Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 MARCH 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY PATRICK ENGEL N otre Dame put together its largest incoming transfer class in the span of exactly one month. The Irish pulled five players from the portal, starting with former South Florida kicker Spen- cer Shrader's commitment Dec. 13 and ending with the addition of Ohio State defensive end transfer Javontae Jean- Baptiste Jan. 13. The five scholarship transfer imports in one cycle tops the program's previous high of four, set in 2020. Jean-Baptiste's commitment marked the 20th transfer addition for Notre Dame since former Southern Cal wide receiver Amir Carlisle joined the pro- gram before the 2012 season. All but six of those have come since 2020. Here's a look at the numbers behind Notre Dame's transfer history since Carlisle. 5 — Transfer additions this year: Shrader, Jean-Baptiste, quarterback Sam Hartman (Wake Forest), wide re- ceiver Kaleb Smith (Virginia Tech) and defensive back Thomas Harper (Okla- homa State). All are graduate students with one year of eligibility left. 17 — Transfers into Notre Dame who were graduate students. The three ex- ceptions were Carlisle, safety Alohi Gil- man (Navy) and safety Brandon Joseph (Northwestern). Carlisle and Gilman left their respective schools after one season. Joseph spent three years with the Wildcats. All transfers except those three and former Ohio State safety Isaiah Pryor arrived with one year of eligibility left. (The four who enrolled in 2020 later gained a second, or in Pryor's case, a third.) 2014 — The year Notre Dame brought in its first graduate transfer, former Florida cornerback Cody Riggs. He started all 11 games he played that sea- son. Graduate transfers were allowed to play immediately starting in 2006, without having to sit out a season. 18 — Schools from which a player transferred to Notre Dame. The re- peats are Northwestern (Joseph and wide receiver Ben Skowronek) and Ohio State (Jean-Baptiste and Pryor). Thir- teen were Power Five programs, and all power conferences are represented. The five non-Power Five teams from which Notre Dame has plucked scholar- ship transfers are Navy (Gilman), Mar- shall (offensive guard Cain Madden), Arkansas State (kicker Blake Grupe), Harvard (defensive tackle Chris Smith) and South Florida (Shrader). All told, scholarship transfers have come from the Big Ten (six), Pac-12 (four), ACC (three), American Athletic (two), SEC (one), Big 12 (one), Confer- ence USA (one), Sun Belt (one) and the Ivy League (one). 3 — FCS players to transfer to Notre Dame since 2012, though only Smith was a scholarship recruit. Former Har- vard punter Jon Sot joined the team last spring as a walk-on. Another Ivy League walk-on punter, Ben Krimm (Pennsyl- vania), committed in December. Sot became Notre Dame's starting punter in 2022, averaging 43.8 yards per attempt with a long of 75. He put 20 of his 49 punts inside the 20-yard line and booted 13 of them at least 50 yards. Op- ponents returned only 10 of his punts all season and called fair catches on 28. Krimm, though, will begin the off- season behind scholarship sophomore Bryce McFerson, whom Notre Dame views as the 2023 starting punter after he waited a season behind Sot. 9 — Different positions among the 20 UNDER THE DOME AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE Notre Dame football has increased its transfer intake recently; what have the Irish gotten from prior imports? Safety Alohi Gilman started 26 games for Notre Dame from 2018-19 after transferring from Navy. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA