Reasons why Notre Dame has struggled early with transfer prospects

5 days ago 2

If you haven’t noticed, Notre Dame football has yet to get a transfer portal commitment, as it has only seen multiple of its players opt to leave the program.

That will eventually change, and I have a few theories why the Irish haven’t been able to secure a verbal yet. There are multiple factors when it comes to any sort of recruiting, and Name, Image, and Likeness could play a factor here too. It’s not like Notre Dame isn’t paying its players well, it’s that some of them believe they are worth more than they actually are. I won’t touch on this subject, as we don’t really know what each individual players wants are.

You’ll find below three reasons why I believe Notre Dame has struggled in the early portion of the transfer portal window.

Notre Dame’s timing of visits

This one is pretty obvious, multiple transfer prospects had scheduled visits to South Bend only to see a different school first, then committing there. Not having any visitors lined up for the first weekend after the portal opened on Friday was a big miss for the staff. You would have expected them to be ready since there was no bowl prep, but there must of been some behind-the-scenes talks about when was the right time to host the players. There is also still plenty of time in the cycle, so many more visits will soon happen and the ship should right itself despite the slow start.

Some players don’t fit Notre Dame’s culture

This is the case with most teams, but the Irish are looking for a certain type of player, they won’t just go after one’s that are viewed as highly ranked. There aren’t too many players that fit the Notre Dame-archetype, and this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The academic standards are extremely high, and taking a player who might struggle in this area just doesn’t make sense. The fit has to be there, and for some, it isn’t which could be holding some back from joining the program.

Notre Dame’s 2026 recruiting class and program depth

Talk about elite, the 2026 recruiting class was one of the best in the country. Many of them will arrive shortly, and the influx of talent will surely boost the team. Sure, they don’t have experience at this level, but head coach Marcus Freeman isn’t afraid to play young players if they are ready. It very much looks like there are more than a few that will contribute on day-one.

Not only that, Notre Dame has recruited very well during Freeman’s tenure, and some of those players will have their first opportunities to breakout this fall. The Irish still have one of the top rosters in the sport, and are looking to just add a few finishing touches to who they already have.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Three reasons why Notre Dame’s struggled early with transfer prospects

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