Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2022 25 like he had the year prior at Marshall, but he started all 13 games for the Irish at right guard. LB Isaiah Pryor: The Ohio State transfer never turned into a starter at Notre Dame, but he was a valuable backup to Jack Kiser at rover in 2021 and played a prominent role on special teams throughout his stay with the program. DE Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa: From the tragic death of his father in the preseason to being named a team captain and being a full-time starter at Notre Dame for the first time in his career, 2021 was an eventful year for Tagovailoa- Amosa. Now he has the chance to realize another dream — playing in the NFL. LB Drew White: A team captain like Hamilton, Williams and Tagovailoa- Amosa, White meant a lot to Notre Dame during his time in South Bend as a three-year starter. RB Kyren Williams: Arguably the overall team MVP in 2021, Williams was the first Notre Dame running back with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons since Darius Walker in 2005-06. Wil- liams scored 31 total touchdowns in 24 games during the past two seasons. His production and team leadership will be sorely missed, but it was time for him to move to the next level. NCAA TRANSFER PORTAL ENTRANTS S Litchfield Ajavon: He only played eight defensive snaps from 2019-21. He appeared on special teams often but never worked his way up the defensive depth chart. The always jovial Ajavon had not announced a new destination as of Feb. 7. P Jay Bramblett: He was a three-year starter for Notre Dame. He averaged 41.4 yards per punt across 164 career kicks. Bramblett only had one punt returned for more than 20 yards in his entire time with the Irish. He followed former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly to LSU to be closer to his home in Alabama. OL Quinn Carroll: He arrived at Notre Dame with much promise as a four-star talent and the No. 1 overall player out of Minnesota in the class of 2019, but it never materialized at Notre Dame. He announced he'll head home to become a Golden Gopher. QB Brendon Clark: He never got his feet under him during his time at Notre Dame. He arrived after suffering an ACL injury in high school, and he battled lin- gering knee injuries throughout his Irish career. Clark completed 2 of 4 attempts for 29 yards with one touchdown over the course of the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Clark transferred to Old Dominion. S Khari Gee: The three-star de- fensive back from Atlanta Woodward Academy never logged a defensive snap in his one season at Notre Dame. He announced his intention to transfer to Georgia Tech in mid-January. CB JoJo Johnson: A three-star re- cruit from nearby Merrillville (Ind.) High, Johnson was originally committed to Cincinnati. He injured his knee early in the 2021 season and wasn't able to play a snap for the Irish. He became the 11th Notre Dame player to enter the portal since September when he did so on Feb. 1. WR Lawrence Keys III: He decided to sit out the remainder of the 2021 sea- son in September and officially entered the transfer portal in October. Keys caught 18 passes for 185 yards in the prior two seasons. He signed with Tulane dur- ing the early signing period in December. LB Paul Moala: He tore his Achil- les in each of the last two seasons, both in games against Florida State. He was subsequently limited to 31 defensive snaps since 2020. By the beginning of February, Moala had not yet announced where he's headed next. S Caleb Offord: He only played three defensive snaps as a true freshman in 2020. He played seven in 2021. The three-star recruit could not climb his way up the depth chart. Offord com- mitted to Buffalo in mid-January. LB Shayne Simon: He tore his la- brum after eight snaps in Notre Dame's Center Jarrett Patterson provided the Irish offense with a huge boost when he opted to return to South Bend for a fifth season. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER