2026 ND Portal Targets

[InKellyWeTrust]

I think its ok to start to worry if we don't get a commitment by tomorrow.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Singer confirmed that a good amount of players did make it to campus for the evening, with their visits officially beginning tomorrow.

Thompson, Daley, Atkinson, Townsend & Gilliam.

Sign. Them. All.

 

[PolishDomer]

Sign. Them. All.

 

[BoredIrish]

If I had to guess, this what it could possibly look like:
DE: Traore, JHD, Bryce Young
DT: Gilliam, Hughes, Burgess, Onye, Young maybe taking a couple snaps at DT as well, I think ND will maximize his versatility

Add Cole Mullins

Also for the DT targets, I think it is fair to assume that MF may have waited till Monday / Tuesday to host visitors so that Partridge would be on campus. Presumably he was still coaching on Sunday.

 

[arrowryan]

Prister just said the portal process for ND is collapsing
Lol

It’s hard to trust what the media says. They don’t know the difference between their ass and elbow anymore.

 

[IrishLax]

I think people have to start accepting the reality that when schools offer big money to these recruits, ND takes the "moneyball" approach... We can get 80-85% out of player B as we could out of player A, but pay 50-60% of the price? Let's do that.

Unless it's a player that the staff thinks will make an enormous difference because he's substantially better than the alternatives, they're simply not going to pay the premium.

It's the ND way.

I want to elaborate on a post you had yesterday re: lockerroom dynamics and why you can't just go spend stupid money on someone without there being second order effects.

ND's NIL / rev share is basically run as a meritocracy. Everybody gets something, the guys that are producing the most are getting compensated in proportion with their contributions. It's why ND has very little turnover relative to some other programs and why the team is run more like a Georgia / Ohio State than a Texas Tech or Ole Miss.

If you go spend and outlandish amount of money on a DT, then the other defensive players are going to be like "what the heck? I'm more impactful than that guy." So then you have to raise the floor of what you're paying people across the board or you're going to have a massive lockerroom issue. This is also why some schools (Georgia, etc.) are trying to put in incredibly punitive NDAs into their NIL deals because discussion / reporting of compensation is rife with potential issues. But on the other hand, agents want to scream from the rooftops how much money they got their clients because it makes it more likely for them to sign future clients.

Teams like Indiana can spend big in the portal this year because they don't have a bunch of returning players for next year to take care of. Teams like Texas Tech can do it because they are already spending outlandish money on other players and are 100% bought in to be a mercenary team. "We overpay for guys" is part of their core ethos... spending $5M on a totally mediocre QB is laughable.

If ND was going to spend $10M on Love to come back for a year, no one in the lockerroom would really care. If they were going to spend $10M on Jeremiah Smith people probably wouldn't care either, and that's also why missing on Marsh -- when they were willing to pay big money for him as a plug-and-play starter -- really kinda sucks. But they absolutely cannot spend huge money on guys that will be "comparable" to other dudes on the roster.

The WF guy wanted $$ that would've made him the highest paid defensive player at ND with the irony being that he would be probably the ~8th most talented guy. Should we bite the bullet there and get into a bidding war with Texas Tech? Maybe, maybe not... because we really need defensive tackles. It's a way harder conversation for a guy like Strong who frankly might not be much better than dudes like Gilbert or Burress.

 

[IrishLax]

Either:

A) Beat is in the dark, things are going on at a least serviceable pace. We just don’t really know plus didn’t make USC “resign” announcements

B) Freeman ceded control to Martin who has never done this and he’s getting worked/lowballing guys

C) Freeman to the Ravens

It's mostly B. The guys having the conversations pre-portal drastically overestimated their position to land some of these guys and how quick/aggressive the process would be. They got caught with their pants down and are scrambling to recalibrate.

 

[IrishLax]

Aside from having guys on campus on the first day, what was so "jarringly" different about how Indiana approached the portal than ND?

ND has yet to lose out on a single portal visitor to campus.

