Will Notre Dame safety Brandon Joseph be off to the NFL after one season?
Notre Dame is in an interesting situation with Northwestern transfer Brandon Joseph. The Irish brought in the former All-American from the transfer portal with the intention of getting him back to that elite level. But if he once again rises to it, Joseph could be gone after just one season donning a golden helmet.
The NFL is going to come calling.
Pro Football Focus rated Joseph the No. 3 safety prospect and the No. 49 overall player in the 2023 NFL Draft. As we saw with all the buzz about Kyle Hamilton before, during and after the draft last month, safeties don’t always get a lot of love when transitioning from college to the NFL. The fact that Joseph is already receiving a second-round grade shows there could be something different about him. He has the potential to be the second Irish safety drafted in as many years.
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And that’s where the intrigue comes in as it relates to Notre Dame. Head coach Marcus Freeman, defensive coordinator Al Golden and safeties coach Chris O’Leary obviously want Jospeh to have an All-American season. It would behoove the entire team. But it would also likely cement a sendoff after just 12 months in South Bend. The same guys who want Joseph to be the best in the nation at his position would benefit from having him around to exhaust his remaining two years of eligibility in a blue and gold uniform.
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Could both occur? Sure. Guys have come back when it seemed unlikely before. But odds are if Joseph has the season coaches and fans want him to, he’s gone. And that’s fine. It’ll mean he did exactly what was envisioned when Notre Dame pulled him out of the portal.
For fans, a best-case scenario would be Joseph played really well but not great enough to test his draft stock. Then after he returns to Notre Dame for his last year as a collegiate player, he has the incredible type of season that makes him a fringe first-round selection. Maybe even a surefire day one pick. Everyone wins.
For coaches, they want that to happen now. In 2022. Coaches are always in “win now” mode. Yeah, they’re thinking of the future too. “Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting” as Freeman recently said. But how important is recruiting if there is not a stable situation for those recruits to come into? How many times has a coach thought so much about recruiting and not enough about winning now to the point that he’s not even around when the recruits arrive because he got canned for poor performances?
None of these Notre Dame coaches are on the hot seat. Not even close. It’s a fresh, new staff. One that wants the best out of every player on the roster right away. That includes Joseph. And if he plays so well that he’s off to the NFL after one season, then so be it. Such is the way it goes at Notre Dame, the program that has put more players in the NFL than any other in the nation. If recruiting is of the utmost importance, someone else should come around to aptly replace Joseph anyway.
Rinse. Repeat. Reload.
