Notre Dame’s transfer portal philosophy has to change following latest roster news for the Fighting Irish
Did the Notre Dame transfer portal strategy just shift once again?
When the transfer portal officially opened up this week, everyone and their mother knew that Notre Dame would be pursuing defensive tackles heavily. With Jared Dawson, Gabriel Rubio, and Jason Onye (most likely) out of eligibility, as well as Donovan Hinish having to medically retire, you are down four of your top five defensive tackles from last season.
Early on in the process, many had argued whether head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish should take one or two defensive tackles in the portal. Once the Hinish news broke, there shouldn’t have been any more debate. Notre Dame needed to bring in at least a couple of interior defenders who could play in 2026 in that rotation.
Notre Dame was dealt another unfortunate blow this week when redshirt sophomore Armel Mukam also announced his intentions to enter the portal. If the season had begun today, Mukam would have had a chance to claim a starting role. Without him, Elijah Hughes and a talented younger group with next to no game experience is what the Irish have in the room.
The question now needs to be asked, and it’s legitimate: Should Notre Dame consider taking three defensive tackles via the portal? Unless you feel confident that players like Sean Sevillano Jr., Davion Dixon, Elijah Golden, and Tiki Hola can contribute at a higher volume in 2026, you are playing with fire. There is a lot of validity for the Irish staff to now push for a higher number of defensive tackles.
Armel Mukam’s background
During his three years with the team, Mukam managed to play in 24 total games for the Fighting Irish. Mukam would record 11 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble during that stretch. He was expected to play a much bigger role heading into the 2026 college football season, but obviously not anymore.
Mukam was originally from Canada, but opted to play his high school football at Woodberry Forest (Va.) High School. The 6-3, 305-pound defensive tackle was originally a member of the 2023 recruiting class for Notre Dame. After originally being an underrated recruit, Mukam eventually ended up ranked as a four-star player by nearly every major recruiting platform. On the 247 Sports ranking, Mukam finished ranked as the No. 193 overall player, the No. 28 defensive lineman, and the No. 7 player from the state of Virginia in the 2023 class.
Originally a Stanford commit, Notre Dame eventually managed to get Mukam to flip. Some of the other programs that had offered Mukam coming out included Virginia Tech, UNC, Cal, Virginia, Colorado, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest, among many others.
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