Notre Dame and the Transfer Portal is a Complicated Relationship

The 2026 portal opens, Notre Dame doesn't close

After a brutal end to the 2025 college football season, Irish fans quickly turned their attention to the transfer portal, Notre Dame's first real chance to move ahead to 2026.

The theory before the portal opened was that Notre Dame knew it was close to having a title-contending roster, has a manageable schedule in 2026, and money to spend with names like Jeremiyah Love and JD Price leaving the roster. These facts led Irish fans to expect Notre Dame to be very aggressive once the portal opened.

Then, reality hit. The portal opened, and Notre Dame signed nobody in the initial wave of players. Of the top players on the board, the Irish went 0-5 if not worse, depending on what reporting you trust.

Not only did the Irish not sign any of these players, but they didn't even get them to campus to have a chance. While the Irish staff scheduled visits for early this week, teams like Indiana and USC hosted players over the weekend, and landed them in receiver Nick Marsh and Cornerback Jontez Williams.

This initial portal performance has left many Irish fans very frustrated. What happened here? Why isn't Notre Dame being more aggressive? The answers are complicated, as is the portal process itself.

Sources have informed me that Alabama defensive lineman and former five-star Keon Keeley is expected to be in South Bend visiting Notre Dame on Wednesday.

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— Tom Loy (@TomLoy247) January 7, 2026

Notre Dame is built differently from most college football teams

Notre Dame is not a typical "football factory". Credits still matter, culture still matters, and homegrown high school recruiting will always be the foundation of the program. Of the four remaining teams in the 2025 CFP, only Oregon has more starting players recruited from high school than it has transfer starters. 68% of Ole Miss' starters are from the portal, 64% for Indiana, and 55% for Miami.

Notre Dame will never be built this way. This type of roster construction just won't work in South Bend. It doesn't jive with the academics or culture. And this is ok. It just means that the Irish need to be very good at evaluating and recruiting high school players.

It's not like Notre Dame doesn't use the portal, Sam Hartman and Riley Leonard were big splashes that came with big price tags. It's just that the Irish won't overspend like crazy and extend themselves the way many had hoped.

Also, just because Notre Dame didn't make a splash in the first wave of portal players to come off the board doesn't mean it won't be active.

Former Irish commit and five-star Keon Keeley will be on campus this week, along with other defensive line targets.

Perhaps after a slow start, Notre Dame will finish strong? At the end of the day, Irish fans just want to know the "powers that be" are as dedicated to winning a title and are as invested as they are. This is a fair ask.