The coaching staff doesn't know what attrition will occur in the top 85.

1. Spring practice can lead to injuries to players for all or part of the next season. That leads to hard questions whether that player would return to ND the following season. Do you what amounts to a dead scholarship for an injured player.

2. The depth chart at the end of spring ball may result in voluntary turnover. Most of these guys want playing time, and is it worth them to wait around in hopes of getting it.

3. I would guess the new OL coach would like to evaluate the linemen before reaching a decision.

I'd also add that sometimes the light goes on for people or players have been hampered by injuries or weight issues etc. They may be able to elevate their depth chart position.

I would guess that some players have been told they are candidtaes; however, it seems strange to think this is the final list (if we even have to "cut" players after voluntary portal entries).

And the names have been out there for awhile

To my knowledge the following have been offered a PWO status: Luke Talich, safety; Andrew Kros, long snapper; Ben Krimm GT, punter; and ?Cole Aubrey GT, DE/OLB. Talich and Kros being freshmen. Are they counted as part of the 85? And what kind of financial benefits do they receive? Also of note is that part of the 93, five are grad transfers, with one year eligibility.

He is a preferred walk-on.

His post on it was on 12/21/22 - right about the Early Action date for class of 2027. They get accepted like the rest of kids, though the preferred walk-on status helps for sure.

and I would imagine at a place like ND the willingness to bend on academic requirements is not substantial for a walk-on (preferred).

Schools can provide Alston benefits to all student-athletes, whether on scholarship or not. That amount can be up to $5980 per student-athlete per year. These awards are usually tied to academics/graduation, with each school able to set their own parameters.

Schools can provide meals and snacks at any time. While this isn't supposed to replace the meal portion of a traditional scholarship, schools can definitely fill in the gap of meals missed due to practice/games/other required activities.

Then there's always money in the NIL banana stand. Schools aren't supposed to dictate who gets money from their collectives, but I'm guessing walk-ons are getting some love there where necessary.



It's not a ton of money or benefits (especially at a school that costs $75k/year), but it helps.

A school that is over the scholarship limit will be able to offer access to an NIL deal that is considerably more than the cost of taking a few courses for a semester before the player declares for the draft.

They are not on scholarship. Preferred walk-ons are "preferred" for admissions purposes, but the strength of that status varies by school. My understanding from my son's high school coach is coaches have a finite number of exemptions to spend, and they only stretch so far.

and if they want to remain at ND, are their academics strong enough since I'm guessing the athlete tutoring and other things won't be available to them since I'm guessing they'll just be a regular student on a football-equivalent scholarship.

I don't have a problem with this probably because I watched it happen to my sister in the swimming world. She was a top HS recruit and went to the Univ. of Texas which was a top 5 school. She was a sprinter and Texas brought in some foreign olympians who had better times at her events. She had three choices:

1) Learn a new event and try to stay on the team
2) Stay at Texas on an equivalent academic scholarship and just be a student.
3) Transfer

She ended up taking door #3 and actually transferred to ND where she did great and ended up being the captain her senior year. I liked it because I was in school then too and my parents actually showed up more often so I got more $20 handshakes from my dad so I always had beer money...priorities, right :)

Life is about choices and while it seems like these players are getting screwed, they're really not for the most part. They're stuck at the bottom of the roster and they're being given two options...stay at ND or go play football somewhere else. Chances are, they're not going to play in the pros so if they're a good student, they'll probably stay at ND and if not, they'll go keep the dream alive at a school where they can get on the field. Both are good options and might be better than grinding it out on the scout team which takes away from your academics.

That's a tough choice to have forced upon you (or at least for some of the 8 or so kids getting cut, I'd think).

I sure do hope these mediocre 1-year hired guns play really well.

it's exploiting a loophole that would otherwise not be there, and it's basically saying "the old coach recruited you and wanted you but the new coach doesn't."

They should work harder to develop the guys that they have, IMO. But we've been down this road before of course. From my perspective, it gives the head coach even less leeway; if he isn't immediately successful, I believe that he should be let go.

It would be up to the University if it decides to do the right thing.

Not only is it the right thing to do, but Freeman's most powerful recruiting tool that distinguishes itself from almost every other school is the ability to make good on a promise for a degree that is worth something.

Notre Dame's "commitment" to them (as it were) is no longer applicable. I suppose that anything is possible, but it would be unlikely.

Also, every single guy would know prior to going into the portal what his options would be (at a minimum). There would be no surprises. True story--I know an FCS player who was approached by 3 different schools over winter break about a spot being open at their school should he enter the portal (he was not in the portal at the time).

It would also be anticompetitive and should be impermissible as a matter of policy.

Huston Griffith enter the transfer portal and eventually decided to return to ND for his final year. So it seems to be possible that a player can enter the portal and then decide to return to his original school. I believe there is a deadline for making a decision.

A player can obviously choose to return to the school if that is something the coach wants. The question is whether the school will be willing and able to provide a scholarship to the individual if he wants to return to Notre Dame but not play football after the coaches have told him to explore his options.

of course anything is possible; my apologies if I wasn't clear in my initial post.