Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1498430
28 JUNE/JULY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED fensive tackle Caleb Johnson, cornerback Philip Riley, kicker Josh Bryan). None was a projected starter or rota- tion player in 2023. Walters' eight career games were the most of those six. Those departures and prior 2021 defections are like most of the exits from Notre Dame in recent years — players who were passed on the depth chart by younger teammates or who lost a position battle. Their playing time outlook for the up- coming season wasn't exciting. Buchner, Styles, Diggs and linebacker Prince Kollie don't quite fit that mold, even if the 2023 playing time outlook had dimmed for four of them. The depth charts at their positions are not in dis- array without them, a sign of a sturdy position group and talent development. At the same time, though, these aren't second- or third-teamers finding a home at a lower Power Five school or a Group of Five program. They had upside and non- negligible production. All but Diggs were top-100 recruits. Buchner and Styles won starting jobs in 2022 and landed at annual playoff contenders. Diggs (LSU) and Kol- lie (Vanderbilt) were linked to home-state SEC programs when they left. Buchner opted to compete elsewhere this summer rather than back up Sam Hartman at Notre Dame for a year be- fore potentially succeeding him in 2024. He picked Alabama, where he reunited with former Irish offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. The drops that sparked Styles' sopho- more slump dissipated in spring practice, but consistent first-team snaps did not follow. A move to defensive back offered long-term promise, but no clear path to 2023 playing time. Styles hit the portal to play cornerback somewhere else — and presumably find a less crowded path to the field — and he chose Ohio State. Kollie appeared to be caught in the middle of some younger players' rise and the return of three graduate student start- ers. He entered the transfer portal after the Blue-Gold Game. Diggs, a co-starter who rushed for 822 yards in 2022, chose to transfer April 27. He would have been in a timeshare with Estimé had he stayed. Diggs' transfer belongs in its own cat- egory of recent Notre Dame defections. He wasn't buried on the depth chart or caught in a numbers game. He has a his- tory of production. He's arguably the best player to transfer from Notre Dame since quarterback Everett Golson in 2015, if not defensive end Aaron Lynch in 2012. He's the most productive one since Golson. All told, the Irish have 13 of their 27 signees from 2021. Linebacker Kahanu Kia is in Year 2 of a Mormon mission, meaning only 12 are available for 2023. Without Kia, that means Rubio, tackle Jason Onye, cornerback Chance Tucker and cornerback Ryan Barnes are the only four defensive players left. This is life in the era of immediate eli- gibility for transfers. Players who aren't clear-cut starters or competing to start Wide receiver Jayden Thomas broke out in 2022 and averaged 14.5 yards per catch. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Defensive tackle Gabriel Rubio is hoping to make the jump from rotation player as a sophomore to starter as a junior. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER