Plenty of names over the long history of Notre Dame football-both 'decommits and transfers.
Many posters have covered recent names. Here are a few older names:
Decommit
Floyd Little HB-many versions of what happened. One was that Little was getting on the train to head to South Bend when Syracuse HB Ernie Davis meet him at the train station and talked him into heading to play for the Orange instead. Per this story, Little's trunk made it to South Bend but Floyd wasn't with it.
Little is in the CFB HOF and had a great career with the Broncos
Transfers:
Best QB: Tommy O'Connell was a '48 ND frosh, transferred to Illinois and led the Illni to the Big 10 title and Rose Bowl victory over Stanford. O'Connell had a long pro career and was the first starting QB for the Buffalo Bills (also played with Bears)
Best RB: Probably Dorsey Levens (already mentioned by others) GT and Super Bowl w/ Green Bay
Best WR: Here is an OLD one-Bernie Kirk was the leading receiver for ND in 1918 & 1919 and received 'inducements' to transfer to Michigan (where he was named a Walter Camp AA). Only player ever to play for both Knute Rockne and Fielding Yost
Best OL: Joe Scibelli played G at ND in the 50s and strangely transferred to little American International (in his hometown of Springfield Ma). Scibelli then spent 15 year starting at G for the LA Rams-the last 10 as team captain. All Pro
Best DL: Art Donovan-played spring football at ND in '42 and then went off to WWII. Came back to ND in '46 but was told he didn't have a scholarship. So Art transferred to BC, then the Baltimore Colts, then the NFL HOF, then Lite Beer commercials
Best LB: Arnold Ale: started as a frosh on the '88 Irish National Champs and then transferred to UCLA
Best DBrobably Larry Kuharich, son of former HC Joe, who transferred to BC when his dad left ND, got drafted in the NFL and had a nice pro career in Canadian Pro Football
Some other ND transfers who did well at their new schools:
QB Tony Rados (48 Irish Frosh) transferred to Penn St and became QB Asst Coach Joe Paterno's first successful QB. Drafted by the Phil Eagles
QB Randy Wright('79 Irish Frosh) transferred to Wisconsin, had a good career and later started for awhile for the Green Bay Packers
DL Angelo Mosca ('55 frosh) kicked out of ND, transferred to Wyoming (kicked out of there too). In the Canadian Pro Football HOF-played in 9 Grey Cups. Considered the dirtiest player in CFL history-went into pro wrestling after retiring
QB Kent Graham (87 frosh) transferred to Ohio St and then played for the Giants
QB Zac Kustock (forget the years w/ ND-late 90s)-transferred to Northwestern where he started
DL Kilroy (forget first name/late 30s) transferred to Temple, probably best player in Temple history, All Pro with Eagles, played on two championship Eagle teams in 40s and was considered the dirtiest player in the NFL at that time. Once sued a magazine for calling him just that
RB Ron Bliey (at ND from 61-63)-considered the best running back ever from NYC (Brooklyn Tilden). But played at ND when single platoon football was the rule & Ronnie couldn't/wouldn't play defense. Flunked out of ND and transferred to Florida A&M. Changed his name to Blye(maybe it was easier to spell?) and played in the NFL for the Giants and Eagles