Portal-mania for the 2024-25 offseason began before the midway point of the 2024 season for Notre Dame.
The winter window for most transfer portal entries came and went from Dec. 9-28. But players whose postseasons will end after that window will get an additional five days to enter the transfer portal. Head coaching changes also open up a window for additional transfer portal entries. The spring window is set for April 16-25.
Inside ND Sports will continue to use this Portal Roundup to track all of Notre Dame's outgoing and incoming transfers for the 2024 postseason/2025 preseason portal period.
A condensed version can be found in our Notre Dame Football Transfer Portal Tracker.
Rivals also also has a National Transfer Tracker with rankings of players who have entered the portal.
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Portal commitment (1/4): DE Aiden Gobaira to James Madison
Aiden Gobaira found a landing spot to restart career. The former Notre Dame defensive end announced Saturday his commitment to transfer to James Madison.
The transfer will take Gobaira, who was recruited out of Chantilly (Va.) High in the 2022 class, closer to home. Gobaira exited Notre Dame's roster last June as a medical retirement after playing in no games in his two season with the program.
The 6-foot-6, 249-pound Gobaira redshirted as a freshman and missed his sophomore season due to a preseason ACL tear in his right knee. He will have at least two season of eligibility available to him at James Madison.
Gobaira, who played in the 2022 All-American Bowl, was a coveted prospect in high school. Rivals ranked him as the No. 6 weakside defensive end and No. 84 overall in the 2022 class. He's the third former Irish player to choose his next destination in recent weeks. Defensive lineman Tyson Ford and cornerback Jaden Mickey both committed to Cal.
Portal commitment (12/25): Arkansas TE Ty Washington to Notre Dame
Ty Washington’s second chance in college football will come at Notre Dame. The former Arkansas tight end, who was dismissed from the team in late October this past season, committed to the Irish with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Washington caught just 14 passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns in his three seasons with the Razorbacks. He played in 21 games across those three seasons. His time with Arkansas came to an end after head coach Sam Pittman dismissed him from the team after Washington refused to enter a 58-25 victory over Mississippi State late in the game. Prior to the game, Washington said, he learned his grandmother was in bad health. That put Washington in a bad mental state.
Washington caught just two passes in seven games in 2024: a 23-yard touchdown in a 70-0 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the season opener and a two-yard reception in a 24-14 win over Auburn on Sept. 21.
Portal commitment (12/24): Wisconsin WR Will Pauling to Notre Dame
Will Pauling will play for some familiar faces in 2025. The former Cincinnati and Wisconsin wide receiver committed to complete a graduate transfer to Notre Dame for his final season of college football eligibility.
Three of Notre Dame’s current assistant coaches were on Cincinnati’s coaching staff when Pauling was recruited out of Homewood-Flossmoor (Ill.) High in the 2021 class: offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock, wide receivers coach Mike Brown and quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli. Pauling played two seasons at Cincinnati before transferring to Wisconsin following the 2022 season when head coach Luke Fickell did the same and initially took Brown and Guidugli with him.
Guidugli ended up at Notre Dame before the 2023 season, but Brown coached Pauling at Wisconsin that season. Pauling became Wisconsin’s top receiver with 74 catches for 837 yards and six touchdowns in 13 starts. Pauling caught 42 passes for 407 yards and three touchdowns in 2024 while Brown was on Notre Dame’s staff.
Portal commitment (12/23): Virginia WR Malachi Fields to Notre Dame
Notre Dame turned to the transfer portal for reinforcements at wide receiver ahead of the 2025 season. One year after adding three wide receivers transfers — Clemson's Beaux Collins, FIU's Kris Mitchell and Marshall's Jayden Harrison — the Irish found their next transfer wide receiver on the roster of a 2024 opponent.
Virginia's Malachi Fields announced Monday his commitment to complete a graduate transfer to Notre Dame. Fields led Virginia with 58 catches for 811 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. That included four catches for 81 yards in a 35-14 loss at Notre Dame on Nov. 16.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Fields broke out in 2023 with 58 catches for 811 yards and five touchdowns as a junior. He has one season of eligibility remaining because he missed most of his sophomore season with a broken foot, which resulted in a redshirt season.
Fields became the second transfer portal addition for Notre Dame this offseason following Alabama defensive back DeVonta Smith.
Portal commitment (12/20): CB Jaden Mickey to Cal
Cornerback Jaden Mickey preserved a year of eligibility by walking away from Notre Dame football after playing in four games as a junior this season.
Mickey intends to start his final two years of eligibility at Cal next season, Golden Bear Report confirmed for Rivals. Mickey remains enrolled at Notre Dame with the intent of graduating from the university before completing his transfer.
Mickey was Notre Dame's third outside cornerback behind Benjamin Morrison and Christian Gray when he decided to enter the transfer portal. Freshman Leonard Moore ended up becoming a key player for Notre Dame after Morrison's season ended with an injury. Mickey tallied three tackles and one pass breakup during his playing time on defense and special teams this season.
Mickey, a former four-star recruit out of Corona (Calif.) Centennial, started three games and played in 28 during his Notre Dame career. He accumulated 23 tackles, three pass breakups and one interception returned for a touchdown in an Irish uniform.
