Notre Dame 3-2-1: Three numbers, two questions (transfers and quarterbacks), and one prediction (instant impact)
With spring football in the rearview, spring sports on their homestretch, and another school year almost in the books, let’s look at some of what is and what will be for Notre Dame in this latest edition of the 3-2-1 (3 numbers, 2 questions, 1 prediction), a column made popular by the late Lou Somogyi.
3 Numbers
35 — The spot where former Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer was selected overall in the NFL Draft last weekend. Remove from the equation safety Kyle Hamilton, who went 14th overall in 2022, and Mayer is the earliest Irish selection of the 25 Notre Dame players drafted since 2019 when defensive lineman Jerry Tillery was taken in the first round (28th overall).
7 — The net difference between the number of Notre Dame players to enter the transfer portal since the end of the 2022 season (12) and the number of incoming portal transfers (5). For comparison sake, Texas (19 outgoing/5 incoming) and Alabama (17 outgoing/3 incoming) both have net differences of 14.
3 — The 2024 NFL Draft projection for Notre Dame junior left tackle Joe Alt, per Pro Football Focus and Yahoo Sports. PFF has the Colts taking Alt No. 3 overall, which could potentially give Indianapolis an offensive line combo on its left side of Alt at tackle and former Irish All-American Quenton Nelson at guard.
2 Questions
Is the transfer portal already becoming a disproportionate problem for Notre Dame?
Quarterback Tyler Buchner, linebacker Prince Kollie, running back Logan Diggs, athlete Lorenzo Styles: this isn’t a list of potential starters or key Notre Dame players to watch in 2023.
Not hardly.
Instead, this is a list of four impactful players who entered the transfer portal in the span of only one week late last month.
It’s a high-profile list, a troubling development, and a sign of the times.
Styles was the team’s leading wide receiver last season.
Kollie was its best and most-used special teams player.
Buchner was the opening-day starter and the Gator Bowl MVP in 2022.
And Diggs was the team’s second-leading rusher and the leading Irish tailback pass receiver.
In all, 12 Irish players entered the portal since the 2022 regular season ended. While on the other side, the Irish coaches have brought in only five scholarship transfers during the same time frame. So, the numbers don’t jive, while the message remains the same.
“The degree from Notre Dame is truly something special,” Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said while addressing Styles’ transfer. “I want that for every one of my players because I believe an education from Notre Dame and a degree from Notre Dame will take care of the rest of your life.”
Freeman’s message is noble. But in this era of transfer ease and NIL dollars, the tried-and-true 4-years-for-40-years recruiting pitch doesn’t carry the same clout it once did at Notre Dame.
Will Notre Dame start another grad transfer quarterback in 2024?
It’s a safe bet given the makeup of Notre Dame’s quarterback roster next year when grad transfer Sam Hartman is out the door after his one season here.
Assuming he doesn’t transfer away as so many Irish quarterbacks do, Steve Angeli — a junior next year — will try to pin down the starting job in 2024. Expect incoming freshman CJ Carr to battle for that starting spot as well.
But with Hartman likely to monopolize the game reps in 2023, Angeli will likely enter the 2024 season still most renowned for his game-winning touchdown run in the 2022 Blue-Gold Game, not in any actual game.
As for Carr, for whatever reason, freshman quarterbacks at Notre Dame seldom make the immediate impact we often see from other first-year signal-callers around the country.
So that brings us back to the 2024 quarterback situation post-Hartman when the Irish coaches will again face the choice of rolling with a quarterback already on the roster, or bringing in a grad transfer again for the third time in four seasons (going back to Jack Coan in 2021).
Preference would be for the Notre Dame coaches to prove they can develop the quarterbacks they recruited, and find a way to keep them out of the transfer portal.
But with feelings easily hurt at this position and Irish quarterbacks transferring away at an alarming rate, it’s easy to forecast that Notre Dame will have another single-season grad transfer at quarterback 2024, and potentially in many years to follow.
1 Prediction
Jaden Greathouse will immediately become a rotational mainstay at wide receiver in 2023, and eventually a freshman starter.
Greathouse capped his solid spring season in the Blue-Gold Game on April 22, with game highs in receptions (11) and yards (118).
The early enrollee was comfortable and reliable working in traffic over the middle of the field and was rewarded with a game-high 13 targets, most of those coming from Hartman.
The confidence Hartman showed in Greathouse during the spring game couldn’t be missed, and will only continue to grow.
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