2026 Transfer Portal - General

[NDWarrior]

Nothing solid here in this piece and is based on the same speculation we have here on IE, but one name I haven't heard as a potential DT target is Jamarrion Harkless with Purdue, a 6'3", 345-lb DT.

This writer is speculating that this guy might be the rotational DT piece who is strong at stopping the run.

On a bad Purdue team this year, he had 13 combined tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 2.5 sacks.

Anyone else hear of him being on the ND DT target list?

 

[ACamp1900]

So we need a vibe check,… every day I just check in and it’s,…. ‘Fucked’.


When do transfers start committing??

 

[allenm5333]

So we need a vibe check,… every day I just check in and it’s,…. ‘Fucked’.


When do transfers start committing??

Think it officially opens jan 2

 

[RudyVerse]

Nothing solid here in this piece and is based on the same speculation we have here on IE, but one name I haven't heard as a potential DT target is Jamarrion Harkless with Purdue, a 6'3", 245-lb DT.

This writer is speculating that this guy might be the rotational DT piece who is strong at stopping the run.

On a bad Purdue team this year, he had 13 combined tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 2.5 sacks.

Anyone else hear of him being on the ND DT target list?

Did you fat finger his weight? Cause that’s like Hinish without a leg.

 

[bcole2]

Did you fat finger his weight? Cause that’s like Hinish without a leg.

He meant just lower body weight of 245

 

[NDWarrior]

Did you fat finger his weight? Cause that’s like Hinish without a leg.

You're right, I'm off by 100 - LOL! Fixed it.

 

[Silentkaw]

Here’s a tweet that some of you should take to heart.

 

[tirishman505]

yeah, we're were saved from feeling this way last year because of the playoff run; everything just kinda happened quietly in the background. this feels much more like 2 years ago where it's just a few weeks of nothing but bad news...and then turns out fine.

 

[irishff1014]

Here’s a tweet that some of you should take to heart.

They had a really good show today on hit and hustle.

 

[Rocketman84]

Agreed, he doesn’t look explosive like marsh or Coleman on film

I mean he was recruited by mostly everyone as a TE so that's to be expected. Duff will probably time in the 4.63-4.7x range

 

[Rocketman84]

Marsh and Duff both had subpar QB play(even though the Rutgers Qb was slightly better), Duff also had more competition with getting touches to to Raymond and Ian Strong, who had 750 yards last year, and still managed to put up 1k.

More competition? You mean a much better supporting cast which makes it much easier for him because he wasn't the focal point for the defense? He put up 60% of his yds against 4 teams and the opposition had to worry about stopping Raymond in the run and a TRIO (Strong/Sheffield/Duff) in the passing game. 1k is nice but we saw a few 1k WRs hop in the portal and move up in competition to be mediocre and a quite a few have hopped in the portal once again.

 

[NDPhilly]

Turbo Richard allegedly to Indiana with Josh Hoover.

Cigs has them rolling in the portal. HS recruiting still hasn’t taken off, but they have spent their money well on proven guys.

 

[NYDOMER]

More competition? You mean a much better supporting cast which makes it much easier for him because he wasn't the focal point for the defense? He put up 60% of his yds against 4 teams and the opposition had to worry about stopping Raymond in the run and a TRIO (Strong/Sheffield/Duff) in the passing game. 1k is nice but we saw a few 1k WRs hop in the portal and move up in competition to be mediocre and a quite a few have hopped in the portal once again.

I mean I can agree with your points about the competition part, but he was in the Big Ten like Marsh, so if that’s a point that marks him down, it’s the same with Marsh, but regardless if we get 1 of those 2 I’ll be happy.

 

[FWIrish4]

Yeah it's not a good decision. Could get good money here and could really use another year of development. He got questionable advice from people around him during the recruiting process and methinks he got bad advice here again.

Reminds me of Blake Fisher.

Went to the Colts/Texans game last month and randomly thought of him and I’ll get to see him play.

Lo and behold he’s not even starting and just playing special teams. I was pretty surprised and just thought to myself, you left ND and the NIL era early for this?

 

[Rocketman84]

I mean I can agree with your points about the competition part, but he was in the Big Ten like Marsh, so if that’s a point that marks him down, it’s the same with Marsh, but regardless if we get 1 of those 2 I’ll be happy.

I was referring to you saying Duff had more competition instead of saying he had a better supporting cast on his team. It's a lot easier to produce when the scouting report is 3-4 ppl as opposed to just one guy. Duff is a good boundary player but he would need to be surrounded by legit home leun hitters that can stretch the field to be lost effective.

