Transfer portal. Any news ?

[Get Nasty]

No one is realistic either unless we show interest so there’s that aspect. Do we roll with Vernon , sevillano , hinish Dixon , mukam ?????

No, that would be an absolute disaster. Our Dline right now is our biggest weakness. Next year you just can't expect Botelho to be back healthy and himself, and possibly not even traore, plus you lose Mills and Cross our only interior dline players making an impact.

ND needs one stud edge rusher next year (unless they are extremely confident Traore will be back 100%), and 2 interior guys that can play, one of them needs to be better than every interior guy we have on the team returning next year.

 

[NDblitz]

Isn’t that for 2026 or later?

2025-2026. And it's going through. It's rooted in Anti-Trust legislation.

 

[Telx1]

No one is realistic either unless we show interest so there’s that aspect. Do we roll with Vernon , sevillano , hinish Dixon , mukam ?????

Can’t believe we enter next season without adding a starter quality interior defensive lineman. I like both Savillano and Mukum, but in rotation roles this upcoming season. I know Hinish has started a few games and played well, but I personally think he is ideal in the two deep. Assuming Rubio returns, I hope we are able to sign a quality starter alongside him.
Same with receiver. I like the guys returning, and I like the potential of the receiver room, but we need a #1 receiver that creates challenges for the defense. And I don’t think we have this in our receiver room. Potential, maybe.

 

[Golson5]

Keyshawn silver from Kentucky , former 5 star DT.
Alexander kid from usc
There’s another from Alabama who’s a big DT
Another from Wisconsin also.
There out there. Can they qualify academically is the bigger question.

No chance with Alexander or the Bama kid.

Wisky is an option

 

[Golson5]

No one is realistic either unless we show interest so there’s that aspect. Do we roll with Vernon , sevillano , hinish Dixon , mukam ?????

Rubio as well and hopefully Onye but doubtful

 

[Golson5]

No, that would be an absolute disaster. Our Dline right now is our biggest weakness. Next year you just can't expect Botelho to be back healthy and himself, and possibly not even traore, plus you lose Mills and Cross our only interior dline players making an impact.

ND needs one stud edge rusher next year (unless they are extremely confident Traore will be back 100%), and 2 interior guys that can play, one of them needs to be better than every interior guy we have on the team returning next year.

At least one of Traore and Botelho will be back k game 1 and both by mid season at the latest

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

At least one of Traore and Botelho will be back k game 1 and both by mid season at the latest

Every player heals differently, but a player being back and being back and playing as he did before the injury are often two different things, as we have seen with Mitchell Evans' ACL injury. While I hope Botelho and Traore bounce back quickly, I don't think we should count upon them being back 100% until later next season at best.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Good intel on Max. I think he is a great get, an experienced TE for an inexperienced QB will help. Now go get an experienced WR! Eli will be our only proven TE, I like Flanagan but he's green. Good get if true.

Raridon has really good size (6'7"/250 lbs) and has flashed from time to time, but I don't know what we will get from him next year when he is "the man." I haven't paid a lot of attention to Cooper Flanagan, but he also has some really good size (6'6"/257 lbs). I really liked the 4* TE recruit we got, James Flanigan. He is 6'5.5" and 245 lbs, so he also has a nice frame and his HS tape looked very impressive. He was probably one of the top HS TEs. But you probably cannot expect a kid to come in out of HS and be a difference maker at the TE position, so maybe that is why ND is pursuing Klare. He seems to be more of a proven commodity as a pass catcher, even if he is not as big as the guys on our current roster.

 

[ndhuntington]

I like the tight end from Purdue would be a solid pickup. I would imagine we still are looking at dline, kicker, punter, wr, db especially dline.

 

[savvyandsassier]

I'm more interested in who we might lose. So far, nobody. Nobody new.

 

[echowaker]

No, that would be an absolute disaster. Our Dline right now is our biggest weakness. Next year you just can't expect Botelho to be back healthy and himself, and possibly not even traore, plus you lose Mills and Cross our only interior dline players making an impact.

