Notre Dame wide receiver Matt Salerno to return for sixth season
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees lobbied for the return of wide receiver Matt Salerno in 2023. He’s going to get his wish.
Friday night, Salerno posted a collection of Instagram pictures of himself suited up in blue and gold with the caption “29 x 6 … Run it back!” with a shamrock emoji. Salerno is signaling that he’ll be back in South Bend for a sixth season.
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Salerno has caught 6 passes for 58 yards and 1 touchdown in his career. The score came this season vs. Boston College on Nov. 19. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was excited as anyone about Salerno, who was placed on scholarship prior to the 2022 season after four years as a walk on, ending up in the end zone with the ball for the first time in five years.
“What a resilient guy,” Freeman said. “A guy that came here as a walk on. It’s funny, we showed a video to the team last night. His parents had said pick a school because of your academics not because of football if you’re going to walk on. And that’s why he chose Notre Dame.
“And what a great example for our team, a guy who said I’m choosing Notre Dame because of what this academic institution will do for my future. But I’m going to bust my tail and pay for school. And he busted his tail, and now he’s on scholarship.
“And to get his first touchdown, he deserves it. He’s been a huge addition, just a huge part of the success we’ve had. A guy that goes in to block sometimes. We put him in to block. And he doesn’t bat an eye. He goes in there and he does his job. Selfless. Selfless individual.”
Salerno played 129 offensive snaps in 2022, by far the most in any year of his career. He played 45 in 2021, 2 in 2020 and 3 in 2019. Salerno had one of the best catches of Notre Dame’s season in the first game of the year at Ohio State.
“He’s a guy we have a ton of trust in,” Rees said. “He’s in there in critical moments. He’s in there in roles that are critically important. He’s tagged on stuff to make sure he’s in. There is stuff throughout the year where he’s done a lot of the dirty work for us and been in critical spots. He’s worked extremely hard to earn the opportunity to be out there playing. What other moment could you have on senior night to score your first touchdown and share that?”
Notre Dame could return all of its wide receivers from the 2022 season. Graduate student Braden Lenzy has another year of eligibility. He has yet to announce his plans for 2023. The Irish are also slated to bring back rising juniors Lorenzo Styles, Deion Colzie, Jayden Thomas and rising freshman Tobias Merriweather. There are also four wide receivers committed in the class of 2023.
