Michael Mayer

#87 · TE · Jr. · Notre Dame6′4″ · 265 lb · Independence, KY · Covington Catholic

Michael Mayer: TE · Notre Dame · #87.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Caden PrieskornMemphis · 2022 · 52% season match
Trey McBrideColorado State · 2021 · 48% season match
Charlie KolarIowa State · 2021 · 44% season match
Sam LaPortaIowa · 2021 · 37% season match

Michael Mayer

TE · Notre Dame · Jr · #87

Shows up in the passing game from any alignment. Played for two head coaches at Notre Dame: Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman. Another came in 2022: All-America (Consensus). A game that shows it: 118 receiving yards and 11 receptions against BYU — Week 6, 2022.

Style of play

Play style

No single go-to route — the receiving numbers show up inline and split out alike.

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Notre Dame in the news

Drayk Bowen out for gameOct 31
Freeman calls out staffYahoo Sports Oct 27
Notre Dame releases injury report and depth charts for Navy gameOct 26
BYU beats Notre Dame for first timeYahoo Sports Oct 18

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2022	Notre Dame	67	809	12.1	9	37
2021	Notre Dame	71	840	11.8	7	52
2020	Notre Dame	42	450	10.7	2	29
Career		180	2,099	11.7	18	52

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	L 10-21@ No. 2 Ohio State	5	32	6.4	0	17
Wk 2	L 21-26vs Marshall	8	103	12.9	1	30
Wk 3	W 24-17vs California	2	10	5.0	1	6
Wk 4	W 45-32@ North Carolina	7	88	12.6	1	20
Wk 6	W 28-20vs No. 16 BYU	11	118	10.7	2	24	Season-high 118 yds
Wk 7	L 14-16vs Stanford	5	60	12.0	0	21
Wk 8	W 44-21vs UNLV	6	115	19.2	1	34
Wk 9	W 41-24@ No. 16 Syracuse	3	54	18.0	0	37
Wk 10	W 35-14vs No. 5 Clemson	4	44	11.0	1	17
Wk 11	W 35-32vs Navy	3	23	7.7	0	14
Wk 12	W 44-0vs Boston College	5	64	12.8	0	23
Wk 13	L 27-38@ No. 5 USC	8	98	12.3	2	24	2 TD catches
Total		67	809	12.1	9	37

Signature game

Week 13 · 2022

L 27-38

at USC

8 rec · 98 yds · 2 TD

With D. Pyne — 318 yds · 3 TD · 1 INT · QBR 71.3 · L. Styles Jr. — 4 rec · 34 yds

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 6 · BYU · 3rd and 13 · Q3 · EPA +3.33Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 15 yds to the BYU 36 for a
Week 6 · BYU · 3rd and 6 · Q3 · EPA +3.14Pyne to Mayer: a 19-yard touchdown pass.
Week 8 · UNLV · 2nd and 10 · Q1 · EPA +2.99Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 20 yds for a TD, (Blake Grupe KICK)
Week 12 · Boston College · 3rd and 5 · Q1 · EPA +2.90Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 23 yds to the NDame 48 for a
Week 2 · Marshall · 4th and 1 · Q4 · EPA +2.85Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 5 yds for a TD, (Two-Point Conversion failed )
Week 6 · BYU · 3rd and 9 · Q1 · EPA +2.78Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 11 yds to the 50 yard line for a

4 more plays

Week 6 · BYU · 2nd and 5 · Q2 · EPA +2.71Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 24 yds for a TD, (Blake Grupe KICK)
Week 13 · USC · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.68Pyne to Mayer: a 24-yard pass.
Week 13 · USC · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +2.65Pyne to Mayer: a 22-yard touchdown pass.
Week 8 · UNLV · 2nd and 7 · Q1 · EPA +2.61Drew Pyne pass complete to Michael Mayer for 23 yds to the UNLV 49 for a

Teams and coaches

2020Notre Dame10-2HC: Brian Kelly · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2021Notre Dame11-2HC: Brian Kelly · Balanced

2022Notre Dame9-4HC: Marcus Freeman · Run-heavy

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 90 (#4 of 132). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2022 season

90All-America level #4 of 132 · 2022?

11 metrics · season cumulative

2022 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: rec tds (100th percentile). Strength: receptions (99th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#199 / 636 · 69th pct

8.8%

Explosive rate#218 / 636 · 66th pct

16.2%

EPA / target#239 / 636 · 62nd pct

0.79

Catch rate#292 / 636 · 53rd pct

80.0%

Yards / catch#355 / 636 · 44th pct

11.8

Box-score rates (6)

Rec TDs#1 / 158 · 100th pct

Receptions#2 / 158 · 99th pct

Rec yards#4 / 158 · 98th pct

809

Fumbles lost#1 / 35 · 84th pct

Yards / catch#57 / 158 · 64th pct

12.1

Long catch#68 / 158 · 56th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

48th → 62nd percentile

Explosive rate

53rd → 66th percentile

Catch rate

50th → 53rd percentile

TD rate

62nd → 69th percentile

Yards / catch

42nd → 44th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2022. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	5.0	66.0	12.2	0.7
Road4g	5.8	68.0	12.3	0.8

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	6.3	68.5	9.9	0.8
Weeks 8+6g	4.8	66.3	13.5	0.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2022 season

Head Coach

Marcus Freeman

Pass share

39.4%

338 pass / 519 run

Plays / game

65.9

13 games

Team sack rate

5.8%

365 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Consensus All-American

First team on a majority of the recognized selector lists.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

90 · #4 of 132 TEs · 2022

Former five-star. Now #4 at the position.

Selector Grid · 2022

AP1st

FWAA—

AFCA—

WCFF1st

SN1st

SI—

Named Consensus All-American — recognized on 3+ of the 5 NCAA-recognized selector lists.

Michael Mayer

Similar players

Style of play

Fans

Notre Dame in the news

Where to follow

Career stats

Game log

Signature game

Signature plays

Teams and coaches

Our ratings

Splits

Awards

Consensus All-American

Three seasons at Notre Dame, drafted

2020 11 games

2022 12 games

2023