A fresh start at Notre Dame already seems to have given former Ohio State receiver Mylan Graham a different energy. Before even playing for his new team, the former five-star prospect spent the weekend back home in Indiana, helping coach the next generation of football players.

On Saturday, Graham joined fellow Indiana native and Notre Dame safety Tae Johnson at his former school in Fort Wayne, where he hosted his first annual Bruntae Johnson (Just A Kid From Fort Wayne) Elite Camp. Johnson attended North Side High School and wanted to give back to his community. The camp followed a brilliant redshirt freshman season in which he recorded four interceptions and 48 tackles while earning FWAA Freshman All-America honors.

As Johnson gave back to his community, Graham was honored to be among those helping to impact the next generation.

“It’s a blessing, just being able to coach up younger guys who were once in my position. Once, I was in their position. It just feels great to give back to the city,” Graham said to WANE.

Graham might not have had a breakout season in college football yet, but he was an excellent high school athlete himself and has what it takes to coach younger players. He attended New Haven High School, where he caught 112 passes for 2,062 yards and 21 touchdowns in his senior season. At the time of his recruitment to Ohio State in 2024, he was a five-star recruit who was ranked the top player in Indiana, the seventh-best wide receiver, and the 22nd-best player nationally by 247Sports.

Sadly, Graham has not enjoyed similar success in college football so far.

He redshirted his freshman year after appearing in four games without recording any statistics. Ahead of the 2025 season, he starred in the spring game with 104 receiving yards and a 49-yard touchdown. However, the regular season told a different story. He appeared in nine games and recorded just six catches for 93 yards.

Having experienced both the highs and lows of the sport, he shared some words of advice to the young athletes in Indiana.

“Just keep your faith on the high level, just keep putting in the work everyday Don’t let anybody tell you what you can or can’t do. And just stay consistent, stay persistent, and just keep your faith in God,” he told them.

How Graham is settling into life at Notre Dame

Now at Notre Dame, Graham appears optimistic about earning a bigger role after limited opportunities at Ohio State. In terms of fitting in, there should not be much of a problem, as he feels there are not many differences between the two schools.

“Yeah, it’s pretty similar,” he said. “I feel like the college scheme from where I came from previously is kind of similar. So, the transition has been pretty smooth. Everybody in South Bend has been working with me like I’m one of theirs already.”

Being part of the team’s offense, he gave a hint of what college football can expect from his side in 2026. Traditionally, it has not been Notre Dame’s strongest department, with defense forming a major part of the Irish identity. However, that trend started to change last year, when the team averaged 42 points and 458.5 total yards per game, ranking among the top offenses in the country. Graham feels they are about to take it up another notch.

“Honestly, I think because usually Notre Dame is not really known for having a crazy or really good type of offense. So, I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year with the receiver play we have this year.

“And I feel like the offense, the scheme is pretty nice. We do a good job of scheming guys up and putting guys in the right situations. They do a good job with the scheme,” he added.

Ahead of the 2026 season, Graham will be hoping this fresh start at Notre Dame finally leads to his breakout year.