Son of former NFL Hall of Famer shockingly leaves Notre Dame to test out opportunities in the transfer portal

In the wonderful world of the Transfer Portal, college football rosters can turn over in the blink of an eye. The key for roster retention and general health is to lose players because there is a logjam of talent. You don’t want to lose players for financial reasons or because they aren’t being developed. While you never want to see Notre Dame lose good players, it’s a treatment to how deep the roster is under head coach Marcus Freeman. 

We saw an unforeseen defection to many this week when sophomore safety Kennedy Urlacher decided to enter the portal with three years of eligibility remaining. In his lone season in South Bend, Urlacher managed to collect 12 total tackles, one tackles for loss, one pass breakup, and a fumble recovery. He made a name for himself mostly on special teams, where he developed into one of the team’s best as a true freshman. 

During this offseason, Urlacher has been competing to earn reps on the defensive side of the football. We knew that Adon Shuler would be holding down one safety spot. Who would be starting next to him, however, was a major question mark and spring battle. 

Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Stroman wasn’t available during spring, so it offered a big opportunity for some of the younger safeties to fight for their roles. Based on everything I could gather, all of Luke Talich, Brauntae Johnson, and freshman JaDon Blair took big steps on the back end. Urlacher still had an opportunity to play, especially on special teams, but that is a deep room and reps would have been limited. 

Urlacher is the son of former Chicago Bears Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher. His father played 13 years in the NFL, playing in 182 games for the Bears. Urlacher would end his NFL career with 1,316 total tackles, 138 tackles for loss, 41.5 sacks, 22 interceptions, and 90 pass breakups. 

With his NFL bloodlines, overall athleticism, and impact on special teams, there promises to be a strong market for the younger Urlacher. The 5-11, 196-pound safety was considered a consensus three-star recruit coming out of Chandler (Ariz.) High School. Urlacher originally opted for the Fighting Irish over offers from Miami, Penn State, Nebraska, and Arizona State among many others. 

From a talent perspective, there is a lot to like about Urlacher. He isn’t the most natural player in coverage, but he is very explosive and has good speed. Urlacher is a stellar player against the run, and plays with some very bad intentions. That makes his floor high, but the consistency in coverage will continue to be his biggest question mark.