ND needs one stud edge rusher next year (unless they are extremely confident Traore will be back 100%), and 2 interior guys that can play, one of them needs to be better than every interior guy we have on the team returning next year.

Dayon Hayes was having a nice season until he got hurt. Has one year of eligibility and would be a nice piece at DE.

 

[THUNDERSTRUCK111]

DE I think we can be fine with the guys we have. But DT is where we need to score big in the portal.

 

[echowaker]

Keyshawn silver from Kentucky , former 5 star DT.
Alexander kid from usc
There’s another from Alabama who’s a big DT
Another from Wisconsin also.
There out there. Can they qualify academically is the bigger question.

Yeah, Silver is a real space eater. Saw him in person twice this year. Hard to move.

 

[Golson5]

Every player heals differently, but a player being back and being back and playing as he did before the injury are often two different things, as we have seen with Mitchell Evans' ACL injury. While I hope Botelho and Traore bounce back quickly, I don't think we should count upon them being back 100% until later next season at best.

We have Young Burnham Junior and Thomas to hold the fort while they are getting back to 100%

I would be surprised if one of them wasn't ready game 1 and the other by mid season at the latest

 

[THUNDERSTRUCK111]

Maybe in goldens attack front.
So we may be fine. Idk for sure. But I would be sure to have some versatility in having some big boys in the middle.

 

[raulduke_007]

Arkansas had 25 kids enter portal & Miss St had 22 wonder if there are any kids worth looking at there.

 

[Telx1]

Arkansas had 25 kids enter portal & Miss St had 22 wonder if there are any kids worth looking at there.

1458 have entered by last count I saw. The era of free agency in college football in full swing. Even with our academic demands and admission requirements, you would think we can successfully sign one impact DT, one elite receiver, and a solid safety/Nickel.

 

[raulduke_007]

1458 have entered by last count I saw. The era of free agency in college football in full swing. Even with our academic demands and admission requirements, you would think we can successfully sign one impact DT, one elite receiver, and a solid safety/Nickel.

I agree. I was pleasantly surprised ND admin allowed Freeman to use the portal. I figured they would have been much more rigid

 

[Telx1]

I agree. I was pleasantly surprised ND admin allowed Freeman to use the portal. I figured they would have been much more rigid

It will be interesting to see to whether Freeman is able to sign underclassmen. Grad transfers were always allowed, but we’re now seeing these via the transfer portal. We either continue down this path with one year rentals, or we balance between that and getting high potential players with multiple years of eligibility.

 

[raulduke_007]

It will be interesting to see to whether Freeman is able to sign underclassmen. Grad transfers were always allowed, but we’re now seeing these via the transfer portal. We either continue down this path with one year rentals, or we balance between that and getting high potential players with multiple years of eligibility.

I think it will depend on the players academic transcripts. If they're in good standing and on track to graduate I dont see it being a problem.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Maybe he'll return to LSU, they definitely need another QB. Nuss could conceivably turn pro, and other than that they have a true frosh who was 'reclassified' and was a 16 year old freshman in college. And that's it. He never should have left to begin with. At least not to Ole Miss, he should have gone to TCU or something.

ESPN reports Nussmeier is headed back to LSU for another season. I imagine Kelly is pretty happy with that decision.

 

[savvyandsassier]

ESPN reports Nussmeier is headed back to LSU for another season. I imagine Kelly is pretty happy with that decision.

Yeah, that's true, it's a good thing for them. They would have been in quite the predicament otherwise. But if there's one program of recent vintage, that can avail themselves of a portal QB and do great things, it's LSU. I feel like I had the perfect replacement pegged, after perusing the portal a bit, that could have been LSU's next transfer Heisman winner. Fernando Mendoza! Who plays for Cal, and was like a two star nobody HS prospect. But I think he's going to go to Miami. I guess they're going to pay Nuss around 1.5 million. Which is a lot, but I don't know even how much more that is than RL gets. But he did take us to the playoff. So he's earned it.

