Notre Dame football loses another member of the secondary to the Transfer Portal – set to open in less than two weeks
The depth of the Notre Dame secondary continues to look different this offseason.
With the Transfer Portal set to open up on January 2, every program around college football is getting set for some sort of changes. Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame program are no different. With how well the Fighting Irish staff has retained their top talent and recruited over the years, there are naturally going to be some tough decisions that are made, on both sides.
Notre Dame said goodbye to another defensive back this week when redshirt sophomore safety Ben Minch announced that he was entering the portal. This was a decision that didn’t take many by surprise. While Minich has been a valuable member of the special teams and offers some position flexibility, he’s also a player who doesn’t seem to have a defined role on defense moving forward.
With Minich entering, he becomes the fourth defensive back to announce their intentions to hit the portal. The others who are on their way out include Chance Tucker, Taebron Bennie-Powell, and JaDon Blair. There is also another defensive back or two who could be on the move once the portal officially opens in less than two weeks.
The Irish are welcoming a five-man secondary class from the 2026 group. Notre Dame also had interest in adding another, which should have been an indicator that there was going to be some roster turnover on the back end this offseason. The group, even with the defections, is going to be long, deep, and extremely talented.
Ben Minich’s background
In three years with Notre Dame, Minich has played in 29 total games, mostly on special teams. During that span, the Ohio native has managed to collect 10 total tackles, one pass breakout, one pass defensed, and a half of a tackle for loss. His versatility has allowed Minich to spend time at both safety spots and inside at nickel.
When the Fighting Irish originally began to pursue Minich, he was considered to be a consensus three-star player by every major recruiting platform. By the end of the process, multiple of the outlets had the 6-0, 197-pound safety rated as a four-star recruit. Oh the 247 Sports Composite ranking, he ended up finishing as the No. 312 overall player, the No. 28 safety, and the No. 9 player from the state of Ohio for the 2023 recruiting class.
Minich ended up reeling in a nice offer list by his decision to select the Irish. Some of his other top offers included Oklahoma, Indiana, Vanderbilt, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Stanford, and Duke, among many others.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish News
Notre Dame football suffers another roster loss with Transfer Portal season right on the horizon
Notre Dame suffers a secondary loss ahead of the transfer portal opening on January 2, but it won’t be the last.
