Notre Dame football isn't wasting any time in trying to add from the transfer portal.
Following a week in which several Notre Dame players have announced their plans to enter the transfer portal, the Irish are hosting Saturday a graduate transfer wide receiver who has already entered the portal.
Kris Mitchell, who spent his last five seasons at Florida International, informed Inside ND Sports of his Notre Dame visit. He arrived on campus Saturday and will remain in town until Sunday night.
The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Mitchell caught 64 passes for 1,118 yards and seven touchdowns in 12 games this season for FIU.
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Mitchell signed with FIU as a two-star recruit out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin in the 2019 class. He has one season of eligibility remaining.
Notre Dame's need to add wide receivers to its roster for next season was made obvious this week with four players from the position entering the transfer portal: senior Chris Tyree, sophomore Tobias Merriweather and freshmen Rico Flores Jr. and Braylon James.
Notre Dame's wide receiver position struggled throughout the season with no player reaching 30 catches. Flores led the group in receptions with 27 for 392 yards and one touchdown. Tyree led the position in receiving yards with 484 with three touchdown on 26 catches. Merriweather led all ND players in yards per catch with 20.3 from 14 catches for 284 yards with two touchdowns. James caught just one pass for 12 yards in a redshirt season by only playing in four games.
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The scholarship receivers still on Notre Dame's roster heading into its bowl, which will be determined Sunday, are graduate senior Matt Salerno (one catch for nine yards), juniors Jayden Thomas (17 catches for 251 yards and one touchdown) and Deion Colzie (3-45-1) and freshmen Jaden Greathouse (16-252-5), Jordan Faison (14-207-3) and KK Smith (did not play). All of those but Faison, originally a football walk-on and scholarship lacrosse player, missed various amounts of time this season with injuries.
Colzie could return to play in the bowl game following a late September knee surgery. Smith could make his Notre Dame debut after missing the regular season recovering from a summer shoulder surgery.
Mitchell's FIU career followed a slow but gradual trajectory. He didn't play in any games as a true freshman and then played in four in 2020 with four catches for 39 yards. He totaled nine receptions for 158 yards and one touchdown in 10 games as a redshirt junior. He made a bigger impact with 23 catches for 348 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games in 2022 before a breakout 2023 season.
Mitchell led FIU in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in 2023. No other player caught more than 32 passes, totaled more than 423 yards or caught more than two touchdowns.
Mitchell's most productive games in 2023 came against Maine (9-201-2), New Mexico State (8-91), Sam Houston (8-75), Jacksonville State (5-109-1), Arkansas (6-157-1) and Western Kentucky (8-116).
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