Meet the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football transfer portal commitments

Since the start of December, Notre Dame has added eight commitments from the transfer portal.

We have provided info on each of the incoming transfers below (in chronological order from the newest pledge to the oldest), and will continue to update this article each time Notre Dame lands a new commitment.

Northwestern DB Rod Heard II

Height: 5-11
Weight: 190
Hometown: Farmington Hills, Mich.
Commitment date: Jan. 10, 2024
Transfer portal entry date: Dec. 28, 2023
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 99 overall, No. 9 CB
Eligibility: One year

We’re expecting Heard to play safety at Notre Dame after playing for a few seasons primarily as a cornerback for Northwestern. Heard, who will be a sixth-year player, has one season of eligibility remaining. He received interest from Michigan State and Michigan as well, but his visit to South Bend on Jan. 6-7 helped seal the deal for the Irish.

Pro Football Focus rated 2023 as Heard’s best season by far, giving him a career-high 81.9 defense grade and an 83.4 mark in coverage. He set career highs in tackles (85) and passes defended (4), and he also forced 2 fumbles, 1 sack and 1 interception. Heard was a key part of a Northwestern defense that led the Wildcats to a somewhat shocking 7-5 regular season and a win over Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, just one year after a 1-11 campaign in 2022.

Marshall WR Jayden Harrison

Height: 5-11
Weight: 195
Hometown: Salisbury, N.C.
Commitment date: Jan. 9, 2024
Transfer portal entry date: Jan. 4, 2024
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 501 overall
Eligibility: One year

Notre Dame got a lot faster when it landed Harrison after just five days of him being in the portal. Harrison, who began his college career at Vanderbilt in 2020, has 71 receptions for 779 yards and 4 touchdowns in his career across four seasons. He has one year of eligibility remaining.

Throughout his career, Harrison has made his biggest impact in the return game. He compiled 705 yards on 23 kick-return attempts in 2023 and scored 2 touchdowns, earning first-team All-American honors from Walter Camp, CBS Sports and the FWAA. ESPN named him a second-team All-American return specialist, and he was also the Sun Belt Conference’s first-team kick returner. Harrison was a finalist for the 2023 Jet Award, given to the top return specialist in the country.

South Carolina kicker Mitch Jeter

Height: 5-10
Weight: 194
Hometown: Salisbury, N.C.
Commitment date: Dec. 14, 2023
Transfer portal entry date: Nov. 30, 2023
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 1 kicker
Eligibility: One year

Notre Dame is going the one-year rental route for transfer portal kickers these days, and Jeter is the latest addition for the Irish. Jeter has been a wildly accurate kicker for the past two years, going 23-for-25. That’s 92 percent, and they haven’t all been chip shots, either — Jeter is 3-for-5 from 50 yards or more. In two full seasons, Jeter has never missed a field goal from inside 50 yards. He is 20-for-20. On extra points, Jeter is 77-for-80 in his career.

It’s highly likely that Jeter will likely sit atop the Notre Dame depth chart right away. The Irish have two other kickers on their projected 2024 roster: Rising junior Zac Yoakam and rising sophomore Marcello Diomede. Jeter was a three-star recruit in the class of 2020 out of Concord (N.C.) Cannon School.

Duke EDGE R.J. Oben

Height: 6-4
Weight: 260
Hometown: Montclair, N.J.
Commitment date: Dec. 13, 2023
Transfer portal entry date: Dec. 1, 2023
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 27 overall, No. 5 EDGE
Eligibility: One year

Oben is entering his sixth year of college football and looks to be a direct replacement for Javontae Jean-Baptiste, who was an outstanding strong side end for the Irish in 2023. Oben only had 17 tackles in 2023, but he had 5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. For his career, Oben has 67 tackles (20 for loss) and 14.5 sacks. He also had an interception, pass breakup and 5 forced fumbles in those outings in 50 college football games.

According to Pro Football Focus, Oben registered his best season in 2022. He earned a 78.8 overall defensive grade during his senior campaign. He had 37 pressures (including 28 quarterback hurries) and 13 run stops. NCAA stats awarded him 20 tackles (11 solo), 6.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks. He also forced a pair of fumbles. This past season, Oben notched a 68.5 PFF defensive grade.

