The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff window in controversial fashion, leading to Marcus Freeman and company opting not to play in a bowl game this season.
Despite winning their last 10 games of the season in a row, the Fighting Irish were not given a chance to play for a national championship. Freeman and company entered into the offseason with the program angry and extremely disappointed.
Since the end of the season, the NCAA transfer portal has opened up. Notre Dame saw quite a few players leave the program, but have yet to be able to add talent.
Freeman and the Fighting Irish were called out very clearly for their brutal transfer window activity.
“Per On3sports, schools with ZERO transfer portal signees (so far): Notre Dame,” Brad Powers wrote on X.
Obviously, that is not good news for a program that was hoping to improve the roster for another run in 2026. There is still time to add talent, but Notre Dame will need to get aggressive soon.
Marcus Freeman’s Future With Notre Dame Is Still a Question Mark
Immediately after the season ended for the Fighting Irish, Freeman started seeing his name circulating as a potential NFL head coaching candidate.
He took to social media to shut down those rumors back on December 29.
“2026…run it back,” Freeman wrote on X. “Go Irish.”
While fans were hoping to see the rumors come to an end, that hasn’t been the case. In fact, on Sunday, January 11, the rumors picked back up with brand new reporting.
According to a report from NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, NFL teams have “ignored” Freeman’s post about sticking with Notre Dame. They remain interested in trying to convince him to come to the professional ranks.
Losing Freeman would be a devastating blow. The Fighting Irish might not be able to bounce back if that happened for years. However, his post remains public and he is still currently committed to winning a national championship with Notre Dame.
Who Have the Fighting Irish Lost in the Transfer Portal?
As previously mentioned, the Fighting Irish have suffered some losses in the portal this offseason.
Among those players are wide receiver Antavious (Scrap) Richardson, linebackers Anthony Sacca and Bodie Kahoun, defensive back Cree Thomas, quarterback Kenny Minchey, defensive end Johsua Burnham, safety JaDon Blair, and running back Gi’Bran Payne.
To replace all of that talent, Freeman will need to get busy in the portal. There are still a lot of quality players available for him to pursue.
Whether or not Notre Dame can go out and bring in a good transfer portal class remains to be seen. Freeman has done a great job on the recruiting side of things from high school, but a lot of the best teams in the nation have used the transfer portal.
Expect to see the Fighting Irish bring in some talent before the portal closes on January 16. Freeman has a lot of work to do to make Notre Dame a championship contender in 2026.
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