Notre Dame Offensive Lineman, Colin McGovern, To Transfer To Virginia

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in the middle of a snow squall of attrition. According to Irish 247, possible 5th year offensive lineman Colin McGovern will transfer to the Virginia Cavaliers for his last year of eligibility. McGovern started the first six games of the season until ankle injuries and concussions started to keep him out of the lineup.

The offensive line play for Notre Dame this past season was mostly, not good (for lack of a better phrase). Although McGovern had injury issues, he also had issues with both pass blocking and run blocking. Many time he looked outmatched by the opponent across the line of scrimmage. Most insiders felt that even as a 5th year senior, McGovern would most likely lose his starting job to a younger candidate such as Tommy Kraemer or Liam Eichenberg.

This is the second Notre Dame offensive lineman this offseason to forego their final year of eligibility with the Irish to transfer to Virginia. John Montelus made his decision public to head to Virginia back in December. Montelus rarely saw the field and had injury issues throughout his career.

This decision by McGovern sets the Irish back another scholarship with a little over a week to go until National Signing Day. Currently, Notre Dame has 79 players on scholarship for 2017. The scholarship limit is 85, so Notre Dame would have to sign 6 more recruits to its current class to attain that level. Even then, Notre Dame has always been vulnerable to transfers after the spring semester, and this year they could still see one or two more (just a hunch).

While we would all like to keep our offensive linemen for their 5th year, the truth is that Virginia is a really good school in desperate need of its own offensive linemen after a few years of missing out on the recruiting trail. A guy like McGovern that would most likely be on the sideline this year in South Bend, will have a much easier time at Virginia while continuing a great education.

The narrative is that the Notre Dame roster is imploding, and when you factor that into what will probably be a less than stellar signing day, one can start pointing fingers at Brian Kelly for all of this. Kelly has his faults, but a transfer like this is more about a player’s personal goals as opposed to any coaching philosophy. Still, it sucks to see the roster dwindle down to a skeleton crew.