Portal-mania for the coming offseason has begun before the midway point of the 2024 season.
The next transfer portal window for FBS college football doesn't open until Dec. 9, but players are already declaring their intentions to enter the portal. The two windows for transfer portal entries this coming offseason are Dec. 9-Dec. 28 and 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.
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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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