We are quickly coming to the end of the transfer portal window for college football, and despite an insanely odd start for Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish — I think they just won.
The Irish
still have at least one public target on the board in Oregon DT Tionne Gray, but after what just transpired on Monday and Tuesday, I think it’s safe to say Notre Dame is setting itself up for a big run in 2026 and beyond.
One of the key points about the transfer portal that is often overlooked by fans who treat it like college football’s version of the NFL Draft is that this generally means a lot of talent goes out of the door during this period. While Notre Dame certainly had its fair share of players leave via the portal, none of them were true starters (although a few were what we typically call “key depth).
The portal also isn’t something that works in a “this for that” kind of a way. You can have 18 players leave and be in great shape with signing just 5 guys and vice versa. There are 105 roster spots, and they need filled with returning players, portal pickups, walk-ons, and the new recruiting class.
Oh yeah… Notre Dame signed 29 players in their 2026 recruiting class which was ranked #2 in the country by the 247 Team Composite Rankings.
So here’s a quick look at how all of that looks.
One third of Notre Dame’s roster in 2026 will come from the recruiting class and the new portal additions. That’s a hefty chunk, so it’s a good thing the talent level is high. According to 247, the combined talent from the recruiting class and the portal has the Irish currently ranked #2 in the nation.
But… I’m getting away from the story a little bit here.
All rankings aside (kind of) what Notre Dame just did in the transfer portal, and how they did it, really made them the big winners of the off-season. Notre Dame fought back NFL suitors for Marcus Freeman, and put together a two day cannonball splash of coordinated portal commitments that proved they mean serious business in 2026.
We all know how things ended in 2025 with the playoff snub and the bowl opt out — and a weird public relations hit for the program. They went from being a really likeable program back to one of the most hated programs in the country. The level of disrespect only increased with every published take, and when the portal opened… it was crickets from Notre Dame. Then it got louder than crickets as there was no positive portal movement for Notre Dame with cancelled visits and no commitments. Fans and media members started to loudly voice their doom and gloom scenarios.
You see… Notre Dame was keeping a ridiculously tight lid on what they were doing. Yes, not having visits that first weekend was a self-inflicted mistake, but as the days melted away, Notre Dame put in the work to lock in a fantastic portal class with minimal outside noise. Then, like a well-oiled machine, the commitments became public in a very professional press release type of way. The message of control was clearly sent.
Now we’re looking at a roster that is designed to not just compete for a playoff spot, but one designed to win a national championship. Any time you can turn your off-season into the mechanism for a shot at a championship — you won that part. Whether or not Notre Dame adds Tionne Gray or anyone else before this portal window closes — they won.
The Irish are on the warpath to get back to the promised land, and this offseason has only made that more reality than hope.
