There’s no doubt that roster churn in college football is very real these days. I can remember back in the early Brian Kelly days with these scholarship articles discussing the difficult decisions of having 1 or 2 players not making their mark on the field having sit downs with the coaching staff to look elsewhere for their future. Is it pushing guys out? Plenty of people weren’t super comfortable with it.

Nowadays, a lot of more recruited players are not finishing their eligibility at Notre Dame. Be prepared for a lot more of these stories coming up this off-season.

Before we turn our attention to the 2024 recruiting cycle, let’s look at the current projections for the 2023 football season.

Current Notre Dame Scholarships for 2023: 92

From the graduate students:

Wide receiver Matt Salerno, grad transfer wideout Kaleb Smith the Elder, offensive guard Andrew Kristofic, cornerback Cam Hart, and long snapper Michael Vinson are all on the roster for 2023 and confirmed to be coming back. We are still awaiting decisions from the following players:

OC Zeke Correll

DE Justin Ademilola

DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah

DT Howard Cross

LB Marist Liuafu

LB JD Bertrand

LB Jack Kiser

S D.J. Brown

We’re always ready for a surprise but the expectation is that Correll, NaNa, Cross, Liufau, Bertrand, Kiser, and probably Brown will all come back for 2023.

Braden Lenzy tweeted out on Saturday that he will not be returning for a 6th year and is taking a job in the real world this month. Brandon Joseph also sent out a message on social media that he’s headed to the NFL.

We’re expecting 10-12 or more players to transfer out of South Bend in the coming weeks and months. There also needs to be room for 2-3 more grad transfers as Notre Dame keeps pursuing those, as well.

***18 Stripes Scholarship Tracker CLICK HERE***

Out of Eligibility Following 2023:

WR Matt Salerno
WR Kaleb Smith the Elder
DE Justin Ademilola
S DJ Brown
LS Michael Vinson

We are almost done with the free 2020 Covid year making these scholarship posts utterly chaotic. The rising academic senior class will be the last affected with the extra free year.

As we’ll discuss more below, this is a tiny group of players who are exhausting eligibility but it’ll be larger as some guys won’t be taking their extra season for various reasons.

2024-25 Academic Classes

7 Verbal Commits
24 Sophomores
20 Juniors
23 Seniors
20 Graduates
94 Total Scholarships

Back in the “old days” before the transfer portal craziness I’d look at this total number of scholarships 50 weeks from Signing Day and think the 2024 class would be on the smaller side, like 17 or 18 players total. However, we should probably get used to their being room for about 22 players no matter what, until proven otherwise.

List of Eligible 2024 Grad Students

* Indicates no redshirt, 2024 eligible only due to Covid.
$ Indicates 6th-year 2024 eligible due to Covid.
# Indicates regular 5th-year eligible for 2024 but also 6th-year eligible for 2025 due to Covid.

Tier 1

DT Howard Cross $
CB Cam Hart $
OC Zeke Correll $
LB JD Bertrand $
LB Jack Kiser $
DE Rylie Mills *
DE Jordan Botelho *
CB Clarence Lewis *
DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah $
LB Marist Liufau $
S Xavier Watts *
S Ramon Henderson *

This is a huge group of 12 players most of whom are already starters or will have starting experience coming off the 2023 season. It’s kind of funny to see people already replacing the current trio of starting linebackers when they all can play through 2024. I envision a lot of head banging about their status moving forward!

Some of these guys will go pro (Cam Hart based on how he publicized his 2023 return almost assuredly will be in this group), some may enter the workforce, and some may transfer elsewhere.

Maybe 6 or 7 come back for 2024?

Tier 2

RB Chris Tyree *
OG Andrew Kristofic $
DE Alex Ehrensberger *

This feels a bit harsh for Tyree and Kristofic. However, Tyree’s carries declined a lot in the second half of 2022 and we’re not even sure yet if he’ll return for 2023. It’s possibly he re-invents himself as a receiver in 2023 and comes back for another run. Still, he’d have played 4 full seasons and it may be more than enough time at Notre Dame.

Kristofic may win a starting guard job this off-season in which case we’ll bump him up to Tier 1 in the future scholarship posts.

I can’t get a good read on Ehrensberger, but he’s entering year 4, has played 22 games over the last 2 seasons, isn’t used very much, and has totaled 4 tackles in his career. He was a bit of a flyer taken in the 2020 class and it may be time to move on if it’s more of the same in 2023.

Tier 3

TE Kevin Bauman #
OT Tosh Baker *
OT Michael Carmody #
DT Aidan Keanaaina #
LS Alex Peitsch #

Bauman has seemed to be favored in the tight end rotation when he’s healthy but has broken his leg and tore his ACL in consecutive seasons while falling behind other younger players.

Baker saw action mostly on special teams in 2022, while Carmody (1 game), Keanaaina (1 game), and Peitsch (0 games) all look like players who could be exiting the program before the 2023 season and almost assuredly will not be on the roster in 2024.

2024 Positional Needs

LOW NEED: QB, TE, OL, LB

Notre Dame has their quarterback and tight end for the class and should be all wrapped up at those positions for 2024. The Irish have taken 9 offensive linemen over the last 2 cycles and should be focusing on quality over quantity for this year. I’d be leaning towards 3 linemen for this cycle rather than 4 overall. Linebacker is in a similar category with 6 recruits since 2022, including some of the highest rated players in each class. That won’t need to be a huge priority for 2024.

MEDIUM NEED: RB, CB

A few weeks ago, Notre Dame was looking to sign 3 running backs for 2023 and instead took only 1 in Jeremiyah Love. I am sure they will be tracking the health and recovery of Jadarian Price as they decide upon numbers for this cycle. There may not be any reps available in 2024 (the current 2 starters will seniors, boy Diggs and Estime could have long fruitful careers if they stick around!) but the depth chart could really open up in 2025. You could argue for 1 tailback or 2 in this class.

Cornerback will be tough to gauge, as well. Ben Morrison will be a junior when the 2024 class steps on campus, is he an early candidate to the NFL? Jaden Mickey is also looking like he’ll be a starter when the incoming ’24 class are underclassmen. Whether to bring in 2 or 3 corners will be a cycle long debate.

HIGH NEED: WR, DE, DT, S

The bulk of the 2024 class should be coming from these positions.

You may say with 4 wideouts in the 2023 class this isn’t necessary. I beg to differ. There’s only one receiver from the 2021 class (Merriweather) and Lorenzo Styles plus Deion Colzie (should they stick around that long) will be out of eligibility after 2024. This should be another class with 3 if not 4 receivers again.

All of the positions along the defensive line are going to be super important for 2024, so all eyes are on Al Washington’s heading up this recruiting effort. The class already lost a decommit from this position recently and the 270-pound Owen Wafle has been committed since May 16th of last year. The Irish have over 30 offers out and have a lot of work to do. It doesn’t have a ton to do with 2024 depth and beyond but the Irish are looking at Utah State defensive end Byron Vaughns and Wake Forest defensive end Rondell Bothroyd–clearly they aren’t happy with the numbers up front right now.

The loss of Peyton Bowen still stings, although Notre Dame signed 3 safeties last month. However, we don’t know if Brandyn Hilliman will ultimately stick at safety, and if reports are true, the Irish are kicking the tires on Arkansas grad transfer Jalen Catalon who has eligibility through 2024. There’s still too much uncertainty at this position and bringing in 2 more bodies for 2024 would be smart.