and the NFL draft, respectively, but the Irish do return Braden Lenzy and Avery Davis for 2022.

Unfortunately, though, Lenzy has never really lived up to expectations and Davis is not a No. 1 receiver. Lorenzo Styles and Deion Colzie are likely to step up as breakout stars to replace Keys III and Austin Jr. while complementing Lenzy and Davis, but there’s a pretty clear need for talented receivers and Tobias Merriweather fits that description.

Merriweather is the No. 79 overall recruit and 14th-best receiver in the 2022 class, according to 247Sports, and he has great size at 6-4 and 185 pounds.

Brandon Huffman of 247Sports compares him to Collin Johnson and says he looks like a future 2-3 round pick in the NFL draft and I think he has the ability to play immediately.

However, he’s not enrolled early so we won’t be able to see what he can do this spring but I do believe he’ll break out over the summer and crack the two-deep.