This is really all about one player. Nick Marsh. ND wanted him and ND fans convinced themselves that he was THEIRS to lose. Fact of the matter is he never was theirs to lose. IU was his first visit and only visit. The fact that ND was already setting up other WR visits before Marsh set foot on IU's campus tells me that they knew he was going to IU.

Finally ND's chief need this portal cycle wasn't a boundary WR. Its interior linemen. Landing those guys is far more important for next year's team than adding a boundary WR who had exactly 26 more yards receiving, and 11 more receptions, than Jordan Faison did last year. Faison actually averaged 2 yards more a reception than Marsh.

Its not like ND lost out on Randy Moss. But people act like Marsh was the difference making the playoffs and winning the NC. Run that by the MSU board and see what they tell you about him.

Any updates here? Lmao

 

[rtrn2glory]

It's mostly B. The guys having the conversations pre-portal drastically overestimated their position to land some of these guys and how quick/aggressive the process would be. They got caught with their pants down and are scrambling to recalibrate.

If that's the case that's some serious old school BK vibes. Totally unacceptable by Martin to not know every aspect of the gig.

 

[Jimmy3Putt]

If Carr gets hurt, a kid from Mercer won’t be the difference between a championship or not. I’d rather the highly ranked kid on our roster play.

 

[IrishLax]

If that's the case that's some serious old school BK vibes. Totally unacceptable by Martin to not know every aspect of the gig.

This is exactly what I said haha... it literally makes me feel like '10-'12 where there was just absurd amounts of naivete in how BK recruited HS players and we always had dramatic defections

 

[rtrn2glory]

If Carr gets hurt we might as well just swallow the pill and say we're borderline fucked and just hope the defense can win games ugly

 

[BoredIrish]

If Carr gets hurt, a kid from Mercer won’t be the difference between a championship or not. I’d rather the highly ranked kid on our roster play.

Prister said he reminded him of Drew Pyne.

 

[NDMatt91]

If that's the case that's some serious old school BK vibes. Totally unacceptable by Martin to not know every aspect of the gig.

Might need to hire someone next year to handle the negotiations with players who enter the portal and have Martin focus on HS prospects.

 

[RudyVerse]

Not unknown but ISD did a summary of what ND has lost on DL.

DT Jared Dawson
DT Gabe Rubio
DT Donovan Hinish
DT Armel Mukam
DE Joshua Burnham
DE Junior Tuihalamaka
DE Jordan Botelho

Add in Jason Onye and it's 8 of the top 11 DL. We got some work to do boys.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Prister said he reminded him of Drew Pyne.

wasn't the dude a freshman all american? granted at the FCS level, but Drew Pyne on his best day is probably barely all state in high school

 

[Me2SouthBend]

If Carr gets hurt, a kid from Mercer won’t be the difference between a championship or not. I’d rather the highly ranked kid on our roster play.

Depends on the severity and length and timing of absence. If he’s out for a game or 2 early on in the season that could be the difference between a win or a loss. ND has little to no room for error w this schedule. I think we can all agree they aren’t playing for a Natty if the chosen one is hurt long term down the stretch whether it’s Hebert or Atkinson under center.

 

[Irishnuke]

If Carr gets hurt, a kid from Mercer won’t be the difference between a championship or not. I’d rather the highly ranked kid on our roster play.

If he was ready to play we wouldn't be talking to the Mercer QB

 

[rtrn2glory]

Is Rubio gone for sure? Could he put in for a waiver for another year?

 

[Me2SouthBend]

wasn't the dude a freshman all american? granted at the FCS level, but Drew Pyne on his best day is probably barely all state in high school

But it’s not just any state. It’s Connecticut.

 

[notredomer23]

In a vacuum, it's easy to point the finger at Mike Martin/Freeman right now and they absolutely deserve some blame. But the 3 components of roster building since Martin has joined have gone:

High School Recruiting: 9.8/10, What more can you ask for from the '26 class and how the '27 has class started?
Roster Retaining: 8.5/10, Losing a couple OL to the draft and Burnham to the portal is disappointing, but not all that surprising. No starters are transferring out because of money.
Transfer Portal: NA/10, but that NA is trending very poorly right now.

The real problem is why ND is in this dire need to begin with. If ND continues to recruit and retain at this rate, the portal will be the least important of the 3 by a decent margin, and truly for filling in maybe a starter or 2 and some depth (assuming Freeman is here). They don't need transfer portal OL, LBs, DBs, DEs, RBs, even WRs, though an elite one would obviously be preferred. It's just DTs. Blame that on ND adopting strong NIL too late. Blame that on Washington. Blame that on Freeman. It doesn't matter. Martin needs to fix it now, and him/Partridge need to ensure this lack of quality depth at the position never happens again.

 

[BoredIrish]

Not unknown but ISD did a summary of what ND has lost on DL.

DT Jared Dawson
DT Gabe Rubio
DT Donovan Hinish
DT Armel Mukam
DE Joshua Burnham
DE Junior Tuihalamaka
DE Jordan Botelho

Add in Jason Onye and it's 8 of the top 11 DL. We got some work to do boys.

Of the guys remaining, which have a realistic shot at minutes:

5	Boubacar Traore	DL	250	Sophomore
10	Loghan Thomas	DL	220	Sophomore
17	Brenan Vernon	DL	305	Sophomore
25	Preston Zinter	DL	240	Sophomore
30	Dominik Hulak	DL	245	Freshman
33	Christopher Burgess Jr.	DL	275	Freshman
42	Cole Mullins	DL	275	Freshman
47	Jason Onye	DL	302	Senior
56	Elijah Hughes	DL	300	Junior
59	Sean Sevillano Jr.	DL	340	Freshman
60	Davion Dixon	DL	324	Freshman
90	Kobi Onyiuke	DL	245	Senior
91	Gordy Sulfsted	DL	260	Freshman
94	Joe Reiff	DL	258	Freshman
95	Bryce Young	DL	271	Sophomore

 

[IrishLax]

In a vacuum, it's easy to point the finger at Mike Martin/Freeman right now and they absolutely deserve some blame. But the 3 components of roster building since Martin has joined have gone:

High School Recruiting: 9.8/10, What more can you ask for from the '26 class and how the '27 has class started?
Roster Retaining: 8.5/10, Losing a couple OL to the draft and Burnham to the portal is disappointing, but not all that surprising. No starters are transferring out because of money.
Transfer Portal: NA/10, but that NA is trending very poorly right now.

The real problem is why ND is in this dire need to begin with. If ND continues to recruit and retain at this rate, the portal will be the least important of the 3 by a decent margin, and truly for filling in maybe a starter or 2 and some depth (assuming Freeman is here). They don't need transfer portal OL, LBs, DBs, DEs, RBs, even WRs, though an elite one would obviously be preferred. It's just DTs. Blame that on ND adopting strong NIL too late. Blame that on Washington. Blame that on Freeman. It doesn't matter. Martin needs to fix it now, and him/Partridge need to ensure this lack of quality depth at the position never happens again.

Yes, the problem is that we have three years in a row of TOTAL ASS recruiting at DT. Every other position on the roster recruiting is good-to-great.

So they gotta figure it out, because the team is going nowhere next year without at least 2x starter quality guys. They are optimistic on Gilliam but they've been optimistic on other guys sooooo we'll see...

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

At some point, the guys on the roster have to understand the game too. We have a glaring hole at DT that needs filled. Supply and demand, market rates etc dictate the players filling those holes will likely be overpaid relative to the current roster going rates. It is what it is. ND athletes I'm sure are smart enough to understand this.

 

[jpachuta33]

Brenan Vernon and Cam Williams need to come to fruition… Boom or Bust upcoming season for those two.

