Once the Notre Dame Football team arrived back in South Bend on Tuesday from the end of its national title game run, reality kicked in when it comes to the 2025 Irish.
Specifically, the numbers game.
On Wednesday offensive guard Sam Pendleton was the first Irish player to take advantage of the special five-day transfer portal window, with more to come.
That still leaves Notre Dame at 103 scholarship commitments for 2025, 18 over the 85-man NCAA max if that limit indeed stays in place. That could all change after April 7 or not as the NCAA college sports model continues its seismic evolution, prodded by court cases and Congress.
Even with an elevated scholarship limit, the path to playing time for the former starting left offensive guard was extremely narrow. Pendleton, a former four-star prospect, will have three years of eligibility at his new school, since he redshirted in 2023, as a freshman.
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With Pendleton, Notre Dame will have potentially returned eight offensive lineman with starting experience in 2024 and a ninth, tackle Tosh Baker, with prior starting experience earlier in his career.
And young prodigies like freshman Guerby Lambert and five-star incoming freshman Wll Black. With Pendleton’s imminent departure, there are still 23 offensive linemen on the 2025 roster, including four newcomers.
Pendleton was a surprise storyline in August training camp, beating out two seniors with starting experience, Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan, for the starting left guard spot. He ended up starting seven games for the Irish and playing in 13 of the 16 as an O-linemen.
Coogan and Spindler ending up being replacement starters when injuries hit the offensive line hard in mid-September. And when Billy Schrauth returned from injury in October, Coogan and Spindler remained starters, and Pendleton became a reserve after ND’s 31-13 win in Atlanta on Oct. 19 over Georgia Tech.
Pendleton only played a total of four snaps over ND’s final three regular-season games.
He did fill in for an injured Spindler at right guard in the Dec. 20 College Football Playoff win over Indiana, when Spindler sprained an ankle. But Pendleton did not play an offensive snap thereafter in the games against Georgia, Penn State and Ohio State.
Pro Football Focus gave him a season film grade of 63.2, sixth-best among the eight offensive linemen who made at least one start for the Irish in the 2024 season.
The special transfer portal window runs through the end of the day on Saturday for all members of the Notre Dame and Ohio State teams. The Buckeyes defeated the Irish 34-23, on Monday night in Atlanta in the CFP National Championship Game.
Three Irish players migrated to the transfer portal when it opened on Dec. 9, two of whom didn’t play a down for the Irish this season — defensive tackle Tyson Ford and defensive end Aiden Gobaira.
The third, cornerback Jaden Mickey, elected to redshirt after Game 4 this season to preserve a season of eligibility and add that to his reserve at his new school.
Both Ford and Mickey transferred to Cal. Gobaira has landed at James Madison.
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