Duke QB Riley Leonard

Height: 6-4
Weight: 212
Hometown: Fairhope, Ala.
Commitment date: Dec. 12, 2023
Transfer portal entry date: Nov. 29, 2023
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 11 overall, No. 6 QB
Eligibility: Two years to play one

Notre Dame has now gone in the portal to land a quarterback three of the past four seasons. It added Wisconsin’s Jack Coan for the 2021 season, Sam Hartman from Wake Forest in 2023 and now has ex-Duke passer Riley Leonard. He’s played more than four games in each the past three seasons, which means he only has one year left to play college football, and he does not have a COVID free year as he was in high school in 2020.

Leonard shined in his breakout 2022 season, leading Duke to a 9-4 record in then-head coach and former Notre Dame defensive coordinator Mike Elko‘s first season in Durham, N.C. He threw 391 times, completing 250 passes for 2,967 yards (7.6 yards per attempt), 20 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, but his biggest strength proved to be his legs. As a runner, Leonard carried 124 times for 699 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2022. He followed that up with 58 carries for 352 yards and 4 scores in 2023, as his 6-foot-4, 212-pound frame and long-striding speed make him difficult to bring down.

This past season, Leonard went 95-of-165 as a passer for 1,102 yards, 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He only played in two games after suffering an ankle injury Sept. 30 against Notre Dame and a toe injury Oct. 28 against Louisville.

Clemson WR Beaux Collins

Height: 6-3
Weight: 210
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Commitment date: Dec. 10, 2023
Transfer portal entry date: Nov. 30, 2023 (portal declaration)
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 111 overall, No. 26 WR
Eligibility: Two years to play one

A consistent and reliable contributor for three straight seasons at Clemson, Collins brings a veteran presence to a Notre Dame receiver room that needs it after losing several players at the position to the transfer portal. In his time at at Clemson, Collins caught 91 passes for 1,290 yards and 11 touchdowns. This season, Collins had 38 receptions for 510 yards and 3 scores in a struggling Tigers offense with redshirt freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik at the helm.

Collins arrived at Clemson out of powerhouse preps program Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco High School in as a four-star prospect — and top-100 player — in the class of 2021. As a freshman, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound wide receiver got on the field right away, catching 28 passes for 387 yards.

Florida International WR Kris Mitchell

Height: 6-1
Weight: 175
Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla.
Commitment date: Dec. 5, 2023
Transfer portal entry date: Nov. 28, 2023
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 47 overall, No. 8 WR
Eligibility: One year

Notre Dame added some serious speed with Mitchell, a graduate transfer, to its receiver room. Mitchell pledged to the Irish following five years at FIU. In his college career, he appeared in 38 games and hauled in 100 passes for 1,663 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Mitchell’s best season with the Panthers was this past one. He caught 64 passes for 1,118 yards (17.5 yards per catch) and scored 7 touchdowns. His receiving yardage ranks No. 13 in the FBS, while his 5.3 receptions per game is No. 42. Mitchell’s yards per reception (17.47) is No. 40 in the nation.

Arizona State DB Jordan Clark

Height: 5-10
Weight: 185
Hometown: Baton Rouge, La.
Commitment date: Dec. 4, 2023
Transfer portal entry date: Nov. 30, 2023
On3 Industry Transfer portal ranking: No. 174 overall, No. 14 CB
Eligibility: One year

Clark figures to be a like-for-like replacement for Thomas Harper at the nickel position. Across 11 games of the 2023 season, Clark posted 50 stops (1.5 for loss) and 9 pass break ups. The son of former NFL defensive back Ryan Clark’s 2022 campaign was strong, totaling 47 tackles on the year and 6 pass break ups. Clark allowed just a 40.0 completion percentage in Cover 0 or Cover 1 — good for 23rd in the FBS, according to thesundevils.com.

Clark redshirted as a freshman in 2019 and played in the shortened 2020 season, which did not count towards his eligibility per the NCAA’s ruling. He played more than four games in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, making him a sixth-year player in 2024.