2026 ND Portal Targets

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RudyVerse

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They need to hit on all 3 Bama players. That’s really shooting the moon but unless there are unheard of names they lead with, that’s the only path to completing the DL.
 
ACamp1900

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Keeley not being announced yet is,… odd. I can not bring myself to fully believe the staff is going 0 for everyone they had at the top of their list so that little dynamic alone keeps a glimmer of hope going, maybe there’s multiple done deals for whatever reason they are just refusing to let be known publicly. But the Brewu news is pretty catastrophic all things considered, no one can color that differently.
 
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IrishInOntario

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Brewu to OSU makes a lot of sense given that he's a Columbus native and likely grew up a Buckeyes fan. I will say that it is disappointing that other schools have been able to leverage relationships (think Knowles and Gilliam as an example), and ND appears unable to exploit the Patridge relationship with Brewu.

One of the things that I think ND is going to find incredibly challenging when trying to land some of these undergrad Portal players is the academic piece. I think it's one thing to convince a player out of high school, that is use to going to class, that they can survive / thrive academically in an environment like Notre Dame that will be an extension of that. People are comfortable with what they know... Undergrad transfers are entirely different beast. If that player has spent 1-3 years at state school as example, and never really heavily considered by Notre Dame (or were recruited by Notre Dame) they've likely been use to very easy courses, all of which are online, increasing max flexibility for them. Hell, do anonymity of doing so much online work, chances are that a lot of these guys just have other people do the online work for them. There is a level of student centered accountability that ND demands, while most other schools have completely abandoned, that likely seems burdensome to many of these kids... Especially those with NFL aspirations.

Marcus Freeman's latest slogan is "choose hard". That isn't by accident and it's not a cliche. In today's world, you're literally making the path to professional football harder and more burdensome for yourself at Notre Dame. I think that it's much easier to convince a high school student of that reality than it is to convince an undergrad, especially from some of the schools whose players ND has been targeting in this cycle. It's one thing to get a guy out of Duke, Wake Forest or Vanderbilt, it's a completely different reality to try to pull an undergrad kid out of a state school (or a similar school setup) when that kid already comfortable in that type of setting and the schools you're competing with are offering the same / more money and asking you to do less for it.
 
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Bluto

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So I’m hanging out with my nephew who played college ball and has a bunch of friends and acquaintances that did as well including CJ Stroud.

Here’s his insight regarding the transfer portal and might speak to some of ND’s challenges in the portal with some of defensive tackle prospects.

75% of these kids are thinking about the bag this year and that is the number one priority by a wide margin, playing time second with no consideration as to who might best develop them (coaching) and they really don’t want to have to play school much less having to actually sit in a classroom.

The other 25% are weighing the size of the bag, playing time, development (coaching) and value of degree/future connections beyond football in their decision making.
 
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IrishFanForever23

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Bluto said:
So I’m hanging out with my nephew who played college ball and has a bunch of friends and acquaintances that did as well including CJ Stroud.

Here’s his insight.

75% of these kids are thinking about the bag this year and that is the number one priority by a wide margin, playing time second with no consideration as to who might best develop them (coaching) and or playing school.

The other 25% are weighing the size of the bag, playing time, development (coaching) and value of degree in their decision making.
Click to expand...
Golic to ND?
 
irishnd31

irishnd31

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BigErnMcCracken said:
I think DT's are generally too large to fit into ears.
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Paul Finebaum disagrees…
images
 
NDWarrior

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IrishInOntario said:
Brewu to OSU makes a lot of sense given that he's a Columbus native and likely grew up a Buckeyes fan. I will say that it is disappointing that other schools have been able to leverage relationships (think Knowles and Gilliam as an example), and ND appears unable to exploit the Patridge relationship with Brewu.

One of the things that I think ND is going to find incredibly challenging when trying to land some of these undergrad Portal players is the academic piece. I think it's one thing to convince a player out of high school, that is use to going to class, that they can survive / thrive academically in an environment like Notre Dame that will be an extension of that. People are comfortable with what they know... Undergrad transfers are entirely different beast. If that player has spent 1-3 years at state school as example, and never really heavily considered by Notre Dame (or were recruited by Notre Dame) they've likely been use to very easy courses, all of which are online, increasing max flexibility for them. Hell, do anonymity of doing so much online work, chances are that a lot of these guys just have other people do the online work for them. There is a level of student centered accountability that ND demands, while most other schools have completely abandoned, that likely seems burdensome to many of these kids... Especially those with NFL aspirations.

