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Notre Dame Linebacker Jack Lamb Announces Departure From Program

Notre Dame’s list of players headed into the transfer portal added another name Tuesday afternoon.

Junior linebacker Jack Lamb, a former top-100 recruit, announced his intentions to leave the program on social media. The Temecula, Calif. native will graduate from the university this spring.

“I am eternally grateful for those who allowed me this opportunity and believed in me: Coach [Brian] Kelly, Coach [Clark] Lea, coach [Brian] Polian, coach [Nick] Lezynski, the strength staff, the academic support team and my professors,” Lamb wrote in his statement. “I’m forever indebted for your care and encouragement. I will miss the best teammates in the world.”

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish football junior linebacker Jack Lamb
Lamb made seven special teams tackles in 2020. (Blue & Gold Illustrated)

Lamb was a core special teams player in 2020. He played 214 special-teams snaps, the most of any Notre Dame player, seeing action on kick returns, kick coverage, punt return and punt coverage. He made seven special-teams tackles. In 2019, he was the primary linebacker in the dime package, but suffered a season-ending hip injury that November.

Its effects lingered into his junior year. Before the start of the season, Kelly revealed Lamb was behind schedule and still impacted by the “career-threatening” injury. Kelly said Lamb would be slow in returning to form and not fully engaged in the buck linebacker competition.

“During camp, he had a little bit of a setback with that hip,” Kelly said a few days before the season-opener. “He has been behind, quite frankly, in a very competitive situation. We expect he’s going to contribute immediately on special teams and continue to work on getting him back 100 percent. Jack is rounding back into playing shape, but it’s going to take some time.”

Too much time, it seems. Claiming the buck job was seen as a natural progression from his 2019 role, in which he posted seven tackles (2.0 for loss), one sack, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. Instead, Lamb found himself behind classmate Shayne Simon and sophomores Marist Liufau and Jack Kiser on the depth chart. He played in three games on defense during garbage time.

Lamb is the seventh Notre Dame player to enter the transfer portal since the season ended Jan. 1. He’s the tenth transfer or medical retirement from the 27-man 2018 signing class. The 6-4, 230-pound linebacker came to Notre Dame as the nation’s No. 77 recruit in the 2018 cycle out of Temecula’s Great Oak High School. He committed to the Irish in July 2017 over runner-up UCLA. He previously announce a top four of Oregon, Notre Dame, UCLA and Washington.

Lamb could have as many as three years of eligibility left at his next destination. He redshirted as a freshman and, like all college football players in 2020, was given an extra year of eligibility.

Junior running back Jahmir Smith, senior wide receiver Jafar Armstrong, senior center Colin Grunhard, junior defensive end Ovie Oghoufo, sophomore cornerback Isaiah Rutherford and junior safety Houston Griffith have also put their names in the portal since the Rose Bowl loss to Alabama Jan. 1.

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