Notre Dame offensive lineman Michael Carmody enters NCAA transfer portal
Make it an even dozen on the count of Notre Dame scholarship football players who have entered the NCAA transfer portal since the conclusion of the 2023 regular season. Offensive lineman Michael Carmody made himself No. 12 with a social media announcement on Monday.
“To Notre Dame,” Carmody wrote. “The last four years of my life have been a blessing. Thank you to the coaches who gave me the opporuntity to become a Notre Dame football player and to my teammates for making ND such a special place. It has been an honor to battle with you guys.
“With that being said I have decided that it is time for me to find my next opportunity to continue my journey in this game that I love. I will be entering the transfer portal with multiple years of eligiblity. Love Thee.”
Carmody arrived at Notre Dame as a four-star recruit and the No. 17 offensive tackle in the class of 2020 according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He played in one game as a true freshman in 2020 before appearing in 10 as a sophomore in 2021. He had a chance to start twice that year, both starts coming at left tackle, before the Irish moved on and solidified Joe Alt as the starter there. Alt has not relinquished his stranglehold on that position since.
Carmody got buried down the depth chart in his junior and senior seasons. Alt and Blake Fisher have started every game for Notre Dame at the tackle spots for the last two seasons. Opportunities are on the horizon with Fisher having already announced he will forego his senior season to enter the 2024 NFL Draft and an identical declaration from Alt feeling imminent. But the writing was on the wall for Carmody; the Irish are going in different directions with replacements for those two players.
Carmody did not crack the three-deep at either tackle spot exiting fall camp, and that remained the case during the regular season. Sophomore Aamil Wagner was Fisher’s backup. Senior Tosh Baker backed up Alt. If the Irish ever needed to go to a fifth option at tackle, it’d have likely been sophomore Ty Chan. Carmody was just not in the cards for Notre Dame.
He could definitely play a role wherever he chooses to go next, though. He’s got enough size at 6-5 1/2, 291 pounds and was clearly a talented player coming out of high school. Carmody has a couple years to make good on his potential in a new uniform.
Here are the 12 Notre Dame players to enter the transfer portal since the Stanford game. If they have already chosen a new program, it’s in parenthesis.
- WR Chris Tyree (Virginia)
- DE Nana Osafo-Mensah (TCU)
- C Zeke Correll (NC State)
- WR Tobias Merriweather
- TE Holden Staes
- DT Aidan Keanaaina
- WR Braylon James (TCU)
- WR Rico Flores Jr.
- S Ramon Henderson
- S Antonio Carter II
- CB Ryan Barnes
