Safety Houston Griffith, A Former Top-50 Recruit, Enters Transfer Portal
The highest-ranked player in Notre Dame's 2018 class has plans to leave the program.
Safety Houston Griffith, the No. 43 player in the 2018 Rivals250, has entered his name in the transfer portal, according to a report from Yahoo! Sports' Pete Thamel. The rising senior totaled 14 tackles (1.0 for loss) in 12 games this season. He started early-season games against South Florida and Florida State due to injuries and absences.
Griffith began fall camp in the competition to start at safety next to Kyle Hamilton, but sixth-year senior Shaun Crawford earned the job after he slid over from cornerback. Griffith spent most of his time on defense in nickel and dime packages, supplementing primary nickel back D.J. Brown. He was also a special teams fixture.
A mid-year enrollee, Griffith saw the field right away as a freshman. His 197 snaps as a freshman were the most of any 2018 signee that year. He was the primary nickel back after Crawford tore his ACL that fall.
In 2019, though, he moved to cornerback and saw his snap count nearly cut in half. He played 104 snaps, most of them in garbage time, and shifted back to safety during the season. He played with the first-team at Notre Dame's lone 2020 spring practice and impressed, but that didn't amount to him earning the starting job.
The 6-0, 204-pound Griffith is a Chicago native and played his first three years of high school football at Mount Carmel on the city's South Side. He transferred to IMG Academy in Florida for his senior year and committed to Notre Dame in December 2017. He had initially committed to Florida State.
Griffith totaled 39 tackles, 1.0 TFL and three pass breakups in 37 career games, with three starts. He's the fifth Notre Dame player to enter the portal since the season ended.
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @MasonPlummer_ and @AndrewMentock.
• Like us on Facebook.