With Early Signing Day coming tomorrow the 2022 recruiting cycle is essentially over and Notre Dame turns most of its focus to the hot start with the 2023 class in hopes it’ll be one of the best to come to South Bend in 30+ years. For certain, these days around the Holidays are a weird time for managing the scholarship situation in college football. On one side, we’re looking at the space available for the next recruiting class but there’s still plenty of number-crunching to do for the upcoming season kicking off at Ohio State on September 3rd.

First, let’s start with the current projections for the 2022 football season. With the special rules surrounding Covid now complete all programs will be required to get down to the traditional 85-man limit by the start of next year.

Current Notre Dame Scholarships for 2022: 98

From the current graduate students:

WR Avery Davis’ knee injury pretty much squashes any chance of a NFL off-season training regiment and he’s weighing whether to come back for a 6th season. As an aside, if he does come back he’ll have a great shot at eclipsing 100 career receptions which would be a cool milestone for him.

OT Josh Lugg has let it be known he’s contemplating coming back for a 6th season.

DT Myron Tagavailoa-Amosa, LB Drew White, and LB Isaiah Pryor could all come back for 2022 and a final year in college.

From the 2018 current senior class:

WR Kevin Austin, OC Jarrett Patterson, DT Jayson Ademilola, and DE Justin Ademilola are pondering exits for the NFL. I have to believe Notre Dame feels at least 2 if not 3 will be coming back.

TE George Takacs has mentioned he may be willing to enter the Portal and a get a change of scenery.

We’ll surely see more transfers among these players but this group can return for 2022 grad seasons: RB C’Bo Flemister, WR Braden Lenzy, WR Joe Wilkins, OG John Dirksen, LB Bo Bauer, LB Shayne Simon, LB Paul Moala, CB Tariq Bracy, S DJ Brown, and S Houston Griffith.

You’d think Freeman & Co. will definitely want Lenzy, Bauer, Moala, Bracy, and Brown to return.

From the 2019 current junior class:

DE Isaiah Foskey will be weighing leaving early for the NFL while RB Kyren Williams and S Kyle Hamilton have already decided to skip the Fiesta Bowl and go pro.

P Jay Bramblett has unofficially announced his intention to transfer as he’s graduating early and wants to play closer to home.

Since our last update, QB Brendon Clark and S Litchfield Ajavon have entered the Transfer Portal.

As I said, do not be alarmed! This is a weird time for the scholarship post as we’re moving from the 2022 to 2023 recruiting cycles and still don’t know who is returning next fall. Be aware, down below you will see players like Isaiah Foskey listed for graduate seasons who may not even come back next year but could return all the way to 2024, thanks to the Covid year.

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

Out of Eligibility Following 2022:

DT Jayson Ademilola
LB Bo Bauer
LB Shayne Simon
CB Tariq Bracy
S Houston Griffith

No matter what, these players will be done if they play during the 2022 season. Again, if not for the 2020 Covid rules this list would be a little more extensive. For example, Jarrett Patterson would be playing his normal 5th year in 2022 and be done with eligibility but he can play through 2023.

2023-24 Academic Classes

7 Verbal Commits
22 Sophomores
26 Juniors
15 Seniors
24 Graduates
94 Total Scholarships

These are some unprecedented times in the aftermath of the Covid season, NIL rules, and now Notre Dame is welcoming a new head coach after 12 seasons. We would’ve predicted plenty of roster turnover due to some of the log jams at certain positions and classes anyway. I would be prepared to see a handful more players than usual seeking opportunities elsewhere this off-season.

List of Eligible 2023 Grad Students

* Indicates no redshirt, 2023 eligible only due to Covid.
$ Indicates 6th-year 2023 eligible due to Covid.
# Indicates regular 5th-year eligible for 2023 but also 6th-year eligible for 2024 due to Covid.

Tier 1

DE Isaiah Foskey #
C Jarrett Patterson $
WR Kevin Austin $
CB Cam Hart #
LB Marist Liufau #
LB JD Bertrand #
LB Jack Kiser #
DE Justin Ademilola $
OG Andrew Kristofic #
DT Howard Cross #
S DJ Brown $
WR Braden Lenzy $
DT Jacob Lacey *
TE George Takacs $
WR Joe Wilkins $
C Zeke Correll #
P Jay Bramblett *

Tier 2

LB Paul Moala *
DE NaNa Osafo-Mensah #
RB C’Bo Flemister $
S KJ Wallace #

Tier 3

OG John Dirksen $
DE Osita Ekwonu #
OG Quinn Carroll #

We don’t need to spend too much time on this list right now in December. After all, a whole bunch of these players could be gone from Notre Dame in a matter of weeks whether it’s to the NFL, transfers, medical scholarships, or other situations that come up.

We typically see 6 or 7 homegrown (meaning they’ve been at Notre Dame their entire career) graduate students on the team each year with a few new graduate transfers coming in for one final season. So, somewhere in the 9 to 11 range total.

Quickly bouncing back to the 2022 season, we could see as many as 15 or more graduate students if guys like Lugg, MTA, White, etc. are coming back. But, into 2023 we should start to see more normal levels of graduate students on the roster.

2023 Positional Needs

I think it’s pretty clear there will be 3 major priorities for the 2023 cycle.

Quarterback

Notre Dame was interested in taking 2 quarterbacks for 2022 although that doesn’t look like it will materialize. But, you can see why that would be a favored route. Jack Coan’s one-year internship is ending, Brandon Clark is heading out after a year-long knee injury, Ron Powlus III is a practice player, and while Drew Pyne still has 4 years(!!) of eligibility remaining who knows if he’ll even want to stay for 2022.

The Target: Dante Moore, Detroit, MI (0.994)

Notre Dame already has 4 offers out to quarterbacks for 2024 but has really been focused on nabbing Moore out of Detroit for this cycle, offering back in March. As you’d expect, Michigan as the local team is going to be stiff competition and they offered over 3.5 years ago the summer after his 7th grade year.

Safety

In a recent bowl practice presser, Marcus Freeman was pretty effusive in his praise of Xavier Watts and Ramon Henderson at safety. Still, an upgrade of talent at this position is extremely needed.

The Target: Peyton Bowen, Denton, TX (0.974)

Like the aforementioned Moore above, Notre Dame also offered Bowen back in March. If he were to pull the trigger today many feel he’d choose the Irish.

Wide Receiver

Notre Dame now awaits the decision of 2022 recruit Amorion Walker just a couple days after former commit C.J. Williams decided to leave the Irish class. This cycle still has Tobias Merriweather (the best wideout recruit at Notre Dame since Kevin Austin, IMO) so all is not lost. Still, numbers are very, very thin and 2023 needs to be a big year at this position.

The Target: Carnell Tate, Bradenton, FL (0.989)

Tate is an IMG Academy product originally from Chicago and the Irish look to be in a massive showdown with Ohio State to bring him to South Bend. Can Notre Dame win this one?