Three thoughts on Notre Dame football’s 2026 transfer portal class

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At this point, with Notre Dame having seven transfer portal commits, the picture for 2026 and beyond has become much clearer.

The portal is always going to be madness, but to navigate it the way that the Irish did was fantastic especially considering the new rules. The window will be open until Friday, as there was a 2-day dead period mixed into the two weeks of action.

Head coach Marcus Freeman will speak later this afternoon, and we’ll find out some answers about Notre Dame going forward. In the meantime, here are three thoughts that I have on the Irish and the 2026 transfer portal.

Notre Dame’s transfer class is elite in terms of quality

Marcus Freeman has somehow elevated recruiting at all levels again, something that is hard to do considering how well the high school classes have been. In the graphic above, Notre Dame will have the most talented group of players entering the program in 2026. IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY!

Notre Dame is employing a much different roster construction strategy

For the most player, Notre Dame would only take graduate transfers, but that changed during this cycle. Almost all of them will have the chance to be on campus for multiple seasons, setting up a much larger window of success. A lot of that depends on what CJ Carr ends up doing as well, but Freeman hasn’t had any quarterback issues starting with Sam Hartman in 2023, followed by Riley Leonard and now Carr.

It’s interesting to see that the Irish are giving transfers more leeway by not being graduate students, and this could end up being a huge change within the program. A really good one too.

Notre Dame played the waiting game, and it worked out

Sure, it was frustrating to watch, but at this point I don’t think that anyone is going to complain about the results. Multiple former 5-star prospects, stealing wide receivers away from Ohio State, addressing all the perceived needs with room to star, it was everything you hoped that Notre Dame would do. You have to tip your cap to Freeman, as he surely didn’t panic at all during the first week of “missing” targets. The Irish had a massive haul and there could be more additions to the group as well.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Three thoughts on Notre Dame football’s 2026 transfer portal success

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