It has been an extremely busy week for Notre Dame football while navigating the transfer portal chaos. Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish have surged to put together arguably the top overall portal class in the country, helping to solidify their defensive line, wide receiver room, and secondary. The latter had a couple of the most intriguing additions, bringing in DJ McKinney (Colorado) and Jayden Sanders (Michigan) for an already stellar secondary.

With the additions of McKinney and Sanders, this pretty much solidifies that Notre Dame is going to have yet another outstanding secondary. Bringing in McKinney, however, does raise the question of just how he would potentially fit with returning starting outside corners Leonard Moore and Christian Gray. That could lead to an offseason move to make everything fit together, something that I believe is on the horizon. It would be the missing link to optimize all of the talent that is already in the room.

Let’s remove safeties Adon Shuler, Tae Johnson, and Luke Talich from the equation for a second. Most people have a good pulse for what that safety room is going to look like. The cornerback position is the much more interesting one, with a few questions remaining to be answered.

Projected secondary depth chart 

Let’s start with the obvious. Leonard Moore is going to be your starting boundary corner in 2026. The All-American cover man is the best cornerback in college football returning, and he has a good chance of potentially becoming a top-10 overall selection in the 2027 NFL Draft if he declares. The 6-2, 195-pound junior is that good.

With McKinney and Gray both having a ton of experience at outside cornerback, I do expect the Irish staff to make an adjustment to try and get both of them on the field at the same time. Do not be surprised if Gray moves inside to nickel to at least cross-train there. If that move does happen, you have a chance to be a lot more versatile in your cornerback room. Having three corners who can all play outside could allow Moore to move around a good bit in 2026.

First team

Here is how I expect the Notre Dame first-team cornerback tandem to look heading into the 2026 season.

Boundary corner: Leonard Moore (Jr.)

Field corner: DJ McKinney (RS Sr.)

Nickel corner: Christian Gray (Sr.)

Second team

Here is how I expect the Notre Dame second-team cornerback tandem to look heading into the 2026 season.

Boundary corner: Jayden Sanders (So.)

Field corner: Mark Zackery IV (So.)

Nickel corner: Dallas Golden (So.)

Third team

Here is how I expect the Notre Dame third-team cornerback tandem to look heading into the 2026 season.

Boundary corner: Khary Adams (Fr.)

Field corner: Ayden Pouncey (Fr.)

Nickel corner: Nick Reddish (Fr.)

Notre Dame Fighting Irish News

There’s a position change I expect Notre Dame football to make this offseason following a hectic transfer portal period 

The Notre Dame secondary could look a bit different heading into the 2026 college football season.

Ryan Roberts