 

[notredomer23]

What the transfer portal costs now: Position‑by‑position price ranges amid a market surge

A compressed Jan. 2–16 window is fueling fast moves and bigger deals. Here's what each position costs this cycle

www.cbssports.com

Thought exercise here. I’ve seen the number of $5MM thrown out as ND’s portal budget this year. Accurate or not I don’t know. The above chart shows the portal rates at position with the dots being the averages. You are Mike Martin. How are you assembling your portal class?

Mine:
1 top DT ($1.5MM)
1 good DT ($800K)
1 high end WR ($1.4MM)
1 top TE ($750K)
1 top Kicker ($150K)
1 depth QB ($400K)

 

[RudyVerse]

What the transfer portal costs now: Position‑by‑position price ranges amid a market surge

A compressed Jan. 2–16 window is fueling fast moves and bigger deals. Here's what each position costs this cycle

www.cbssports.com

Thought exercise here. I’ve seen the number of $5MM thrown out as ND’s portal budget this year. Accurate or not I don’t know. The above chart shows the portal rates at position with the dots being the averages. You are Mike Martin. How are you assembling your portal class?

Mine:
1 top DT ($1.5MM)
1 good DT ($800K)
1 high end WR ($1.4MM)
1 top TE ($750K)
1 top Kicker ($150K)
1 depth QB ($400K)

If $5M is it that's depressing. There are players getting $4M a year.

But using your model I'd go 1 top DT, a 2nd top DT, and then two more good DTs and I'm not kidding. We lost our top 3 DTs and it wasn't a position of strength. Make that 4 if we don't get Onye. We can live without every other portal need in my opinion.

Our LBs will be loaded and that goes to wash if the interior in front of them can't hold their ground.

 

[notredomer23]

If $5M is it that's depressing. There are players getting $4M a year.

But using your model I'd go 1 top DT, a 2nd top DT, and then two more good DTs and I'm not kidding. We lost our top 3 DTs and it wasn't a position of strength. Make that 4 if we don't get Onye. We can live without every other portal need in my opinion.

Our LBs will be loaded and that goes to wash if the interior in front of them can't hold their

I’d be much more concerned if it was only $5MM next year when they will be losing a lot and probably need to portal a top QB. I don’t disagree on the DT take but there’s only so many that are actually worth the $1.5 (the Wake guy who’s name I won’t even attempt to spell being one of them). I’d rather not see them overpay for someone who may just be as good as Elijah Hughes or Armel Mukam.

 

[irishff1014]

How stupid is this kid or Oklahoma state?

But college football is in a good spot. 🙄

 

[IrishInOntario]

If $5M is it that's depressing. There are players getting $4M a year.

But using your model I'd go 1 top DT, a 2nd top DT, and then two more good DTs and I'm not kidding. We lost our top 3 DTs and it wasn't a position of strength. Make that 4 if we don't get Onye. We can live without every other portal need in my opinion.

Our LBs will be loaded and that goes to wash if the interior in front of them can't hold their ground.

I'd be really curious if that $5 million figure is strictly the rev share portion that is being allotted to the Portal. If that number is true, it's actually substantial because the amount of rev share being allocated to the football team is rumored to be in the $17 million range, meaning that 6-7 players 35%-41% of the total rev share budget is being used for a small percentage of the roster.

What I'm more curious about is whether or not ND is closely working with their NIL fund to supplement that figure, in order to ensure that competitive compensation packages are ready for a couple studs. Because if that $5 Million number is rev share + NIL available for the portal, I agree that it's pretty pathetic in a year ND is trying to compete for a championship. We just don't have enough granularity about the accuracy of that number and what funding pool(s) it comes from.

 

[T Town Tommy]

How stupid is this kid or Oklahoma state?

But college football is in a good spot. 🙄

Obviously looking for more $. Auburn will pay up as they lost a lot of OL. If he does stay at Okla St they are going to have to pay up.

 

[IRISHbluehen]

I’d be much more concerned if it was only $5MM next year when they will be losing a lot and probably need to portal a top QB. I don’t disagree on the DT take but there’s only so many that are actually worth the $1.5 (the Wake guy who’s name I won’t even attempt to spell being one of them). I’d rather not see them overpay for someone who may just be as good as Elijah Hughes or Armel Mukam.

Yeah we obviously have no idea what the real number will be, also depends if that is rev share money or "NIL" deals that ND will help them acquire. Think Igboragba is good but man if that is what 1.5 mill looks like, thats a tough pill to swallow. I think we'll probably see some more interesting names enter the portal over the next couple days.

 

[NDMatt91]

Yeah we obviously have no idea what the real number will be, also depends if that is rev share money or "NIL" deals that ND will help them acquire. Think Igboragba is good but man if that is what 1.5 mill looks like, thats a tough pill to swallow. I think we'll probably see some more interesting names enter the portal over the next couple days.

I can't remember if it was on Power Hour or Hit and Hustle, but there was an episode where they talked about the going rate for DT's. They basically said that because ND badly needs multiple quality DT's, they're in a position where they will have to overpay for them, even if it gets to an uncomfortable number.

 

[Katzenboyer]

this feels much more like 2 years ago where it's just a few weeks of nothing but bad news...and then turns out fine.

I'm not sure you could think up a more apt tagline for this website than that sentence right there.

"This feels bad and terrible and then everything turns out fine. Welcome to Irish Envy!"

 

[IrishLax]

If $5M is it that's depressing. There are players getting $4M a year.

But using your model I'd go 1 top DT, a 2nd top DT, and then two more good DTs and I'm not kidding. We lost our top 3 DTs and it wasn't a position of strength. Make that 4 if we don't get Onye. We can live without every other portal need in my opinion.

Our LBs will be loaded and that goes to wash if the interior in front of them can't hold their ground.

$5M really isn't enough, depending on how much of that you need to pay to retain guys on the current roster. There isn't really an option to bring in dudes at a premium and not also compensate your current studs in commensurate fashion.

ND really only "needs" 2x NFL DTs and 2x NFL WRs. All other positions are nice-to-haves. You should be able to pull that with $5M. But if you have a shopping list beyond that, you are going to run out of $$.

The position I'm actually most worried about is OL losing Schrauth. If you get elite OL play to go with CJ Carr + good wide receivers then you are off to the races. But Jagusah has lost two years to injury, Knapp is just OK, Lambert/Absher weren't great, and then you have to start a new player at RT. That's a lot of question marks. But it's also not really a position where going into the portal is realistic.

 

[jpachuta33]

Correct me if I am wrong, but looking at the players in the portal as it stands, the quest to find an elite DT this cycle is going to be extremely difficult, let alone finding two.

Hopefully some of these Playoff teams have some departures on their DL after their season ends.

 

[IrishLax]

Correct me if I am wrong, but looking at the players in the portal as it stands, the quest to find an elite DT this cycle is going to be extremely difficult, let alone finding two.

Hopefully some of these Playoff teams have some departures on their DL after their season ends.

DT is always the hardest position to find an impact player at. There just aren't that many NFL caliber interior DL and every team wants them. WR and QB are always the easiest positions to find an impact player, but they cost a lot of money because many teams want them. But there are a lot more of them at "lower tier" schools looking to move up. Most good DT prospects are signed out of high school to a P4 team and there are less of them in the portal.

 

[notredomer23]

Assuming it’s someone with a legit role:

View attachment 3061948

Saw a poster on II say Jayden Limar which I think is a pretty good shout here. That would be a bit better version of Devyn Ford and some quality depth.

 

[SDIrishFan]

DT is always the hardest position to find an impact player at. There just aren't that many NFL caliber interior DL and every team wants them. WR and QB are always the easiest positions to find an impact player, but they cost a lot of money because many teams want them. But there are a lot more of them at "lower tier" schools looking to move up. Most good DT prospects are signed out of high school to a P4 team and there are less of them in the portal.

That's why tampering is the only way....

 

[PolishDomer]

$5M really isn't enough, depending on how much of that you need to pay to retain guys on the current roster. There isn't really an option to bring in dudes at a premium and not also compensate your current studs in commensurate fashion.

ND really only "needs" 2x NFL DTs and 2x NFL WRs. All other positions are nice-to-haves. You should be able to pull that with $5M. But if you have a shopping list beyond that, you are going to run out of $$.

The position I'm actually most worried about is OL losing Schrauth. If you get elite OL play to go with CJ Carr + good wide receivers then you are off to the races. But Jagusah has lost two years to injury, Knapp is just OK, Lambert/Absher weren't great, and then you have to start a new player at RT. That's a lot of question marks. But it's also not really a position where going into the portal is realistic.

Lax agree 100% with your post but a must have is an experienced Kicker as well...