Notre Dame Returns A Lot Of Offensive Talent In 2023, Just Look At The Transfer Portal

Notre Dame has not played championship football on offense for a long time, and there have been a number of reasons for it over the years. Sometimes it has been coaching, sometimes it has been a lack of talent, sometimes a combination of both. We don't yet know if the 2023 offense will play to the level needed for Notre Dame to be a title contender, but there is little doubt that talent will be the thing that keeps this unit from getting to that level.

There are questions about experience, proven production and to a degree health, but Notre Dame returns a great deal of talent. I've gotten a kick out of the discussion about Notre Dame's portal losses on offense, and to me that it evidence of how much talent remains.

In one breath we hear about how Notre Dame lacks the skill talent to be an elite offense, and in the next breath we hear about how big of a loss the portal departures are for the offense. The interesting part of this discussion is that none of Notre Dame's portal departures were expected to be starters.

247Sports analyst Chris Hummer had this to say about former Irish running back Logan Diggs:

"Logan Diggs is arguably the top running back in the portal, and he's not short on SEC interest."

I don't even disagree with Hummer's conclusion of Diggs, who racked up 1,033 yards last season. Diggs was a key part of a productive one-two punch at running back last season, and he would have continued being a key factor in the backfield had he chosen to stay. But Diggs was going to be more of a clear No. 2 to Audric Estime this season, and let's not forget that Diggs was outplayed by freshman Jadarian Price during the spring of 2022.

SEC schools are battling for a running back that would have been at best the No. 2 running back for Notre Dame this season.

Wide receiver Lorenzo Styles left Notre Dame for Ohio State, a team most consider a title team in 2023. He was expected to be Notre Dame's top receiver in 2022, and his 30 catches did lead the position group. A starter in 2022, Styles was easily beat out this offseason by rising sophomore Tobias Merriweather this spring.

Classmates Jayden Thomas and Deion Colzie had also passed up Styles in the battle for not only starting roles, but "go to receiver" receiver snaps. The arrival of Chris Tyree to the slot this spring, and the emergence of talented freshman Jaden Greathouse, meant Styles would have likely been more of an outside receiver had he stayed.

In fact, the battle for Styles this summer and fall was not would he beat out Merriweather at the Z position or Thomas in the slot, but whether or not he could hold off freshman Rico Flores Jr., who outplayed him during the spring.

There were other reasons why Virginia Tech transfer Kaleb Smith left the team in the middle of spring, but the 2022 All-ACC performer was having a very tough time moving up the Irish depth chart. It was becoming more and more clear he was not going to be a starter for the Irish, and he was going to be at best the next man off the bench.

Notre Dame's receivers clearly have a lot to prove, but there is no doubt the unit will be deep and talented. The backfield should be quite good as well.

Of course, Notre Dame also hit a portal home run when it landed quarterback Sam Hartman, who is ranked by 247Sports and On3 as the top quarterback in the portal this cycle. The arrival of Hartman puts Notre Dame in position to have an enormous jump in production and quality play from the quarterback position.

Notre Dame's top two quarterbacks in 2022 are battling to be starters at Power 5 schools. 10-game starter Drew Pyne transferred in December and ultimately ended up at Arizona State. Alabama didn't like what it saw from its quarterbacks in the spring, so they scooped up Tyler Buchner and are asking him to come in and battle for that job.

So Notre Dame's backup quarterback has a good chance to be Alabama's starter in 2023, Notre Dame's backup running back is being coveted by SEC schools, and the team's No. 5 receiver is headed to Ohio State.

Perhaps you're starting to get a sense why I'm so excited to see what this offense can be in 2023.

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