Transfer Portal: Former Northwestern DB Rod Heard II commits to Notre Dame
Shortly after the new year, the Irish shored up their one remaining hole on defense: safety. Former Northwestern graduate student defensive back Rod Heard II committed to Notre Dame, he announced on social media Wednesday.
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.
According to Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer, Heard is transferring to Notre Dame to play safety.
At Northwestern this season as a redshirt senior, Heard was primarily a slot cornerback. He played safety in the Wildcats’ base (three-linebacker) personnel package, but they were mostly a nickel team, so that’s what Heard played the most.
The Irish acquired Arizona State graduate transfer Jordan Clark to play nickel, and senior Clarence Lewis remains on the roster with one year of eligibility remaining. Freshman Christian Gray, who played well this season in limited action as a true freshman, played much of the Sun Bowl in the slot, too.
At safety, senior Xavier Watts announced Saturday that he would return for one more year. Aside from Watts, the only scholarship safeties expected to return are freshmen Adon Shuler and Ben Minich, who played sparingly in their first years in South Bend. Preferred walk-on Luke Talich, who chose Notre Dame over several FBS scholarship offers and played on special teams as a freshman, is expected to be a factor at some point as well.
That’s a lot of talent — Notre Dame has high hopes for Shuler, Minich and Talich — but not a lot of experience and certainly not enough depth. Heard fixes both issues and brings versatility that gives Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden options in the secondary.
Pro Football Focus rated 2023 as his 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.
In that Las Vegas Bowl, Heard made 12 tackles and recovered a fumble. He only allowed 1 catch on 1 target for 8 yards, and throughout the season, he allowed 44 receptions on 59 targets for 390 yards (6.6 yards per attempt).
Heard entered the transfer portal on Dec. 28. He brings ample experience, with 25 starts over the past two years. The expectation will certainly be that Heard would slide right into the starting lineup at Notre Dame.
He would join a lineup that includes multi-year starters at other schools such as Clark and Duke transfer defensive end R.J. Oben, as well as several experienced returners.
