Notre Dame football is a program that feels right on the brink of finally getting over the hump and winning a national championship, the first since 1988. The Fighting Irish have won 24 games over the last two seasons, including a title game appearance back during the 2025 college football season. With how well head coach Marcus Freeman and the Irish staff had been recruiting and developing talent, it was reasonable to believe that they could be one strong offseason away from achieving that final goal.

With the season ending so abruptly, the transfer portal was the main conversation point among the Notre Dame fan base. With so much talent returning in 2026, this was about loading up on impact talent to get ready for that championship push. While it is still early on in the process, things have not been going well so far. Some would argue that it has been catastrophic, while others would say that they want to see more. In reality, it is probably somewhere between those two extremes, but tipping a bit more toward the former right now.

In just a few days since the portal opened, the Irish staff has lost out on their top wide receiver, Nick Marsh (Michigan State), who ended up signing with Indiana. Top cornerback target Jontez Williams (Iowa State) also opted for USC, while some other targets like tight end Brody Foley (Tulsa) and defensive tackles Mateen Ibirogba (Wake Forest) and Horace Lockett (UCF) cancelled visits to South Bend this week. That is a lot of talent that the Irish have seemingly missed on.

Again, there is time, but the portal process is so fast. Early bad fortune like this is tough to stomach. Where has this Notre Dame staff gone so wrong so far?

The unjustifiable 

When Notre Dame decided to opt out of bowl season, while it was hated by some, the silver lining was that this Irish staff had a perceived head start on the transfer portal. With that extra time, it was assumed that general manager Mike Martin and head coach Marcus Freeman were going to put together a stellar class. They had the time, the resources, and the vibes around the programs was they planned to be very aggressive.

If you think back to this time last year, or even a little before, Notre Dame was forced to tackle the portal process while also navigating the playoffs to try to win a championship. Before the portal even opened, the Irish had already had multiple commitments, including from wide receiver Malachi Fields. With the extra time, they weren’t able to get a couple of commitments in place? How did the team handle the early portion of this process so poorly and not be more prepared?

Why didn’t Notre Dame have visitors come during this past weekend? Other schools hosted potential targets, and it ended up hurting you with both Marsh and Williams. It appears that the staff wanted the “last shot” at some of their key targets, but the transfer portal isn’t like the recruiting process. More often than not, the first visit wins. You aren’t guaranteed months of time, or even a legitimate chance.

The early portal process is unforgivable for Notre Dame, especially when this isn’t the first rodeo for any of the coaches.

The logical 

Common sense would say that the failures in the early portion of the portal process probably lie with a little too much dependence on Martin. With Martin previously working in the NFL for such a long time, this portal chaos is still very new to him. It is no secret that Freeman and the staff have put a lot of trust into him to build this roster, and perhaps that is where the missteps have come. That is speculation on my part, but with how the Irish have been successful with the portal in the past, it is understandable to ask what the difference is in the room, and that is Martin.

The downright bizarre 

If that theory is correct, it is a black eye for Coach Freeman. As the head coach of the football team, every decision needs to go through him, and he ultimately has final say. Schedules are all finalized through him, as is the target board, and the strategy involved. Getting a later start to hosting visitors is on Freeman. With his experience handling the portal, he should have at worst been a guiding light for this staff. At the end of the day, everything reflects on him – the wins, the losses, and the failures.

With Freeman’s flirtation with the NFL this past offseason, it has already become a negative recruiting tool for opposing programs. If the fans wanted some comfort in the long-term future, these types of missteps aren’t at all comforting. While I am not suggesting that Freeman has one foot out of the door, it certainly doesn’t feel like full buy-in when things like this fall through the cracks. The margin for error is now a lot smaller heading down the stretch of the portal process, and this team can’t waste the opportunity to give this roster a final championship boost heading into the 2026 season.

The Irish will need to land the likes of defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam (Penn State), star pass rusher John Henry Daley (Utah), and a couple of talented offensive pass catchers to get the confidence back, at least from the fan base perspective.

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Ryan Roberts