2026 ND Portal Targets

Irishnuke

Irishnuke

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Ndaccountant said:
itysl-i-think-you-should-leave.gif
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I'm only communicating through I Think You Should Leave gifs until we sign a transfer.
 
arndtjc

arndtjc

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so Lax kind of already touched on what happened, but I think my biggest frustration from this whole process is the fact that they had a whole month head start to get the drop on some of these guys. What in the world were we doing in December?
 
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IrishInOntario

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T Town Tommy said:
The questions I would ask are fairly straightforward. The Irish haven’t lost much from graduation or portal so roster spaces are limited for the portal.

Did they underestimate the market costs for the positional portal needs? In doing so…

Did they not have enough $ left after signing their recruiting class to plan for current player raises in addition to the needs for addressing the portal?

If either is true, and we are all just guessing since the portal is still open, then these questions should be asked and some level of accountability is needed to ensure improved future planning.
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I think they're tighter in Rev Share + NIL funds than a lot of teams due to what they spent retaining their current roster. They're returning 15 starters (16 if Onye gets a waiver) and a bunch of key depth pieces. How many teams are able to keep 5 legitimate starting caliber linebackers (Bowen, KVA, Ausberry, Snead, Faraimo) all of whom have extensive playing experience? Similarly, how many teams are keeping 8-9 offensive linemen with starting experience and / or insanely high upside. They're paying guys a premium to split reps or be willing to sit and wait their turn. That's not easy in this environment and it's expensive to achieve.

I also think you're correct in suggesting that they spent a lot on their recruiting class. This is probably the best, most balanced class ND has landed in 30 years. They have 5 stars and top 100 talent at multiple positions. Dunham, O'Brien, Adams, Ewetade, Premer, Pouncey, Golden, etc... Legit elite players that everyone wanted and was trying to buy. There is no chance those guys came cheap, no matter how good of a recruiter Freeman is.

Because of those 2 factors, I believe ND was left with less cash than a lot of teams. Their Rev Share is definitely maxed or near maxed out and I think they're very picky about how they use their NIL stream. They're also just not very flexible. They would normally have tampered well and have their prized portal additions locked up via accepted deals prior to the portal opening. This year, they're having to compete on the open market, with obviously limited funds, with bidding wars for every player that they're after.

I think you'll see them win a couple of these when the dust settles and they'll leave portal season with their needs ultimately met (at least most of them), but it's going to be a rough road there, because teams that are losing a lot of players and didn't break the bank in high school recruiting, have a lot of frsh powder and aren't screwing around with talent acquisition this year.
 
Blazers46

Blazers46

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StPaul_Irish said:
When can we start talking about food?
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Don’t we usually start a prayer thread before it becomes a food thread or are we going straight to food now? We can either meet at the grotto or Bru Burger at the Eddy St Commons right off campus…
 
IrishinSyria

IrishinSyria

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arndtjc said:
so Lax kind of already touched on what happened, but I think my biggest frustration from this whole process is the fact that they had a whole month head start to get the drop on some of these guys. What in the world were we doing in December?
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Adhering to anti-tampering rules, probably.
 
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IrishInOntario

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NDMatt91 said:
But didn't they tamper with Riley and Hartman?
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I think they tried to tamper... Nick Marsh, Mateen Igbirogba and the unamed kicker are all examples of guys they tried to lock up behind the scenes before the window opened. However, in previous years guys would agree to a deal in principle and follow through with visiting and signing it when the Portal opened. That's how ND prefers to operate. Quietly, in organized fashion, behind the scenes.

This year, agents did "leg work" for their players behind the scenes and got a lot of deals agreed to or communicated that their client was strongly leaning towards taking it, then told their players to keep the deal in their back pocket, but wait for the Portal to open and see what offers come their way in order to create bidding wars.

This stuff happens all the time in free professional free agency. We're jusy not use to seeing it in college sports because until recently, transfers were largely done by families and in some cases and advisor. Now you have legit pro-style agents involved and their clients are being shopped properly like the commodities they are.
 
Kingbish01

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We need a thread of just relevant updates, so we can easily follow and use this one for the chatter. If it's able to be done where only one person (or a select few that stay on top of it) can post, it would be semi helpful. Something along the lines of:

-Keeley on Campus

-Keely commits to Indiana

-Ty Chan 1st ranked DT in portal on campus.

-We just signed Ty Chan.

Just quick easy to follow portal news regarding ND.
 
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Irish5Saint

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IrishLax said:
If you don't have a sole point person with absolute authority to get whoever they want in to school up to $X of money then right now you are losing in the portal. All schools that are "winning" the portal are ones that:
1. Did way more legwork pre-portal to put themselves in position to land players
2. Have a guy who can put an offer sheet in front of someone with whatever $$ he wants up to the funds available without having to check with a bunch of people. you can't negotiate by committee with how fast stuff moves.

You can't unring the bell with the pre-portal stuff, Martin did a bad job and there will be pieces written about it. And now that you're in scramble mode there is wayyyyyyy too much sand in the gears relative to other schools.
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So Micki Kidder and the Deans of the schools are being bad partners here?

@IrishLax just for reference Northwestern took a two time transfer with Aidan Chiles. Yet Gilliam can’t get in?
 
sixstar

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ND has had some of the highest profile signings over the last few portal periods. And, they've even brought in kids from Marshall and FIU.

I refuse to believe that the ND staff forgot how to work the portal. Sure, there are always going to be surprises and misses.

What I do know is that our beat writers are fully clueless. Relax and trust in the staff. I have a feeling we walk out of this portal feeling pretty good.
 
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FireJeffQuinn

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Kingbish01 said:
We need a thread of just relevant updates, so we can easily follow and use this one for the chatter. If it's able to be done where only one person (or a select few that stay on top of it) can post, it would be semi helpful. Something along the lines of:

-Keeley on Campus

-Keely commits to Indiana

-Ty Chan 1st ranked DT in portal on campus.

-We just signed Ty Chan.

Just quick easy to follow portal news regarding ND.
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Like the first post in this thread, but more extensive and with more intermediate updates.
 
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ab2cmiller

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The portal is just different this year.

Should've they been better prepared for contingencies, yes.

As Lax pointed out, ND's Admissions structure and NIL structure make it less agile to respond quickly to change.
 
SeekNDestroy

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sixstar said:
ND has had some of the highest profile signings over the last few portal periods. And, they've even brought in kids from Marshall and FIU.

I refuse to believe that the ND staff forgot how to work the portal. Sure, there are always going to be surprises and misses.

What I do know is that our beat writers are fully clueless. Relax and trust in the staff. I have a feeling we walk out of this portal feeling pretty good.
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well, if you have a feeling…
 
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IrishInOntario

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Jimmy3Putt said:
People still not realizing the beat knows squat and are acting like chicken little.
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They're just driving content for $$. Look at how active these threads have been the last few days. Their business is booming right now, at a time that it would otherwise be DEAD because of ND's omission from the playoffs.

They're going to report every little piece of information they're hearing in order to drive interaction to their media. Good, bad, or indifferent.

It also sounds like they are being largely frozen out by the program right now, so a lot of their sourcing is probably agents, families of players, etc... And things are changing rapidly in those people's worlds.
 
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