Is Notre Dame Finished With The Transfer Portal Window?

In spite of a slow start to the transfer portal window, Notre Dame has managed to sign seven top-end players at positions of need in this cycle.

It may have struck out early with targets like Michigan State transfer wide receiver Nick Marsh and Wake Forest defensive tackle Mateen Ibirogba, but the Fighting Irish staff has responded in a big way, landing one of the best and deepest portal classes.

Boasting three former five-stars as additions in the portal was a great start (WR Quincy Porter, Ohio State, WR Mylan Graham, Ohio State, DE Keon Keeley, Alabama) and the supplementing them with standout defensive tackles Francis Brewu (Pitt) and Tionne Gray (Oregon) has made this class one that stands out among the nation's best.

Not to mention, Notre Dame also added to what is likely the best defensive backs room in the country, with the additions of Colorado transfer corner DJ McKinney and Michigan transfer corner Jayden Sanders.

Lastly - who could forget about the kicker? Notre Dame has STRUGGLED to kick the ball through the goalposts for the better part of the last two seasons but seems to have found its kicker for the next handful of years with Purdue transfer Spencer Porath.

While kicker isn't the most exciting or sexy position to land in the portal, Porath may end up being the most important pickup in this cycle.

With those seven players heading to Notre Dame in the coming days, it begs the question: Will there be any other surprises left to join them?

The short answer is probably not. While we know the staff is kicking the tires on some players currently in the portal, the player(s) Notre Dame would look to add would have to be a perfect fit, at the perfect position, and be better than what the Fighting Irish already have at that given position.

The only real positions of concern after the supplements from the portal are backup quarterback and running back. Even those feel like a stretch because Notre Dame has the talent at both spots, it is just unproven.

There is some valid anxiety about there being no one with any experience to backup star quarterback CJ Carr. However, if he goes down, Notre Dame is likely done for anyways. Finding the perfect guy that is okay to backup Carr and know he will not have a chance to compete for the job is not easy to do.

At running back, opinions seem to be split about the de facto RB1, Aneyas Williams. There is no denying Williams, through no fault of his own, will be a step down from Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price who are both NFL bound. He still has plenty of talent, but Notre Dame needs a national title level back to carry the load, is Williams that guy?

I'm not so sure.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the running backs filling in behind Williams. There is plenty of talent with sophomore Kedren Young, redshirt freshman Nolan James Jr. and true freshman tandem Javian Osborne and Jonaz Walton.

Will one of them take the reigns and become the lead back alongside Williams, or will the Fighting Irish staff find a true RB1 in the portal?