After its regular season concluded two days prior at Stanford, Notre Dame football got its first taste of the transfer portal on Monday.
Graduate transfer defensive lineman Nana Osafo-Mensah posted a letter on X/Twitter, thanking Notre Dame and announcing his intention to enter the transfer portal. He is the first Irish player to announce plans to enter the transfer portal, which officially opens on Dec. 4.
The Fort Worth, Texas, product leaves Notre Dame with two degrees and 39 game appearances in the span of five years. He finishes with 48 career tackles, including nine for loss, five sacks and one forced fumble. He started one game in the 2021 season and also started for defensive line coach Al Washington in the 2023 season opener against Navy.
Under head coach Marcus Freeman, the Irish lost 12 players to the transfer portal in last year's cycle including defenders Prince Kollie, Jacob Lacey and Osita Ekwonu.
In the 2019 recruiting class, Osafo-Mensah was a three-star recruit out of Nolan Catholic High. Per Rivals, he was the No. 23 weakside defensive end in the 2019 class. He committed to the Irish in May of 2018 over offers that included Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas and Texas A&M.
The 6-foot-3, 264-pound defensive lineman made a career-high two tackles for loss in Notre Dame's 56-23 win at Stanford on Saturday. He also added two solo tackles, including one sack, and a quarterback hurry.
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