Our last scholarship post came back on January 2nd when we remarked at least 10 to 12 more players would be expected to transfer out or leave Notre Dame, and that happened quite easily. As of this writing, 27 scholarship players from the 2022 roster are no longer on the team. The Irish signed 23 players for the 2023 recruiting class and so far have brought in 5 more players via the transfer process.
It’s not a deficit when you look at it this way. Although as we will see below, there is still room for more talent as Notre Dame continues to push up towards the 85-man scholarship limit without giving out aid to walk-ons.
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Out of Eligibility Following 2023:
QB Sam Hartman
WR Matt Salerno
DE Javontae Jean-Baptiste
S DJ Brown
S Thomas Harper
K Spencer Shrader
LS Michael Vinson
This section was set to become extremely small but a batch of transfers into South Bend makes it a little longer. Three days after our last scholarship update we saw quarterback Sam Hartman commit from Wake Forest, plus Ohio State’s Javontae Jean-Baptiste, Oklahoma State’s Thomas Harper, and South Florida’s Spencer Shrader all joined the Irish for their last year of eligibility.
Wide receiver Kaleb Smith the Elder transferred in from Virginia Tech but retired from football back on April 15th.
Also, Justin Ademilola hadn’t made his decision about 2023 from our last update and he’s since gone on to leave Notre Dame along with his twin brother Jayson.
2024-25 Academic Classes
16 Verbal Commits
23 Sophomores
20 Juniors
13 Seniors
21 Graduates
93 Total Scholarships
We’ve been busy in recent months! From the 2024 class since the start of the year we’ve had CB Leonard Moore, OL Anthonie Knapp, DE Cole Mullins, WR Isiah Canion, DE Bryce Young, S Kennedy Urlacher, WR Micah Gilbert, LB Teddy Rezac, and LB Brodie Kahoun commit to the program.
In addition, safety Antonio Carter transferred in from Rhode Island with 2 years of eligibility remaining.
We saw 2023 safety Brandyn Hillman ask out of his LOI and head to Michigan.
The once large 27-man recruiting class from 2021, currently the rising juniors, saw 10 players leave the roster since our last update, including:
QB Tyler Buchner
QB Ron Powlus III
RB Logan Diggs
WR/CB Lorenzo Styles
OT Caleb Johnson
LB Prince Kollie
LB Will Schweitzer
CB Phillip Riley
S Justin Walters
K Josh Bryan
Rising seniors in DE Alex Ehrensberger and long-snapper Alex Peitsch have also left the program.
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 $
DE Jordan Botelho *
CB Cam Hart $
S Antonio Carter $
S Xavier Watts *
OC Zeke Correll $
LB JD Bertrand $
LB Jack Kiser $
DT Rylie Mills *
CB Clarence Lewis *
DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah $
LB Marist Liufau $
OG Andrew Kristofic $
S Ramon Henderson *
We’ve added Carter to this section, although as we always say a 6th year probably isn’t likely if he’s successful on the field.
Kristofic has also moved up to the top tier with the assumption that he’ll win one of the starting guard jobs in August.
Overall, this is a lot of tier 1 players that Notre Dame would probably all love to come back in 2024 even if that isn’t realistic. This time last year there were 12 players in this section, led by Isaiah Foskey and Jarrett Patterson who we knew were gone to the NFL. Also, a fun fact that 7 of these players (Cross, Hart, Correll, Bertrand, Kiser, Liufau, and Kristofic) were all in this tier 1 this time last year, as well.
To me, many players on this list are the type who won’t be gunning for the NFL but may decide to play a final year elsewhere.
Tier 2
RB Chris Tyree *
TE Kevin Bauman #
I’m not really sure tier 2 is the right place for Chris Tyree, although tier 2 doesn’t seem right either. Maybe he’s a tier 1.5?
Bauman has shown promise when he’s been healthy, but he hasn’t been nearly healthy enough. His status could go either depending on his 2023 bounce back ability.
Tier 3
OT Tosh Baker *
OT Michael Carmody #
DT Aidan Keanaaina #
All 3 of these players were transfer candidates this off-season in my mind, although it seems like both Baker and Carmody are going to continue grinding it out as backups. I still wouldn’t rule out anyone leaving early this summer, though.
2024 Positional Needs
LOW NEED: QB, WR, TE, LB
Notre Dame looks to be very settled at quarterback with CJ Carr, and after a busy spring adding some more talent, things look close to wrapped up at wide receiver, too.
This wasn’t a cycle that needed a ton of linebackers and Notre Dame seems content taking a couple projects for now and waiting for another piece later in the year if it comes.
MEDIUM NEED: RB, OL, CB
The Irish took 5 offensive linemen last cycle and are in fine shape in terms of numbers. However, they are still intent on chasing more blue-chips prospects on the line. FYI, we are approaching almost a full calendar year without a verbal from a top 250 Composite offensive lineman.
Notre Dame could stay put at running back, or add someone else too. There are 2 corners already in the fold for 2024 but this is a position I tend to like brining in a lot of numbers.
HIGH NEED: DE, DT, S
The Irish already have 3 defensive linemen committed, although only 1 will probably end up as a pass rusher. More talent here and at safety should be the focus as the 2024 class shifts into its second half before Early Signing Day rolls around in December.
Should Notre Dame Begin Signing Enormous Recruiting Classes?
