In this day and age of college football, every team is impacted by the transfer portal for different reasons. Some teams build solely through the transfer portal, some programs use it to supplement their roster and other programs refrained from portal additions entirely. This upcoming season, all 12 opponents for the Irish were impacted in different ways by the transfer portal. Here's a breakdown of the impact additions and departures of every Notre Dame regular season opponent.
ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS
247Sports Portal Ranking: 17
The portal windows were alive and well in Fayetteville this offseason. Arkansas lost 40 players to the portal and were able to bring in 31 players to replace some lost production. Their biggest losses were amongst the pass catchers from the 2024 season. Between the portal and graduation, the Razorbacks lost a combined 242 receptions, 3,326 yards and 13 receiving touchdowns. Their biggest losses to the portal was receiver Isaiah Sategna, tight end Luke Hasz and wide receiver Khafre Brown who were all slated to start in the fall.
To counter the move, the Razorbacks brought in nine pass catchers between the winter and spring portal windows. Among them was Charlotte transfer receiver O'Mega Blake, Stanford transfer receiver Ismael Cisse and Texas A&M tight end transfer Jaden Platt. They don't have the production numbers from the previous regime but they have experience and will be weapons for quarterback Taylen Green.
Some of the biggest news for Arkansas in the portal came with running back Braylen Russell announced his withdrawal from the transfer portal. He returns as their most productive back with 67 carries, 354 yards and three touchdowns. Russell is a big bodied back and will be one of the harder ball carriers the Irish will face this upcoming season when they square off on the road against the Razorbacks for the first time in program history.
BOISE STATE BRONCOS
247Sports Portal Ranking: 93
Boise State has had a relatively quite portal window. They've only lost two players who played over 150 snaps from a season ago in wide receiver Prince Strachan who transferred to USC and linebacker Andrew Simpson who has yet to find a home. The biggest news in the portal windows for the Broncos was defensive tackle Braxton Fely electing to withdraw his name from the portal at the end of the spring window.
Fely racked up 24 total tackles, 9.0 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks and started 12 of the 14 games last season. He played 294 snaps last season and started every game with the exception of their final regular season game against Oregon State and the conference championship game against UNLV, but still played a combined 91 snaps between both games.
They picked up running back Malik Sherrod from Fresno State in the portal as well to help take some of the load off of returning running back Sire Gaines in an effort to replace some of Ashton Jeanty's production. With that being said, outside of Simpson and Strachan, their roster has remained intact and will feature a majority of players who were on the 2024 roster. The Irish and the Broncos will also square off for the first time in program history in South Bend on October 4.
NC STATE WOLFPACK
247Sports Portal Ranking: 57
The Wolfpack also had a relatively quiet portal session compared to other teams on Notre Dame's schedule. They brought in 15 players between the winter and spring windows to replace the 22 players they lost of offense and defense between the two portal sessions. They lost six players total, four on defense and two on offense, who played over 150 snaps from a season ago.
Their biggest name losses was receiver KC Concepcion and linebacker Kamal Bonner. Concepcion was a do-it-all type of offensive weapon; he finished the 2024 season with 53 receptions, 460 yards, six receiving touchdowns, 36 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. He transferred to Texas A&M in the winter portal window. Bonner finished the season fifth on the team in tackles with 56, tallied 7.0 tackles for a loss and 1.0 sack. He will be playing for the Miami Hurricanes this fall.
As a team, their roster remains mostly intact from a season ago with a lot of members stepping up into the starting lineup who were a part of the team in 2024. A lot of their portal pick ups this offseason have been for depth. Only four transfer players, center Jalen Grant, right tackle Teague Andersen, linebacker Tra Thomas and safety JJ Johnson, are expected to start come the fall. All other players are either returning starters or returning members from the team. Notre Dame and NC State will face off in South Bend on October 11, the week before they take on USC.
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