Mickey became the fourth Notre Dame player to pick Cal as a transfer destination in the last two offseasons. He joined former Irish defensive lineman Tyson Ford this offseason. Defensive tackle Aidan Keanaaina and wide receiver Tobias Merriweather transferred to Cal last offseason. Keanaaina recorded 45 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry in 13 games this season. Merriweather caught 11 passes for 125 yards and one touchdown in five games.
Portal commitment (12/16): Alabama DB DeVonta Smith to Notre Dame
Notre Dame's first transfer portal addition leaked Monday.
Former Alabama defensive back DeVonta Smith intends to graduate transfer to Notre Dame for his final season of eligibility, as multiple reports indicated.
Smith, a former four-star recruit out of Cincinnati La Salle, spent the past four seasons at Alabama. This past season was his first as a full-time starter at the husky position, which is similar to a nickelback. He compiled 30 tackles, five pass breakups, one forced fumble, one quarterback hurry and shared a tackle for loss in 12 regular season games.
Smith kept a season of eligibility intact in 2023 when he only played in four games due to injury.
Portal commitment (12/13): DL Tyson Ford to Cal
Tyson Ford's medical retirement from football last summer removed him from the Notre Dame roster but didn’t erase the dream of someday returning to play.
On Friday, Dec. 13, the former four-star defensive line prospect found a landing spot where he’ll take the next step, committing to Cal and head coach Justin Wilcox.
He’ll pick up with junior eligibility next season and will join former Irish teammates, nose guard Aidan Keanaaina and wide receiver Tobias Merriweather, both of whom joined the Bears last season. Cal went 6-6 overall in 2024 and 2-6 in ACC play after moving from the Pac-12.
The Bears will play UNLV in the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif.
Ford on Oct. 1 expressed his intentions to enter the transfer portal when it opened on Dec. 9, with a plan of still graduating from Notre Dame in May.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Ford recorded just one tackle in his two seasons with the Irish. He moved back and forth between defensive tackle and defensive end on the practice field and played just 13 defensive snaps in three games last season. Ford redshirted as a freshman with no game action.
Portal entry (10/22): DE Aiden Gobaira
Aiden Gobaira’s Notre Dame football career ended in June before it really ever could get started.
A redshirt year with no game action in 2022 was followed by a rehab season in 2023 after a training camp ACL tear and surgery, and finally medical hardship status in June this past summer.
On Tuesday, a source confirmed the 6-foot-6, 249-pound defensive end will seek a football life after Notre Dame by entering the transfer portal in December. The two windows this offseason to enter the portal are Dec. 9-28 and April 16-25.
Gobaira is the third Irish player since the season started to express his intention to enter the transfer portal, and all three are Rivals250 prospects from the 2022 recruiting class. That’s the one that former Irish head coach Brian Kelly started and that current head coach Marcus Freeman finished after Kelly bolted to LSU less than a month from the early signing period.
The other two impending transfers are cornerback Jaden Mickey and defensive tackle Tyson Ford, the latter, like Gobaira, a medical hardship designee.
Previously, six members of that class have transferred, including another former medical hardship case — Joey Tanona (Purdue). The others are cornerback Jaden Bellamy (Syracuse), tight end Holden Staes (Tennessee), wide receiver Tobias Merriweather (Cal), punter Bryce McFerson (Wake Forest) and linebacker Nolan Ziegler (still searching).
Medical hardships have allowed college football programs to continue to fund a player’s education without him counting against the NCAA scholarship maximum of 85. They are very difficult to reverse at the institution that first designated that status, and much less so at a new school.
Gobaira was a four-star prospect out of Chantilly, Va., the No. 84 player nationally in the 2022 recruiting class and the No. 6 weakside defensive end. Without an appeal, he would have two years of eligibility at his next school.
Portal entry (10/1): DL Tyson Ford
Tyson Ford's Notre Dame football career came to an end this summer when he was deemed medically retired. But the former four-star recruit still wants to weigh his options through the transfer portal next year.
Ford, who remains enrolled at Notre Dame during what would have been his junior season with the Irish, announced Tuesday he plans to graduate from the university in May and then enter the transfer portal. Ford would have three seasons of NCAA eligibility remaining.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound Ford recorded just one tackle in his two seasons with the Irish. He moved back and forth between defensive tackle and defensive end on the practice field and played just 13 defensive snaps in three games last season. Ford redshirted as a freshman with no game action.
Ford came to Notre Dame as a coveted recruit out of St. Louis' John Burroughs School. Rivals ranked Ford as the No. 6 strongside defensive end and No. 51 overall in the 2022 class. The All-American Bowl selection committed to the Irish over offers from Oklahoma, Missouri, Georgia and others.
Portal entry (9/23): CB Jaden Mickey
Four games into his junior season at Notre Dame, cornerback Jaden Mickey decided he wanted to end his college football career elsewhere. Mickey and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman announced Monday that Mickey would end his 2024 season early to redshirt and preserve a year of eligibility. Mickey plans to transfer after graduating from the university in May.
Mickey played in all four of Notre Dame's games to start the 2024 season and saw the third-most defensive snaps at outside cornerback behind starters Benjamin Morrison and Christian Gray. Mickey recorded three tackles and one pass breakup during his playing time on defense and special teams.
Mickey started three games and played in 24 during his first two seasons with the Irish. He totaled 23 tackles, six tackles for loss, one interception returned for a touchdown and two pass breakups in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined.
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