Notre Dame tight end Cane Berrong enters transfer portal
Another Notre Dame tight end is joining Michael Mayer in departing the program this month. But not for the NFL.
Notre Dame sophomore tight end Cane Berrong is in the transfer portal and announced his exit from the program Monday night. He will leave the program with three seasons of eligibility left.
Berrong played one game this season, seeing five snaps in the Irish’s 44-0 win over Boston College Nov. 19. He was limited in fall camp and the early part of the year as he recovered from a torn ACL last fall. He played three games as a freshman in 2021 before suffering the injury, but preserved a redshirt.
“Cane Berrong is getting better,” head coach Marcus Freeman said in mid-October. “He’s just starting to practice the entire length of practice, so he’s improving.”
Without Berrong, Notre Dame will have just three healthy scholarship tight ends for the Dec. 30 Gator Bowl vs. South Carolina: sophomore Mitchell Evans, sophomore Davis Sherwood and freshman Holden Staes. Junior Kevin Bauman and freshman Eli Raridon are out for the year due to ACL tears suffered earlier this season.
Notre Dame has one tight end commit in the 2023 class: Concord (Calif.) De La Salle four-star Cooper Flanagan, the No. 233 overall player in the On3 Consensus. His addition would give the Irish six scholarship tight ends on the 2023 roster, as it stands.
Berrong’s transfer announcement comes two days after Freeman said he did not expect any more portal departures or NFL draft entrants before the bowl game.
“I can’t predict the future, but I don’t anticipate anyone else not playing in the bowl game or going into the portal right now,” Freeman said.
All told, Berrong is the fourth Notre Dame player to explore his transfer options since the end of the regular season. Quarterback Drew Pyne, defensive end Osita Ekwonu and cornerback Jayden Bellamy entered the portal on Dec. 5, the first day of the 45-day transfer window that runs through Jan. 18.
Notre Dame signed the 6-foot-4, 243-pound Berrong out of Hartwell (Ga.) Hart County High School as part of its 2021 class and brought him in as a mid-year enrollee. He was a four-star prospect and the No. 273 player in the 2021 On3 Consensus. He originally committed to the Irish on June 21, 2019, choosing them over Georgia, LSU, Michigan, North Carolina State, Penn State, among others.
