I'm glad you asked, Tim. The answer is Rico Flores. He just announced he is leaving. That means we go to a bowl game without any of our top receivers. Something is amiss in South Bend, especially in the WR Dept.
Very strange. I certainly don't have a finger on the pulse of ND football, but I haven't seen any indications of a lot of discontent. It does appear that something is going on behind the scenes...
Okay, I won't ask that question anymore. Out of all these transfers the Flores is the biggest head scratcher. The kid got plenty of snaps and catches for a freshman and put up respectable numbers. Why leave now. My guess, money.
Well. some good news finally: Winter Garden, Florida West Orange high school four-star safety Ivan Taylor is the latest class of 2025 prospect to commit to Notre Dame. The 6-0, 174-pounder picked the Fighting Irish over offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, USC, and many others.
Don't know who this guy is, so don't know if what he's saying is reliable. His Twitter profile describes him as a superfan. I guess we'll see.
Well some potentially good news. Matt Freeman of Irish Sports Daily is reporting that FIU Grad Transfer WR, Kris Mitchell, is on campus for a visit. Had an impressive career at FIU. Mitchell is a big and athletic wideout who has faced Power Five teams before, but most notably against the Arkansas Razorbacks where he had six receptions for 157 yards. What stands out the most about Mitchell is being able to go up and being able to make those 50/50 receptions. After the season Mitchell had and his career numbers at FIU, with 100 receptions for 1,663 yards and 11 touchdowns, the Jacksonville native will receive plenty of G5 interest, but most notably, should interest from power five teams where he can make the jump to a higher level of competition.
It does seem like Riley Leonard and Notre Dame have mutual interest, but he's also reportedly looking at Auburn. So who knows.
A kid who has been recruited over and didn't get much playing time this year and not expected to compete next year either, freshman have moved ahead of him. No big loss.
Not forgetting depth, I'd like all these guys to stay, but come Monday there will be probably over 1000 kids in the Portal. Most of whom were "depth" at their old programs looking to be more. We have DB's coming in and I assume we'll have DB's coming in from the portal. We'll be OK.
Just for reference Michigan had 14 players leave via the portal after last year. Didn't seem to hurt their depth, they replaced them with 9 guys coming in from other programs via the portal
While it's just a visit, recruiting of a guy in the Portal as a Grad transfer. Possible it's out goes Ryan Barnes and in comes Jordan Clark who according to Irish Sports Daily's Matt Freeman is on campus right now for a visit. Arizona State graduate transfer defensive back Jordan Clark is currently on campus per someone from his camp. Clark recorded 139 tackles, 17 passes defended and three interceptions during his five-year career at Arizona State. 2023 was his best season as he made 50 stops and had nine passes defended. Clark is the son of long-time NFL safety Ryan Clark and he also added University Lab in Baton Rouge, which is the same school as freshman linebacker Jaiden Ausberry.
I guess so. I'll admit that I don't recognize this game any more. I've lost the passion for it now that I see how the portal and NIL is playing out. I really can't tell the difference between one school and another with this merry-go-round.
#2 ND men’s soccer beats IU on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie in regulation. ND advances to the College Cup.
Watched parts of a couple of games yesterday. Every time they mention a player by name they also mentioned where he transferred from. Remember when they used to mention what his major or GPA was?