Marcus Freeman's latest slogan is "choose hard". That isn't by accident and it's not a cliche. In today's world, you're literally making the path to professional football harder and more burdensome for yourself at Notre Dame. I think that it's much easier to convince a high school student of that reality than it is to convince an undergrad, especially from some of the schools whose players ND has been targeting in this cycle. It's one thing to get a guy out of Duke, Wake Forest or Vanderbilt, it's a completely different reality to try to pull an undergrad kid out of a state school (or a similar school setup) when that kid already comfortable in that type of setting and the schools you're competing with are offering the same / more money and asking you to do less for it.
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Bingo, this is one of the main points I made last night. Again, we have no clue what ND's TP acquisition plan is or has become, but I outlined 3 categories I think they should go after while of course still trying to get some top P4-ers.

As you say, a player is comfortable with what they know, and sure ND is special, but now almost any top team - even a perennial bottom dweller like IU - can make it to CFP with an opportunity to make a run to the CG.

As with HS recruiting, ND has to target a RKG but now within the context of a player looking for a better opportunity that works best for them and based on a # of criteria ($, playing time, appetite/desire to play school, and team/coaches/competitiveness). It's a lot more nuanced than going after HS RKG.
 
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irishjim

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So basically the Achilles heel here is the fact our underclassmen DT recruiting has hurt our championship potential? You could argue recruiting a game breaker receiver too.

Majoring in recruiting and minor in portal means you cannot miss. Indiana lessens the odds of missing by getting 3rd and 4th year transfers. Fewer surprises lead to greater success.

I do believe Notre Dame has fixed a lot of the recruiting problems. The issue going forward will be to earlier identify players that haven’t panned out and figure out how to nail fixes through the portal because ideally we’re searching for no more than 4 per year.
 
Irish Man3

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The beat being so silent is odd.

Brewu trending to OSU before he visited Columbus was all I needed to hear. That news broke literally while he was in South Bend lol, not a good omen
 
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IrishInOntario

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Irish Man3 said:
The beat being so silent is odd.

Brewu trending to OSU before he visited Columbus was all I needed to hear. That news broke literally while he was in South Bend lol, not a good omen
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Agents are literally back chaneling in real time... "He's at ND right now and absolutely loves it. In fact, he's damn close to committing. How much are you going up your offer by right now, to ensure he doesn't choose them?".... "X much? Great. I'll text / DM him right now and know that you're willing to come well over the top."

That is literally happening on these visits.

The "Beat" knows very little, because things are changing in real time, therefore, by time information makes it to them, it's already antiquated. Furthermore, ND is doing everything in their power to keep things extremely tight lipped, because not only are they trying to avoid a slew of of other suitors jumping in on their guys (including their previous schools upping the offer to come back), the process of getting a kid accepted into school and getting the NIL paperwork done in a way that it's legally solid, takes time... So they might get a commitment, but it takes time for the academic side to give them an answer and the paperwork to get done in the background for the money.

That's why in previous classes ND had the majority of their guys wrapped up for weeks ahead of the Portal opening, through quality tampering. All the transcripts and the academic side of things were taken care of in advance and the NIl / Rev Share package had already been signed off on... When the Portal opened, they simply got a "token" visit and made it official. This year, all hands are on deck, scrambling to get things approved behind the scenes, while agents simultaneously back channel and offers ramp up in real time. ND's inability / unwillingness to worm quickly, efficiently and ruthlessly, is causing them to struggle to keep up with the dynamics of this Portal cycle.
 
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TorontoGold

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ACamp1900 said:
Ok so back on topic,… this has got to be the biggest gut punch six weeks in my history as a fan… lose a chance at a natty basically two straights years when everything seemed so poised the day of the conference title games. And yes, zero impact DTs means forget a natty next year,… the ‘revenge season’ is relegated to the regular season and we all know it
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lol what? 2013? Kelly interviewing, Golson suspended, Manti is a laughing stock??? Eddie Vanderdoes?

2018? ND loses its DC to A&M one year after improving from BVG. Has to promote the LB coach who hadn’t been a DC anywhere before.

2021 to 2022? Kelly tells the CFB world that ND won’t be able to get over the hump? HC poached from a perceived destination job?

2023? ND can’t get the OC of fucking Utah to join so it goes with Gerad Parker? The only WR transfer they brought in RETIRED and got lucky that a freshman walk on WR was good??

There’s probably like another 3 offseason worse than this one. Last year was a great offseason, but before that there has always been ones worse than this.
 
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Cpnd1

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BeauBenken said:
Smith Snowden, I haven't seen mentioned here, but ISD put him on their list. That would be a phenomenal add.
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Was kind of assuming he would use us for leverage for scUM, but that would be an awesome addition
 
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