Irish navigate portal departures, securing eight high-upside talents. See who left and which promising newcomers are building Notre Dame's 2026 roster.
Now that the transfer portal has officially closed, we're almost ready to turn the page and look ahead to the 2026 football season for Notre Dame. The Irish lost a total of 18 players to the transfer portal, but brought in eight players with extremely high upside and talent. There's a chance that they continue to add players to add depth, but the bulk of their eight-man portal class is completed. Classes have begun, the early enrollee freshman are on campus and the portal is officially closed.
Transfers Out
Notre Dame lost a total of 18 players in the portal, which is a relatively high number, but compared to other programs across the country, they kept their losses to a minimal. Ideally, everyone is able to stay, but in this day and age of college football players are quicker to look elsewhere for immediate playing time. Out of the 18 transfer players they lost, arguably two to three were expected to be in the rotation, and they didn't lose any players that were expected to start in 2026.
Here's a quick look at the 18 players who transferred out of the program and some of their landing spots:
Quarterback, Kenny Minchey - Kentucky
Quarterback, Anthony Rezac - South Dakota State
Running Back, Gi'Bran Payne - Cincinnati
Wide Receiver, KK Smith - Michigan State
Wide Receiver, Scrap Richardson - Auburn
Wide Receiver, Leo Scheidler - TBD
Wide Receiver, Alex Whitman - TBD
Defensive End, Josh Burnham - Indiana
Defensive End, Preston Zinter - Rice (to play tight end)
Linebacker, Bodie Kahoun - Boston College
Linebacker, Anthony Sacca - UCLA
Safety, JaDon Blair - Missouri
Safety, Ben Minich - Miami (OH)
Safety, Taebron Bennie-Powell - Boise State
Cornerback, Chance Tucker - TBD
Cornerback, Karson Hobbs - Florida State
Cornerback, Cree Thomas - Colorado
Kicker, Marcello Diomede - TBD
Burnham at defensive end, Smith at wide receiver and potentially Blair at the safety spot were projected to play some sort of role on offense or defensive this upcoming season. Minchey's future is bright under head coach Will Stein at Kentucky who's surrounding the Tennessee native with a lot of talent. It's sad to see other players like Thomas, Richardson, Kahoun and Bennie-Powell leave the program; most players on this list had a high ceiling at Notre Dame. But their futures remain bright at their landing spots for 2026.
Transfers In
The Irish maintained their mindset of majoring in high school recruiting and minoring in the transfer portal. By the numbers, their portal class wasn't anything like Indiana's or other schools who build through the portal. What Notre Dame did do, however, is bring in high ceiling and highly talented players to South Bend. All but one player has eligibility remaining after the 2026 season, but their impacts will be felt the moment they step foot on campus.
Here's a quick look at the eight-man transfer portal class the Irish brought in during this cycle:
Wide Receiver, Quincy Porter (Soph.) - Ohio State
Wide Receiver, Mylan Graham (Jr.) - Ohio State
Defensive End, Keon Keeley (Sr.) - Alabama
Defensive Tackle, Francis Brewu (Jr.) - Pitt
Defensive Tackle, Tionne Gray (Jr.) - Oregon
Cornerback, DJ McKinney (5th) - Colorado
Cornerback, Jayden Sanders (Soph.) - Michigan
Kicker, Spencer Porath (Jr.) - Purdue
The two receivers from Ohio State in Porter and Graham immediate add top end talent to the wide receiver room which is already an extremely talented and underrated group. They'll benefit from playing and learning under guys like Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison. Receiver play at Notre Dame has to reach the next level if they wish to go from contenders to champions; Porter and Graham get you closer to that mark.
The defense reloaded in the portal and added some much needed depth and talent to the defensive rotation. They brought in three players along the defensive line with Brewu from Pitt being the most experienced of the bunch. He played 484 snaps last season with the Panthers and will have the opportunity to start this season for the Irish. Keeley was a former five-star commit to Notre Dame until he flipped to Alabama in the 2023 recruiting cycle. He's returned to South Bend in hopes of taking his career to the next level under new defensive line coach Charlie Partridge.
Gray from Oregon was the final portal addition of the eight-man class. The 6-6, 336-pound defensive tackle adds an element of size the defensive line needed this season. He played 20-25 snaps a game for the Ducks in 2025, ideally he'll be able to play 25-30 this upcoming season for the Irish. Cornerbacks McKinney and Sanders add depth to a room that lost some pieces through the portal. Defensive backs coach Mike Mickens continues to add talent to an already loaded room.
After their kicking struggles in 2025, it made complete sense to go out and snag a kicker from the portal as well. Notre Dame was on top of Porath's recruitment and got him extremely quickly. The Indiana native finished last season with an 88.2 percent field goal percentage and he hasn't missed an extra point in his collegiate career. The Irish are in position to have a special season in 2026 given everything that returns, their No. 1 ranked recruiting class and the portal acquisitions. Now, we can dive into what this team will fully look like this upcoming season.
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