Cornerback Karson Hobbs departs Notre Dame's secondary. A promising talent, his departure signals further defensive back attrition and an opportunity for others to shine.
Notre Dame lost another defensive back after redshirt sophomore Karson Hobbs' agent announced he will enter his named in the transfer portal when the window opens on January 2. This move was expected given how Hobbs' season unfolded in 2025. The 6-1, 188-pound cornerback will have two years of eligibility remaining heading into the 2026 season.
Hobbs was a member of the 2024 Notre Dame recruiting class home to several other key players on the Notre Dame defense like boundary corner Leonard Moore, starting safety Tae Johnson, defensive end Bryce Young and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. Hobbs was a consensus three-star recruit coming out of high school; On3's industry rankings had him ranked as the No. 592 recruit nationally, the No. 61 cornerback and the No. 22 recruit in the state of Ohio.
The 6-1, 188-pound cornerback played in seven games this season with the bulk of his playing time coming in the first two games. Due to Alabama transfer DeVonta Smith's lingering injuries to start the season, Hobbs was in the nickel rotation against Miami in the season opener and got his first collegiate start at nickel in their home opener against Texas A&M. Hobbs was unable to capitalize on his opportunities in the starting lineup after giving up nine receptions on 17 targets and one touchdown in his first two games of the 2025 season.
Hobbs mostly played on special teams in 2024 appearing in eight regular season games. He was not a part of the special teams rotation in 2025. The Ohio native will finish his career in South Bend with seven total tackles, one pass defended and one interception which came this season against NC State towards the end of the matchup.
The Cincinnati native is a rangy corner who has good top end speed and really good length. I personally believe a reason for the lack of overall success for Hobbs in South Bend was due to the position he was asked to play this season. Based on his skillset, Hobbs isn't a natural nickel corner and only began to learn the position this past spring but was called upon to step into the starting lineup in just the second game of the regular season against a potent offense.
The Irish have lost a handful of defensive backs to the portal including safeties Ben Minich, Taebron Bennie-Powell and JaDon Blair and cornerback Chance Tucker. A lot of this attrition has been expected meaning the young players in this room will have to continue to be developed at a high level. That's something I'm confident defensive backs coach Mike Mickens will do a tremendous job of. Hobbs will be a good player on whichever team picks him up in the portal and we wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.
-------
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!