 

[sjb75]

Garrett Nussmeier returning to LSU is good news to Brian Kelly.

 

[Get Nasty]

At least one of Traore and Botelho will be back k game 1 and both by mid season at the latest

Back isn’t what we need, we need them to be back to 100%…. Evans and Eli are two examples of players taking much longer to get to 100% after being “back”… we need a dominant edge rusher

 

[Get Nasty]

Dayon Hayes was having a nice season until he got hurt. Has one year of eligibility and would be a nice piece at DE.

How bad was his injury if it forced him to miss last 9 weeks ? Don’t like replacing injured with injured

 

[echowaker]

How bad was his injury if it forced him to miss last 9 weeks ? Don’t like replacing injured with injured

Not sure, basically missed nearly a whole year. Would like to think he'd be pretty good come August. I'm sure everyone is doing their due diligence.

 

[IrishExpert2288]

Guys that consistently miss because of injury, usually keep that trend their whole career, Can't count on them. When the late great Alex Gibbs OL coach of the Denver Broncos would do his draft evaluations The first question he would ask the college coach "Did he miss?" Because if he missed for you, he will miss for me.

 

[Golson5]

Back isn’t what we need, we need them to be back to 100%…. Evans and Eli are two examples of players taking much longer to get to 100% after being “back”… we need a dominant edge rusher

We don't "need" them back at 100%. It will be helpful. But if they are there providing quality play we will be fine

I could give many examples of players that came back fine after an injury.

1 will be ready to go beginning of the year and 1 will be ready by mid year at the latest

 

[Telx1]

Anyone who has played the game and experienced a significant lower body tear understands that returning to form is both physical and mental; and sometimes the mental takes much longer. We don’t know the details, but I suspect Evans has struggled all season with mentally trusting his knee. As Drinking the Green …. Posted, each player heals differently, and I would argue this applies even more so to their mental ability to trust their repaired knee or ankle, etc… It’s possible that both Traore and Botelho will Be ready to start the season, but I think it makes sense to bring in an insurance depth piece if available.

 

[deadirishpoet]

The news is the inmates are running the asylum

 

[savvyandsassier]

Guys that consistently miss because of injury, usually keep that trend their whole career, Can't count on them. When the late great Alex Gibbs OL coach of the Denver Broncos would do his draft evaluations The first question he would ask the college coach "Did he miss?" Because if he missed for you, he will miss for me.

What does that mean, did he miss? Just injury time? He 'missed' playing time? That's pretty effed up karma. To just write a player off, in a sport like football where injuries are part and parcel, the big thing that players subject themselves to for the good of the team, and regularly sustain and endure, and this coach prides himself on tossing them in the garbage when their body's all used or don't work so good no more. Or at least he's worried that might be the case. Yeah, what a great guy, what an admirable man.

 

[THUNDERSTRUCK111]

Looking like Alabama, And Georgia are loosing a lot of guys to the portal. Something like 4 guys from Georgia that were rotational players. This gotta hurt their depth going through the playoffs.

 

[ticat]

Oh that's right. He was recruiting him to ND. And he took a visit too if I recall. And then, holy shit, BK gets the LSU job and lo and behold he signs with LSU, even though his dad is a former LSU starting QB and he's a pretty much born and bred 'Tiger' who'd probably been to dozens of LSU home games, since his first earliest memories as a child. Still, that's a total scam. I think it's worthy of vacating even more wins off of BK's all-time ND wins total.

Lighten up, Francis...

 

[ticat]

1458 have entered by last count I saw. The era of free agency in college football in full swing. Even with our academic demands and admission requirements, you would think we can successfully sign one impact DT, one elite receiver, and a solid safety/Nickel.

...and then there's NIL.....

