Things appeared bad for Notre Dame football when seemingly as soon as the regular season ended with a blowout victory at Stanford, the Irish began losing players to the transfer portal.
The good news is, about a week later Notre Dame began getting commitments to fill some of those voids.
A ton happened in terms of the roster between the regular season finale and the dominating bowl win over Oregon State.
So who did Notre Dame lose and who can Irish fans get excited about to be wearing blue and gold next season?
Here is the entire list of transfer portal activity for Notre Dame this 2023-24 off-season.
These names could be in the Sun Bowl, but they won’t be.
It’s become increasingly common for college football players to opt out of inconsequential bowl games for one reason or another. With the College Football Playoff field tripling in size next year, that could solve the problem a bit, at least as far as the number of team this practice impacts. This is the future of college football, even if you don’t agree with it.
With Notre Dame facing Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, several Irish players are missing, either having entered the transfer portal or choosing to focus on preparing for the NFL draft. That means many of the Irish’s leaders in each major statistical category will be absent, so it’s not worth listing a bunch of names that won’t play.
Instead, we’re going to list the percentage of each major statistic that will be missing from the Irish during the final game of the season because of opt-outs. Hopefully, this won’t discourage you from watching the game too much:
Notre Dame’s leading receiver from 2023 is headed home after entering the portal
Notre Dame’s leading receiver from the 2023 regular season is headed home.
[autotag]Chris Tyree[/autotag], who converted from running back to wide receiver this past season, will play his final season of college football at Virginia. He entered the transfer portal just hours after Notre Dame’s regular season ended with a victory at Stanford.
Tyree, one of Notre Dame’s fastest players in recent memory, was the team’s leading receiver in 2023. He had 484-yards on 26 receptions, good for an impressive 18.6 yards per reception.
Tyree also ran for 1,161 yards during his Notre Dame career, the 39th most in program history. The Virginia native will be back in South Bend when Notre Dame plays host to the Cavaliers on Nov. 16 next season.
The Irish will see Tyree next season, but across the sidelines
Just one season after transitioning from running back to wide receiver, Notre Dame football saw [autotag]Chris Tyree[/autotag] enter the transfer portal.
The move paid off in the short term, as the senior has his best statistical season in Blue and Gold, accounting for 483 yards from scrimmage with 3 touchdowns. It was a bit surprising that he entered the portal, but Tyree had to do what was best for him.
It turned out that was getting an opportunity to return home to Virginia and play for his home state Cavaliers. Tyree made the announcement on Tuesday early evening, just posting a picture of himself in a UVA uniform.
Tyree will get to face off against the Irish next season, as Virginia is on the schedule in mid-November. It will be very interesting to see how he progresses in another system as a receiver.
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Roll Tide Wire takes a look at five early transfer portal entrants that Alabama could look to pursue. The window officially opens up on November 4.
Although the season has not ended, the Alabama coaching staff almost certainly has their eyes set on the transfer portal. In recent years, Alabama has been able to haul in multiple impactful transfers. Several to note are Jameson Williams, Eli Ricks, Jermaine Burton, and Tyler Steen.
It is a crucial aspect of the current recruiting landscape that surrounds college football. The transfer portal has become vastly important for a plethora of programs across the country. Adding experience and firepower are two things that teams are constantly looking to bring in to their programs.
Roll Tide Wire takes a look at five early transfer portal entrants that Alabama could look to pursue in the coming months.
News of Notre Dame wide receiver Chris Tyree entering the transfer portal came down on Monday afternoon.
Tyree entered Notre Dame in 2020 as a highly touted running back recruit with blazing speed. After the Irish built one of the nation’s strongest backfields ahead of 2023, Tyree moved to wide receiver where he was the team’s leader in receiving yards this season.
Personally, I think the loss of Tyree isn’t the biggest of deals. The fact he lead Notre Dame in receiving yards is more of an endictment on the roster than it is anything else.
That said, Tyree was a fun player to watch in blue and gold. His highlights didn’t happen all that often but when they did you sure got your money’s worth.
At no time was that more evident than when Notre Dame had just fallen behind Wisconsin in the 2021 Shamrock Series game at Soldier Field. Just under a minute into the fourth quarter Tyree received the ensuing kickoff and the rest, as they say, was history. Watch it again below.
I’m not the biggest Gus Johnson fan but his call was perfect for the moment (unlike many of his in the Michigan-Ohio State tilt this past weekend).
That one opened the floodgates as Notre Dame went on to beat the daylights out of Wisconsin in the fourth quarter and win 41-13.
With the regular season in the books, the dominoes regarding the transfer portal are starting to fall. Notre Dame already is losing defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah to the portal. Now, the Irish can add Chris Tyree to the list after he made the announcement on Instagram:
Notre Dame WR Chris Tyree is entering the transfer portal, per his Instagram. pic.twitter.com/IMUZsFLzyw
Tyree converted from running back to receiver during the past year and made the most of it. He finished the regular season as the Irish’s top receiver with 484 yards on 26 receptions, three of them going for touchdowns. He also has the Irish’s only punt return for a touchdown this season.
While we obviously wish Tyree the best moving forward, the Irish’s receiving corps just took another hit ahead of their bowl game. [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag], the tight end right behind Tyree on the receiving chart, is out for the season with an injury. That leaves [autotag]Rico Flores[/autotag] as the top remaining receiver with 392 yards on 27 receptions and one touchdown. Best of luck to [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] in planning for the final game of the season.
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Hopefully, these players can end the regular season on a high note.
Notre Dame has one game left in the regular season against Stanford. Good luck finding a way to watch it on the Pac-12 Network, but that’s a topic for another day. Right now, let’s focus on who is most likely to help the Irish beat the Cardinal.
Statistically, here’s who is likely to factor in whether the Irish can get revenge for last year’s defeat in South Bend:
Notre Dame has two games left to improve the quality of the bowl it will play in. That might not mean much given that the New Year’s Six bowls are out of play, but it still is something to shoot for. The first of these contests comes against Wake Forest.
Here are the players statistically leading the Irish going into their home finale, one of which knows the Demon Deacons very well:
Notre Dame is riding high after winning its past couple of games. Now, it will visit a Clemson team that looks nothing like it did the past few years. The Irish have to feel pretty good about their chances. Wouldn’t you?
Here are the statistical leaders for the Irish heading into November: