SOUTH BEND – Nine days after the start of the winter transfer window, only one Notre Dame football commitment had become public: Alabama grad transfer defensive back DeVonta Smith.
The former star at Cincinnati’s La Salle High, where he was a year ahead of Notre Dame running back Gi’Bran Payne, entered the portal on Dec. 14 and chose the Irish two days later.
With Indiana already boasting six transfers in January (with 194 career games combined) as it prepared for Friday’s College Football Playoff opener at Notre Dame, the Irish recruiting office led by general manager Chad Bowden and recruiting director Caleb Davis remained busy.
“It’s kind of a personnel department that has to be good recruiters,” Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden said Monday. “This transition happened during my three years here. They are personnel in my opinion. This is a personnel department with very good recruiting properties.
While Notre Dame has yet to add to its total of three departures from the transfer portal during the season, its fellow entrants in the 12-team playoff field are facing a revolving door effect.
Arizona State (12), Tennessee (11), Texas (nine), Georgia (eight) and Boise State (eight) all suffered significant attrition heading into the CFP. Indiana has lost seven to the portal, most recently former North Carolina running back Elijah Green.
Green, a little-used reserve, is a former high school teammate of former Notre Dame linebacker and team captain JD Bertrand.
Meanwhile, Oregon and Ohio State each have six players in the portal, while losses are lighter for Penn State (four), Southern Methodist (three) and Clemson (three).
“They’re doing all the legwork right now, exhaustive legwork,” Golden said of the recruiting staff. “We look at all of that and decide who is right for us and what do we need based on injuries or departures. Because it’s not just departures now, it’s departures from last year or departures during the season. This all comes to a head here at this time of year.
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Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua expressed confidence this week when asked about the dangers of an increasingly compressed process.
The 20-day winter window ends Dec. 28 with another five-day window for registrations after bowl games or playoff elimination, but the most sought-after players in the portal usually fly off the shelves. This places a lot of weight on the decision-making of Ireland coach Marcus Freeman and his team.
“I think Marcus says it best,” Bevacqua, the former NBC Sports president, said during his Tuesday press conference. “Notre Dame has and will continue to provide specialization to high school students. This is the key to Notre-Dame. This is key to our football team, and it extends to all of our programs.
Bevacqua, who succeeded Jack Swarbrick as AD president in late March, noted that men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry and women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey would be on board with the team’s preparation plan. approach to Freeman.
“But you have to be opportunistic,” Bevacqua said. “You cannot turn a blind eye to the transfer market, to the transfer portal.”
This time last year, Notre Dame had already added undergraduate transfers Riley Leonard (Duke) and Beaux Collins (Clemson), as well as graduate transfers Jordan Clark (Arizona State), RJ Oben (Duke), Kris Mitchell (Florida International) and Mitch Jeter (South Carolina).
Two other additions in early January were Rod Heard II (Northwestern) and Jayden Harrison (Marshall after a prior stint at Vanderbilt).
Sam Hartman (Wake Forest), Thomas Harper (Oklahoma State), Spencer Shrader (South Florida) and Kaleb Smith (Virginia Tech) highlighted the December 2022 transfer.
With each speed-dating experience, the chances of a potential mistake increase. So far, Notre Dame has seemingly avoided disaster in its trade portal.
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“When Notre Dame (football) engages in a potential transfer, there has already been a process,” Bevacqua said. “So yes, it could happen quickly, and it could take 23 to 24 hours, but the academic performance, the academic standing of that student-athlete has been looked at.”
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Bevacqua cited Micki Kidder, director of undergraduate enrollment, and her team for handling that part of the equation. Ron Powlus, assistant AD for football, also helps streamline the process.
“There were a lot of conversations that were had to say, ‘OK, this particular student-athlete can be admitted to Notre Dame and join the football program,’” Bevacqua said. “Now, at Notre Dame, there will never be a large number of people. Marcus wants to specialize in high school athletes moving up the system, entering as freshmen or early enrollees, thus becoming a member of Notre Dame.
“To his credit and to Notre Dame’s credit, I think so far we’ve done remarkably well with the undergraduate transfers, who have been more limited than the graduate transfers that have come in.”
Bevacqua cited Leonard and Collins as prime examples of this undergraduate success rate.
“The people who came into the program and just fit in,” Bevacqua said, “not just on the football field, but with Notre Dame, understanding what the academic rigors are, the academic demands, understanding the culture of the team that Coach Freeman has put together, and that’s very important to him.
Former Northwestern transfer Brandon Joseph, a former All-American safety who spent the 2022 season at Notre Dame, is a case where academic credits did not transfer well enough to expedite earning a diploma.
Now with the NFL’s Detroit Lions, Joseph went undrafted in 2023 with two seasons of college eligibility remaining.
Overall, though, Notre Dame remained efficient in sifting through thousands of portal options.
“We are very thorough in this process,” Bevacqua said. “What program does he come from, what school does he come from, what is his major? Where is it in terms of credits earned? What were the types of courses? You must produce syllabuses for each course you have taken during your university career.
Once all of this is given the green light, the talent on the field and attributes in the locker room can shine through. From there, the guideline is simple.
“Be opportunistic,” Bevacqua said. “Bring the right people here who can fit into Notre Dame and make us better.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article was originally published on South Bend Tribune: How Notre Dame football thrives in the transfer portal era
