Notre Dame Football: Mid-January transfer portal updates for the Fighting Irish

There’s been no hotter subject surrounding Notre Dame and the rest of the college football world over the past month than the transfer portal. And yes... I’m including the signing day early period, bowl season, and the college football playoff in that discussion — nothing has been hotter than the portal for a variety of reasons.

One of those reasons is because of the timing of the portal itself. It’s a mad dash for players and coaching staffs to get as much done as possible to ensure the best roster possible by the start of the winter semester. Because things move so quickly, it’s somewhat difficult to put a thumb on what’s happening with some of the players — but let’s give it another shot.

ANOTHER SHOT

One year ago today, C.J. Williams enrolled to play football for the USC Trojans after being an Irish commit for the 4 months prior to signing day. It was a brutal shot to take for Notre Dame as the need for wide receivers was great, and Williams would have been one of the highest-rated WR’s to sign with ND in well over a decade.

Notre Dame is getting another shot to fix that, and C.J. Williams is getting another shot at Notre Dame.

From everything I’ve gathered, if Williams makes it to Notre Dame for a visit this weekend, he will commit to the Irish. As of right now, that result feels like a 90% probability.

OFF THE EDGE

It’s not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination, but as of right now, I’m expecting defensive end Byron Vaughns to eventually announce that he’s committing to Notre Dame for his final year of eligibility.

Things can certainly change, but one way or another we should know by the end of this week.

SWEEPING UP

While Notre Dame could definitely use one or two defensive linemen on top of the possibility of Vaughns, I don’t really see anything more happening in the portal right now. Notre Dame is much MUCH more active with the portal this cycle as opposed to the last cycle, so that could change as well as the post-spring transfer season is still in front of us.