During a press gathering, Mike Brey said that he will ask Juwan Durham and Nikola Djogo to return for a fifth year for the 2020-2021 season.

During Mike Brey’s standard, pre-road trip press gathering, the Irish head coach confirms both Juwan Durham and Nik Djojo will be invited back for a graduate season. 2020-21. — Tim O'Malley (@timomalleyND) February 25, 2020

Equally important to the invite, is that Juwan Durham expects to return to Notre Dame next year — so he wants to.

Juwan Durham expects to return for 2020-21 season at #NotreDame. — Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) February 25, 2020

The Irish will definitely need Durham next season — especially since they will be losing Rex Pflueger, John Mooney, and T.J. Gibbs to graduation. Durham’s 6’11” frame is just something the Irish don’t restock very easily, and this somewhat helps to ease the losses in recruiting over the last couple of years.

Juwan started his career with the UConn Huskies in 2016. As a freshman, he played sparingly — but he did it in 28 games. Durham then transferred to Notre Dame and had to sit out a year (because he’s not Justin Fields). Over the past two years, Durham has played in 54 games and averaged almost 17 minutes a game, 7 points per game, 4.4 rebounds per game, and 2.2 blocks... per game.

It goes without saying that Notre Dame will need a lot more from Durham next season — but I’ll say it anyways. With the shooters that the Irish will bring back, a solid and athletic big man like Durham should allow Notre Dame to run a fairly prolific offense without sacrificing anything on the defensive end.