The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been in a war for the National Championship ever since the first round game a month ago. Because this team is locked in and focused on the big prize, we’ve heard only a smidge of what might happen once the season ultimately comes to an end.
Basically — for well over a month there was going to be no players entering the transfer portal from Notre Dame, but as we saw during the Christmas season when the Irish brought in more pass-catchers, the portal is bringing more to South Bend.
Recently the Irish got transfer portal commitments from four players:
- Jared Dawson DT — Louisville Cardinals
- Elijah Hughes DT — USC Trojans
- Jalen Stroman DB — Virginia Tech Hokies
- Noah Brunette K — North Carolina Tar Heels
We knew Notre Dame wanted to pull some defensive linemen out of the portal, and have two big boys in Dawson and Hughes. While neither are huge stars at the moment, I think Notre Dame has proved to be a place where the coaching staff will get the most out of what they have — which could be quite a bit. Getting old in the trenches is always a good thing. Hughes has multiple years of eligibility remaining.
Jalen Stroman went into the 2024 season as a guy that could become a day two pick in the NFL Draft, but was injured in the season opener against Vanderbilt and missed the rest of the season. The Irish continue to do well with veteran defensive backs out of the portal, and welcome Stroman’s ability to the team.
Notre Dame signed a kicker in the 2025 recruiting class, but it’s nice to see that they will continue to keep adding veteran kickers from the portal. Noah Brunette was a 2nd Team All-ACC kicker. Nice.
A huge part of why Notre Dame is playing for a national championship in less than a week is because of what they did in the transfer portal — which is a good reason to have a lot of optimism about the guys Notre Dame will be bringing in this offseason. Of course… there will be a fair number of departures, but we will get to that when we need to.
2025 Notre Dame Football Scholarship Chart
| Position / Year | Freshmen | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | 5th/6th Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quarterback | Blake Hebert | C.J. Carr | Kenny Minchey | Steve Angeli | – |
| Running Back | Nolan James | Aneyas Williams, Kedren Young | Jerimiyah Love | Jadarian Price, Gi’Bran Payne | – |
| Tight End | James Flanigan | Jack Larsen | Cooper Flanagan | Eli Raridon | Mitchell Evans, Kevin Bauman, Davis Sherwood, Tyrus Washington |
| Wide Receiver | Elijah Burress, Jerome Bettis Jr., Antavious Richardson | Cam Williams, Micah Gilbert, Logan Saldate | Jaden Greathouse, Kaleb Smith, Jordan Faison | – | Deion Colzie, Malachi Fields, Will Pauling |
| Center | – | – | – | Ashton Craig | – |
| Guard | Cameron Herron | – | Sam Pendleton, Joe Otting, Chris Terek | Billy Schrauth | Rocco Spindler, Pat Coogan |
| Tackle | Will Black, Owen Strebig, Matty Augustine | Peter Jones, Anthonie Knapp, Styles Prescod, Guerby Lambert | Sullivan Absher, Charles Jagusah | Ty Chan, Aamil Wagner | – |
| Defensive Tackle | Joseph Reiff, Davion Dixon | Sean Sevillano | Brenan Vernon, Devan Houstan | Donovan Hinish, Elijah Hughes | Gabe Rubio, Jason Onye, Jared Dawson |
| Defensive End | Christopher Burgess, Gordy Sulfsted | Cole Mullins, Bryce Young, Loghan Thomas | Boubacar Traore, Armel Mukam | Joshua Burnham, Junior Tuihalamaka | Kahanu Kia |
| Linebacker | Dominik Hulak, Ko’o Kia, Anthony Sacca, Madden Faraimo | Teddy Rezac, Bodie Kahoun, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa | Drayk Bowen, Preston Zinter, Jaiden Ausberry | Jaylen Sneed | – |
| Safety | Ethan Long, JaDon Blair, Brandon Logan | Kennedy Urlacher, Taebron Bennie-Powell, Brauntae Johnson | Adon Shuler, Ben Minich, Luke Talich | – | DeVonta Smith, Jalen Stroman |
| Cornerback | Cree Thomas, Dallas Golden, Mark Zachery | Karson Hobbs, Leonard Moore | Christian Gray | Benjamin Morrison | Chance Tucker |
| Specialists | Erik Schmidt | – | – | – | Noah Brunette |
| Totals | 25/85 (25) | 48/85 (23) | 70/85 (22) | 84/85 (14) | 100/85 (17) |