A hot topic on the Irish message boards has been whether or not Notre Dame should make up for its lack of undergrad transfer ability and instead sign larger than normal recruiting classes.
Firstly, there are rules that can be bent but not entirely circumnavigated. The 2024 cycle is the last of the Covid era rules enacted just about 1 year ago which removed the 25-man signing limit per class. However, Notre Dame can’t just sign 40 recruits in a class–there’s still a cap set at 32 players per class.
Well, can the Irish sign 32 players for 2024 then?
Remember, transfers coming in are also included in that count! In that light, Notre Dame “signed” 28 players for 2023 when you include the 5 transfers in so far, excluding the retired Kaleb Smith the Elder.
If you bake in ~5 transfers into the count each cycle you begin to see there’s no magic bullet of signing a huge amount of freshmen–plus the rules may revert back to the 25-man limit for 2025 anyway (although in the current transfer market madness this is probably a bad idea by the NCAA).
Also, even if you could theoretically sign 40 players in one class it’s not very practical.
Imagine taking this current class of 16 verbal commitments and trying to add 19 more players to the class (35+5 transfers = class of 40). Notre Dame would need a new verbal roughly every 12 days until Early Signing Day. Factor in recruiting slowing down in September and the crunch gets worse.
Now, in this example there’d be a shift to even more early commitments. Notre Dame would probably want to be around 20 commits when the New Year rolls around and takes 12-15 more players through the summer. That would be more workable but just having to recruit that many more freshmen–and clear them through admissions–is a huge logistical headache that I’m not sure Notre Dame is equipped to handle. It might increase the chances of finding a diamond in the rough every so slightly, but I would guess it would lead to a ton of poor evaluations and bad program fits.
Plus, the roster logistics make my head spin. Imagine a class of 2 quarterbacks, 3 running backs, 5 wide receivers, 2 tight ends, 5 offensive linemen, 3 defensive ends, 3 defensive tackles, 4 linebackers, 4 cornerbacks, and 4 safeties PLUS 5 grad transfers Ten true freshmen would transfer by the end of fall camp!
Anyway, it’s all for naught without new NCAA rules to increase class sizes. If the sport continues the current 32-class size rule it would be smart for Notre Dame to push towards 27 or 28 freshmen commits each year but anything more is complete overkill with transfers also to be added to the equation.
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Nice writeup EM for someone who rates himself 6 out of 10 involved in following ND football.
I wonder if there may be a subtle shift in staff recruiting focusing not so much on some geographical areas. We seem to have recruited more recently in the Kansas-Missouri area, though that may be an overreaction to Diggs to LSU. Earlier transfers may tend to be in the skill positions where we concentrate more on an extra recruit at a position.
Teams like TCU, Utah and Kansas State who don’t recruit a lot of blue chips still end up high in national ranking and do not seem to have a mass exodus or inflows with transfers.
Can you still count early enrollees against the class before? That gives wiggle room as well, as usually 1/2 the class enrolls early these days.
That’s a good question, I feel like that hasn’t been discussed in a long time.
I can’t keep track of what the current (or soon to revert) limits are. If they are 32 per year, won’t that significantly clamp down on the transfer portal then too if teams can only bring in so many new players overall? (Though apparently there’s a new coach exception.)
It has to slow down a little, I would guess. But we also have to factor in players who aren’t finding a new home, or dropping down to FCS, etc.
I look at it as, Notre Dame typically needs 8 more players to leave per cycle than we’re usually accustomed to in previous eras. That’s still a lot of turnover.
Yea a lot of players are not going to find a chair when the music stops.
But I mean if there is a limit to how many new players can take wouldn’t that make it impossible for teams to take a ton new players like a lot seem to be doing? They’d have to make a real choice between transfers and high schoolers.
I’m not sure. I just looked at some schools that don’t have new head coaches and saw these numbers:
Arkansas 20 commits + 17 transfers = 37 total
FSU 20 commits + 10 transfers = 30 total
Indiana 16 commits + 13 transfers = 29 total
Baylor 21 commits + 13 transfers = 34 total
Some programs are still taking pretty small freshmen classes. I’m not sure what Arkansas is doing, but I would imagine some of those players aren’t going to be enrolling so they aren’t over the 32-man limit.
Venables at Oklahoma signed 42 players his first year and 37 this past year. That included Bowen, Lacey and two McCullough brothers – Dasan (Edge) and Daen (S). While a couple followed their father to IU, they did not follow him to ND. Those two would have filled positions of need here. The older brother, Deland II, graduated from a high school in the KC area. Dad was a RB coach for the Chiefs at the time. Dasan graduated from a Bloomington h.s. and Daen from St. Joseph’s in S.B. – again following Dad.
Now if they wanted to reunite with Dad at ND… I believe Al Washington is a close friend of Deland and the family.
Another Edge player Oklahoma got in the Class of ’23 was Adepoju Adebawore, who went to North KC h.s. and ranked as the 2nd best Edge player in the ’23 class. His brother, Adebawore, who went to the same h.s., played at Northwestern and was chosen in the fourth round by Indianapolis in this past draft. The Chiefs in the first round drafted Felix Anudike-Uzamah who was a two star prospect and is from the KC area. He went to K-State.
As mentioned in this class, Andrew Sprague, from a KC h.s. committed to Michigan. I expect all or most had the grades to get into ND.