 

[echowaker]

Anyone who has played the game and experienced a significant lower body tear understands that returning to form is both physical and mental; and sometimes the mental takes much longer. We don’t know the details, but I suspect Evans has struggled all season with mentally trusting his knee. As Drinking the Green …. Posted, each player heals differently, and I would argue this applies even more so to their mental ability to trust their repaired knee or ankle, etc… It’s possible that both Traore and Botelho will Be ready to start the season, but I think it makes sense to bring in an insurance depth piece if available.

Exactly. There is no sure timetable for major injuries. Every individual is different. Evans is a great example. Unlikely both players are 100% for game 1 in 2025. It's certainly possible but not probable. No one should count on it.

 

[stu4don]

1458 have entered by last count I saw. The era of free agency in college football in full swing. Even with our academic demands and admission requirements, you would think we can successfully sign one impact DT, one elite receiver, and a solid safety/Nickel.

DT James Thompson Jr., Wisconsin. Hurt most of this year. But big numbers in previous year.
He was a standout in both 2022 and 2023, playing in all 26 games over that time and recording 52 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, five sacks, two pass deflections and a fumble recovery. Thompson Jr. missed most of the 2024 season with a torn pectoral muscle suffered during the preseason.

 

[savvyandsassier]

Lighten up, Francis...

Sorry, I don't have no sense of humor about that shit. I would have, but you guys ruined it.

 

[IrishExpert2288]

What does that mean, did he miss? Just injury time? He 'missed' playing time? That's pretty effed up karma. To just write a player off, in a sport like football where injuries are part and parcel, the big thing that players subject themselves to for the good of the team, and regularly sustain and endure, and this coach prides himself on tossing them in the garbage when their body's all used or don't work so good no more. Or at least he's worried that might be the case. Yeah, what a great guy, what an admirable man

Missing is missing, not sure why you are confused? If a team has a practice and the player is not there, he is missing from practice, If a team has a game and the player is not there he is missing from the 2 deep. If a guy has a track record of consistently missing practices and consistently missing games then he is not someone you can count on. Period, It is not personal it is a business.

When Christian Grey returns a pick 99 yards, and or is stuggling out there in coverage, but never leaves the field. Why do think that is? Because guys like Jaden Mickey and Ben Morrison were not available. I am not saying players who miss practice for whatever reason are bad people, I am saying that if a player is consistently missing practice or missing games he is someone you cannot count on, Just like the talented guy at work who calls out sick 2 days a week, every week, At some point you gotta move on

 

[savvyandsassier]

A good WR ND could go after is Nic Anderson, from Oklahoma. I guess he caught like, 40 passes as true frosh, and was injured this year. So he'd have three years. And it appears like he would at least qualify as a program fit. I don't know if he'd want to come to ND or not. But there's a name to keep in mind. If we're supposedly going to be more open to undergrad transfers.

 

[savvyandsassier]

Missing is missing, not sure why you are confused? If a team has a practice and the player is not there, he is missing from practice, If a team has a game and the player is not there he is missing from the 2 deep. If a guy has a track record of consistently missing practices and consistently missing games then he is not someone you can count on. Period, It is not personal it is a business.

When Christian Grey returns a pick 99 yards, and or is stuggling out there in coverage, but never leaves the field. Why do think that is? Because guys like Jaden Mickey and Ben Morrison were not available. I am not saying players who miss practice for whatever reason are bad people, I am saying that if a player is consistently missing practice or missing games he is someone you cannot count on, Just like the talented guy at work who calls out sick 2 days a week, every week, At some point you gotta move on

But you are kind of saying he's a bad person. As far as being a football player goes, he's a bad person, he's unreliable, coaches can't rely on him. Regardless of his attitude. His body apparently doesn't hold up. And thus he's disposable to you. Nobody cares whether or not he says please and thank you, and always gets him mom something for Mother's Day. Completely irrelevant.

Anyway, it is what it is. That's one of the darker sides of the sport. Both the frequency and severity of injuries, and the fact that your coaches will metaphorically take you out back and shoot you like a gimpy racehorse, and write you out of the picture. And it does say something effed up about the sport of football, it just does.