Notre Dame football WR Tobias Merriweather will enter transfer portal
Once-heralded recruit Tobias Merriweather will enter the transfer portal. The Notre Dame sophomore wide receiver announced his plan Wednesday on social media.
The transfer portal officially opens Monday for underclassmen.
Merriweather became the second Notre Dame wide receiver to announce plans to enter the transfer portal after senior Chris Tyree did so Monday. Irish wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey was fired Tuesday.
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The expectations for Merriweather, who Rivals ranked as the No. 22 wide receiver and No. 135 overall prospect in the 2022 class, were never matched by his production in two seasons with the Irish.
The first catch of his Notre Dame career came six games into the 2022 season on a 41-yard touchdown reception against Stanford. It remained his only catch of the season, in part due to a concussion that sidelined him for the last three games of the regular season.
Merriweather was supposed to take a big leap in 2023 with wide receivers coach Chansi Stuckey mentioning Merriweather in the same breath as Hall of Famer Randy Moss in April for his ability to run away from defenders with the ball in the air.
The 6-foot-4, 204-pound Merriweather showed that big-play ability on a limited basis as a sophomore. He caught a 75-yard touchdown pass against Central Michigan and a 35-yard touchdown pass against Wake Forest.
But Merriweather and quarterback Sam Hartman did not become a consistent deep connection. According to Pro Football Focus, Merriweather was targeted by Hartman with passes thrown at least 20 yards downfield on 10 occasions. He caught three of them.
For the season, Merriweather caught 14 of the 26 passes thrown his way. He finished with 284 receiving yards and two touchdowns in 12 games with six starts. His 20.3 yards per catch was the best average on the team ahead of Tyree (18.6), who expressed his transfer portal intentions Monday.
Notre Dame signed Merriweather as four-star recruit out of Camas (Wash.) Union. He picked the Irish ahead of Stanford from an offer list that also included the likes of Michigan, USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA.
Former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly infamously made an in-home visit with Merriweather immediately prior to news breaking of his departure for LSU. But Merriweather stuck with his commitment to the Irish with Marcus Freeman taking over the program.
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