2026 ND Portal Targets

[stlnd01]

One key difference is that Tennessee sucks. I do think at some level these guys also want to win. So make the money competitive, offer great coaching, and we'll still pull our share.

Edit: Forgot that Tennessee had hired Knowles. Maybe they do intend to get serious.
Still, we are a lot more likely to play meaningful postseason football next year than they are. Find the kids who want that opportunity, and offer them enough money that a little more from a lesser team isn't the decisive factor.

 

[ab2cmiller]

I find it fascinating that people are obsessing over players that only a few days ago nobody had ever really heard of. Makes it very difficult for me to feel all bent about "missing out" on these guys. I want to let the process play out fully before I assess what the portal was or was not for Notre Dame. My fandom will lose very sleep over a WR from Rutgers going to Cal. WR, TE seem like luxury positions. It's obvious DL is the pain point and they just hired a really good DL coach. Let's watch it play out.

Very curious to see if any other guys start jumping in and set visits to ND right away.

Amen. Pissing and moaning about missing out on the first wave of portal guys only to find out that their are multiple waves of new players we never heard of hitting the portal every day that we will worry about.

 

[IrishInOntario]

I find it fascinating that people are obsessing over players that only a few days ago nobody had ever really heard of. Makes it very difficult for me to feel all bent about "missing out" on these guys. I want to let the process play out fully before I assess what the portal was or was not for Notre Dame. My fandom will lose very sleep over a WR from Rutgers going to Cal. WR, TE seem like luxury positions. It's obvious DL is the pain point and they just hired a really good DL coach. Let's watch it play out.

Very curious to see if any other guys start jumping in and set visits to ND right away.

Speak for yourself. Some of us follow the sport closely and are keenly aware of some of the best players on other teams, not just Notre Dame. A lot of the best guys in the Portal are talented players, or high upside guys that ND / we know of from recruiting.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Speak for yourself.

Thank you. I will.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Really thought I was going to see more intel from the night checking in this morning. Prolly for the best to save it all for today and tomorrow.

 

[tko]

Anyone want a piece at Irsay today?

 

[irishnd31]

Anyone want a piece at Irsay today?

You are tko... I am a no.

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

I find it fascinating that people are obsessing over players that only a few days ago nobody had ever really heard of. Makes it very difficult for me to feel all bent about "missing out" on these guys. I want to let the process play out fully before I assess what the portal was or was not for Notre Dame. My fandom will lose very sleep over a WR from Rutgers going to Cal. WR, TE seem like luxury positions. It's obvious DL is the pain point and they just hired a really good DL coach. Let's watch it play out.

Very curious to see if any other guys start jumping in and set visits to ND right away.

In fairness how many DL can you name that arent on NDs current roster? I can probably count them on 2 hands

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

In fairness how many DL can you name that arent on NDs current roster? I can probably count them on 2 hands

As mentioned, I'm going to wait and see what they end up with once the window closes and assess what happened after the process is complete. As opposed to in the middle of the process.

Would I like to have Portal business done and dusted now? Sure. Seeing that it isn't and there are likely more guys jumping in, I'll wait.

 

[tko]

You are tko... I am a no.

Internet tough guy more like lol.

 

[peadeam]

When I see the comment we should just over pay to fill a need I cringe a bit. The problem is we are reacting to what IU and TT are doing so the instinct is to throw money at it. They aren’t building rosters the way ND is and anyone that has had to hire and manage employees knows that’s a recipe for disaster. That’s a great way to destroy a locker room.

 

[FireJeffQuinn]

As mentioned, I'm going to wait and see what they end up with once the window closes and assess what happened after the process is complete. As opposed to in the middle of the process.

Would I like to have Portal business done and dusted now? Sure. Seeing that it isn't and there are likely more guys jumping in, I'll wait.

And yet, here you are.

 

[Cpnd1]

 

[Me2SouthBend]

I’ll wait for that Bruce Straughan (whatever his name is) guy to confirm.

 

[RudyVerse]

I love the portal. The portal is lyfe.

 

[The Backer]

ISD keeps making the great point that Dawson was like the 80th ranked portal DT last year. There are guys a DT that can make an impact on the team that are still in the portal.

The issue is that the fanbase is conflating the top rated DTs as being a difference maker. Every DT in the portal would project as a rotation DT in 2025. There isn't an Aaron Donald or Jalen Carter in the portal to fuel the revenge tour. Just because Mateen Ibirogba was the top rated portal DT doesn't mean there aren't other DTs that can help the program in a similar way (or even better).

 

[IrishLax]

don’t let him leave campus

Is he even going to make it to campus!?

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'm honestly ok with that, but the fact of the matter is that we need bodies at DT and until we have a few signed and sealed then I'll be semi puckered up

 

[RudyVerse]

ISD keeps making the great point that Dawson was like the 80th ranked portal DT last year. There are guys a DT that can make an impact on the team that are still in the portal.

The issue is that the fanbase is conflating the top rated DTs as being a difference maker. Every DT in the portal would project as a rotation DT in 2025. There isn't an Aaron Donald or Jalen Carter in the portal to fuel the revenge tour. Just because Mateen Ibirogba was the top rated portal DT doesn't mean there aren't other DTs that can help the program in a similar way (or even better).

To play devil's advocate, ND obviously wanted Ibirogba. The beat was talking about him immediately and ND tried to get a visit. Same for Ian Strong, same for Nick Marsh, same for the now USC CB, same for the UCF DT...

So the staff absolutely wanted these guys and no matter how this lands, I'm not sweeping that under the rug. There will be a learning curve for Martin/Freeman I expect them to work on for next year.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Is he even going to make it to campus!?

Based on how the last few days have gone, I would bet no

 

[ndinoxford]

Gilliam was CB to Tennessee this morning by Chris hummer..

 

[Irishnuke]

Is he even going to make it to campus!?

Not a chance

 

[RudyVerse]

Gilliam was CB to Tennessee this morning by Chris hummer..

That would be pure awful.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

And yet, here you are.

Is that an issue?

 

[IrishLax]

To play devil's advocate, ND obviously wanted Ibirogba. The beat was talking about him immediately and ND tried to get a visit. Same for Ian Strong, same for Nick Marsh, same for the now USC CB, same for the UCF DT...

So the staff absolutely wanted these guys and no matter how this lands, I'm not sweeping that under the rug. There will be a learning curve for Martin/Freeman I expect them to work on for next year.

They didn't give that much of a shit about Ian Strong. They reallllllly wanted Marsh, and liked the ISU DB a lot too.

DT is the position where I'm perplexed but holding out hope until the clock strikes midnight. By all accounts, it's where they wanted to spend the most money because they feel pretty good about most other positions on the roster. If they lose out on Gilliam, they need to do a lot of soul searching about what their "budgets" look like and how they approached the portal. They are nowhere close to competitive with what $$ is getting thrown around at the top guys that have already come off the board. It's hard to square how good HS recruiting has been with how ND has yet to land a single player in the portal.

 

[IrishInOntario]

When I see the comment we should just over pay to fill a need I cringe a bit. The problem is we are reacting to what IU and TT are doing so the instinct is to throw money at it. They aren’t building rosters the way ND is and anyone that has had to hire and manage employees knows that’s a recipe for disaster. That’s a great way to destroy a locker room.

It is absolutely reasonable to suggest that you should build your roster through recruiting at the high school level, but be ready to use the Portal to augment positions of need as they arise. I didn't see many people complaining when Freeman used the portal to bring in Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard to help ND through a period where they were lacking talent and experience in the QB room. Neither of those guys came cheap.

Most of us aren't asking ND to land 15+ Portal guys and reshape their roster. We understand that ND has a ton of internal talent. All we're looking for is ND to compete in compensation at positions that we have obvious need and where there are players available that would be obvious upgrades / needed injections of talent.

In one cycle ND lost Gabriel Rubio (graduation), Jason Onye (graduation, maybe), Jared Dawson (graduation), Donovan Hinish (injury retirement) and Armel Mukam (transfer). That's 5 of their top 6 defensive tackles, unless the NCAA does them a favour with Onye. We're not asking for ND to bring 5 defensive tackles in replaces the losses and bury the kids on the roster, we're looking for 2 quality guys, ideally with multiple years of eligibility, to backfill the room and compete for starting spots, while the remaining 3 spots are filled internally. What people are looking for (assuming Onye doesn't get an extra year) is something like...

NG: Xavier Gilliam
2. Davion Dixon
3. Sean Sevillano

DT: Francis Brewu
2. Elijah Hughes or Chris Burgess
3. Elijah Hughes or Chris Burgess

Four of the 3-deep spots at DT / NG would be filled internally, while two would be filled via the transfer portal.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

When I see the comment we should just over pay to fill a need I cringe a bit. The problem is we are reacting to what IU and TT are doing so the instinct is to throw money at it. They aren’t building rosters the way ND is and anyone that has had to hire and manage employees knows that’s a recipe for disaster. That’s a great way to destroy a locker room.

Fantastic point.

 

[PolishDomer]

We keep talking about DT, but K perplexes me as well...we have nothing there and didn't recruit from HS.

However, the transfer portal just started and I will try and focus on my job lol

 

[IrishLax]

Gilliam was CB to Tennessee this morning by Chris hummer..

If they miss on Gilliam then they are really running out of options. The DT position for 2026 is not sustainable and anyone who tries to sugar coat it is a rube. You cannot rely on youth + no depth at a position like that. I don't want to go back to the era of Carlo Calabrese playing emergency nose tackle.

 

[Classic Irish]

I’ll wait for that Bruce Straughan (whatever his name is) guy to confirm.

Yeah, I see that guy on Twitter. Anyone know what his story is? Legit or fraud?