Notre Dame Scholarship Count Summary

For all the talk always present about the importance of preserving a fifth season of eligibility among freshmen or sophomores (such as quarterback Brandon Wimbush this year), Notre Dame in 2017 will likely again have a sparse number of fifth-year players.

In 2016, it was four with former walk-on running back Josh Anderson, long snapper Scott Daly, offensive lineman Mark Harrell and nose guard Jarron Jones.

It might be no more than that in 2017 as well, and maybe even less.

Ten players were eligible for a fifth season in 2017, nine of them on offense: quarterback Malik Zaire, running back Tarean Folston, wide receiver Torii Hunter Jr., tight ends Durham Smythe and Jacob Matuska, and offensive linemen Hunter Bivin, Mike McGlinchey, Colin McGovern and John Montelus.

The lone player on defense with fifth-year eligibility was cornerback Devin Butler.

• Zaire, who will graduate this month, indicated shortly after the season finale at USC that he will use his fifth season elsewhere, a la previous Irish quarterbacks Everett Golson (Florida State), Andrew Hendrix at (Miami [Ohio]) and Dayne Crist (Kansas).

• Hunter, the second-leading receiver this past season with 38 catches for 521 yards and three touchdowns, is pursuing a professional baseball career with the Los Angeles Angels.

• Montelus, who played only 20 snaps in 2016 (18 versus Nevada), will use his fifth season at the University of Virginia.

• Butler, suspended from the 2016 season while also recovering from a broken foot, will use his fifth season at Syracuse.

That leaves six. Starting left tackle/captain McGlinchey and No. 1 tight end Smythe both have stated they will return, although McGlinchey did fill out paper work to receive NFL feedback on where he stood.

Smythe’s nine catches for 112 yards and four touchdowns led the tight end crew this year. He had 633 snaps this past season while juniors Nic Weishar and Tyler Luatua had only 262 and 38, respectively.

So that leaves four more with the possibility of returning for a fifth season in 2017.

Before we go into those four, here’s a summary of the scholarship breakdown, based on class year for 2017, based on what we know of on Dec. 16, the final day of the fall semester at Notre Dame.

• Two fifth-year seniors (McGlinchey and Smythe)

• 18 fourth-year seniors now that quarterback DeShone Kizer (declared for the NFL Draft) and wide receiver Corey Holmes (will graduate next summer and transfer in August) will not return.

Linebacker Nyles Morgan has indicated he will come back in 2017 after submitting his name for NFL evaluation. Left guard Quenton Nelson also field paperwork, but we are still counting him for now to return.

• 22 juniors, including wide receiver/return man Chris Finke, who was awarded a scholarship this August, and finished this season by scoring touchdowns against Virginia Tech and USC.

• 23 sophomores, with 14 having played this season as freshmen, the most in head coach Brian Kelly’s seven seasons with the Irish.

• 18 verbal commitments so far in the class of 2017.

That takes our count to 83, two short of the NCAA limit of 85. On the surface, one might say, “My gosh, Notre Dame can either give out only two more scholarships to recruits or use them up with two of the four fifth-year seniors remaining.”

Never fear, attrition in college football is always here.

At the end of National Signing Day last year, Notre Dame had potentially 90 players on its roster, which needed to be cut to 85 by August. By the end of August, it was less than 85. So from that perspective, the Irish could still return all four remaining fifth-year prospects plus three more recruits to be at 90 like in last February.

However, among the four fifth-year prospects, we don’t envision more than two returning.

Matuska took only 10 snaps at tight end last year, and that position remains well stocked this spring with Smythe, Weishar, Luatua, early enrollee Brock Wright — maybe the top prospect in this year’s Irish freshman class — plus Alizé Jones hopefully eligible to play this season after academics sidelined him in 2016 (but he still practiced with the scout team). Jones led the tight ends in receiving as a 2015 freshman with 13 catches for 190 yards.

As for Folston, he admitted the 2016 campaign wasn’t anything he expected individually or collectively, especially carrying only 59 times the final 11 games for 246 yards. He took only 209 snaps compared to sophomore Josh Adams’ 495, while another sophomore, Dexter Williams, had 126 and could be trending upwards, along with redshirted freshman Tony Jones Jr. This could result in Folston either declaring for the draft or finding a place to transfer where he can get more consistent carries in his fifth season.

That leaves right guard McGovern and guard/tackle Bivin for fifth years.

McGovern started eight games in 2016, but lost his spot at the end of the year to Harrell. McGovern has twice injured his knee and suffered multiple concussions. That injury history and a likely battle with either sophomore center Tristen Hoge (who also has worked at guard) or freshman Tommy Kraemer — both prominent recruits — might prompt McGovern to not return for a fifth season, similar to Conor Hanratty in 2015 (also had multiple concussions).

Bivin has no path to a starting position, but could have a Harrell-like role in 2017 if he wants to return.

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