Notre Dame’s spring roster gets a jolt with the arrival of 8 early enrollees and 2 transfers

As the winter semester gets underway, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are adding 10 fresh bodies to the 2020 roster this week. There are eight early enrollees and two transfers that will be in South Bend now for winter workouts and spring practice.

8 EARLY ENROLLEES

• DE Jordan Botelho
• DE Alexander Ehrensberger
• DT Rylie Mills
• QB Drew Pyne
• WR Xavier Watts
• WR Jay Brunelle
• CB Caleb Offord
• CB Ramon Henderson

It’s kind of strange to have this many early enrollees and none of them are offensive linemen. The most intriguing players to me on this list are the wide receivers and the cornerbacks. Both positions were in a huge need of added numbers for this class, and as early enrollees, they have a serious jump on the others in their class for a chance at early playing time.

2 TRANSFERS

• S Isaiah Pryor (Ohio State Buckeyes)
• WR Bennett Skowronek (Northwestern Wildcats)

As was mentioned with the early enrollees, these two transfers add a lot to positions of need. Skowronek is a former captain with the Wildcats and was incredibly productive. Notre Dame has need for all of that experience and leadership, and he should settle in somewhere in the rotation. Pryor will have to battle for it, but the opportunity to start alongside Kyle Hamilton is there (and welcomed). Isaiah has two years of eligibility, so we could see some great continuity here at safety to follow what Alohi Gilman and Jalen Elliott had done over the past two seasons.

THINGS REMAIN UNSETTLED

Notre Dame is only sitting two over the scholarship limit right now with 87. Maybe it’s 89 if Mick Assaf and Colin Grunhard are to be counted (which I’m not entirely sure about as it pertains to 2020). Notre Dame is also strongly pursuing a flip of Ohio State commitment, 4-Star ATH Cameron Martinez.

As far as possible transfers out of the program are concerned, I’ll leave that subject alone and let it play out. There will be some — there has to be and there always are — but they are almost always insignificant to the depth chart.