 

[NDMatt91]

The real problem is why ND is in this dire need to begin with. If ND continues to recruit and retain at this rate, the portal will be the least important of the 3 by a decent margin, and truly for filling in maybe a starter or 2 and some depth (assuming Freeman is here). They don't need transfer portal OL, LBs, DBs, DEs, RBs, even WRs, though an elite one would obviously be preferred. It's just DTs. Blame that on ND adopting strong NIL too late. Blame that on Washington. Blame that on Freeman. It doesn't matter. Martin needs to fix it now, and him/Partridge need to ensure this lack of quality depth at the position never happens again.

I think most people will admit that Al Washington is the main reason they're in this situation. He was really bad at evaluating and recruiting Defensive Tackles. I'm not super high on Hola, but I think Golden has the chance to be a really good player by the time he leaves ND. But based on what ISD has said, it sounds like Martin wasn't as prepared as he should have been for this portal cycle. If that is what happened, that is inexcusable. Martin did a great job with recruiting, so he might need someone to help him with the portal or take that off his hands completely so he can solely focus on HS prospects. What's scary is there really weren't that many holes this year, let alone key players who left. If they weren't as prepared as they should have been, what does that mean for next year? With all of the top-tier players they'll be losing, ND will likely need to land multiple top-tier players out of the portal next year.

 

[allenm5333]

I think most people will admit that Al Washington is the main reason they're in this situation. He was really bad at evaluating and recruiting Defensive Tackles. I'm not super high on Hola, but I think Golden has the chance to be a really good player by the time he leaves ND. But based on what ISD has said, it sounds like Martin wasn't as prepared as he should have been for this portal cycle. If that is what happened, that is inexcusable. Martin did a great job with recruiting, so he might need someone to help him with the portal or take that off his hands completely so he can solely focus on HS prospects. What's scary is there really weren't that many holes this year, let alone key players who left. If they weren't as prepared as they should have been, what does that mean for next year? With all of the top-tier players they'll be losing, ND will likely need to land multiple top-tier players out of the portal next year.

I am curious how much of DT recruiting issues were Washington v. Bowden. Others have said Bowden targeted players at certain positions (WR) such as WR and kind of controlled that recruiting. Did he do that at DT? Best DT class was last year without Bowden.

 

[NDMatt91]

Brenan Vernon and Cam Williams need to come to fruition… Boom or Bust upcoming season for those two.

Agree on Williams, but based on what II has said, it sounds like Vernon couldn't play dead in a b-western.

 

[NDPhilly]

They have a bunch of guys that busted that should have contributed as well - Mukam, Houston, Vernon, Tyson Ford were all 4 stars.

 

[WildMan1]

Of the guys remaining, which have a realistic shot at minutes:

5	Boubacar Traore	DL	250	Sophomore
10	Loghan Thomas	DL	220	Sophomore
17	Brenan Vernon	DL	305	Sophomore
25	Preston Zinter	DL	240	Sophomore
30	Dominik Hulak	DL	245	Freshman
33	Christopher Burgess Jr.	DL	275	Freshman
42	Cole Mullins	DL	275	Freshman
47	Jason Onye	DL	302	Senior
56	Elijah Hughes	DL	300	Junior
59	Sean Sevillano Jr.	DL	340	Freshman
60	Davion Dixon	DL	324	Freshman
90	Kobi Onyiuke	DL	245	Senior
91	Gordy Sulfsted	DL	260	Freshman
94	Joe Reiff	DL	258	Freshman
95	Bryce Young	DL	271	Sophomore

Vernon just came off MCL surgery right? So no idea what we have there..

Hughes is serviceable in a rotation.. Onye as well (🤞)

You hope for at least 1 of Sevillano/Dixon to make a leap.

You need Giliam..

Sulfstead & Reiff.. uh 😐

Does the staff push Burgess & Bryce inside with more weight?

Then you’re looking at Loghan/Traore with hopeful pick ups of Daley/Thompson?

Ideal rotations for me at this point:

Traore/Thompson - Thomas

Onye/Hughes - Mullins/Hola

Gilliam/Burgess - Dixon/Golden

Young/Daley - Dunham