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According to Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel, Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive back, Houston Griffith, will be removing his name from the transfer portal.
Sources: Houston Griffith is removing his name from the transfer portal and returning to Notre Dame. New DC Marcus Freeman and Brian Kelly were key to convincing him to return. He’ll graduate from ND this spring.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 22, 2021
18 days ago we learned that Houston Griffith wanted a chance to make a fresh start and that his name was in the portal. During the course time between then and now, Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman have been recruiting Griffith like he was an elite HS player once again.
The effort paid off.
The Irish return Kyle Hamilton, TaRiq Bracy, and Clarence Lewis to its secondary in 2021. Bracy and Lewis play the same type of corner (field) so there is two open spots in the secondary — as well as the nickel.
Because spring ball is weeks away, we can have some fun by speculating if Houston Griffith is returning to Notre Dame to play cornerback. With the departure of Nick McCloud to the NFL, the field side is open and Griffith has experience there. The natural spot would be right next to Hamilton at the open safety position — which is 99% likely — but the flexibility is there.
2021 Notre Dame Football Scholarship Chart
| Position / Year | Freshmen | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | 5th Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position / Year | Freshmen | Sophomore | Junior | Senior | 5th Year |
| Quarterback | Tyler Buchner, Ron Powlus | Drew Pyne | Brendon Clark* | - | Jack Coan |
| Running Back | Logan Diggs, Audric Estime | Chris Tyree | Kyren Williams* | C'Bo Flemister* | - |
| Tight End | Cane Berrong, Mitchell Evans | Michael Mayer, Kevin Bauman | - | George Takacs* | - |
| Wide Receiver | Lorenzo Styles, Deion Colzie, Jayden Thomas | Xavier Watts | - | Kevin Austin*, Braden Lenzy*, Joe Wilkins*, Lawrence Keys III* | Avery Davis |
| Center | - | - | Zeke Correll* | Jarrett Patterson* | - |
| Guard | Pat Coogan, Rocco Spindler | - | Hunter Spears* | John Dirksen* | Cain Madden |
| Tackle | Blake Fisher, Joe Alt, Caleb Johnson | Tosh Baker, Michael Carmody | Andrew Kristofic*, Quinn Carroll* | - | Josh Lugg** |
| Defensive Tackle | Gabriel Rubio | Aidan Keanaaina, Rylie Mills | Howard Cross*, Jacob Lacey | Jayson Ademilola | Kurt Hinish**, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa** |
| Defensive End | Jason Onye, Will Schweitzer | Alexander Ehrensberger, Jordan Botelho | NaNa Osafo-Mensah*, Isaiah Foskey* | Justin Ademilola* | - |
| Linebacker | Prince Kollie, Kahanu Kia | - | Jack Kiser*, Osita Ekwonu*, Marist Liufau*, JD Bertrand* | Bo Bauer, Shayne Simon, Paul Moala | Drew White, Isaiah Pryor |
| Safety | Justin Walters, Khari Gee | - | Litchfield Ajavon*, Kyle Hamilton, KJ Wallace* | Houston Griffith, D.J. Brown* | - |
| Cornerback | Ryan Barnes, Chance Tucker, Philip Riley, JoJo Johnson | Clarence Lewis, Caleb Offord, Ramon Henderson | Cam Hart* | TaRiq Bracy | - |
| Specialists | Josh Bryan (K) | Alex Peitsch (LS) | Jay Bramblett | - | Jonathan Doerer** |
| Totals | 26/85 (26) | 41/85 (15) | 60/85 (19) | 76/85 (16) | 85/85 (9) |