Notre Dame & Brian Kelly Pleased with Graduate Transfers
Notre Dame has dabbled in the graduate transfer market over the last few years.
Cornerback Cody Riggs made the most significant impact in 2014 as he recorded 36 tackles and one interception in 11 games after transferring from Florida.
Notre Dame has added four graduate transfers this season as Nick McCloud (cornerback), Isaiah Pryor (safety), Ben Skowronek (receiver and Trevor Speights (running back) have joined the 2020 roster.
Points can be made about recruiting misses and needing graduate transfers, while you can also make the argument Notre Dame upgraded the roster with experienced players.
The common denominator is Notre Dame got better by adding four seasoned players to the roster as the Fighting Irish will be better at the end of the day as it increases competition.
In the case of McCloud, Pryor and Skowronek, Notre Dame needed another veteran in the room. Young talent fills all three rooms, but all three rooms will benefit from having a guy who has seen the curveballs college football can throw at them.
When it comes to McCloud, it couldn't have been a better fit. Notre Dame needed a veteran cornerback due to recruiting misses and a captain from an ACC school was dropped from the heavens.
"We wanted maturity and player maturity, as well as veteran maturity," Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly stated. "These guys are guys we did our research on in talking to coaches. They're well-respected in their locker rooms by teammates. So we're inserting guys into a strong culture, a winning culture that we don't have to be concerned with."
When it comes to Speights, the Stanford grad transfer has experience, but hasn't been able to stay on the field due to injuries consistently.
It's a risk as he could very well not make it out of a physical fall camp, but it's one Notre Dame did significant research on. Speights doesn’t have to be the No. 1 back to be a success in South Bend. If he can help Notre Dame win two games this fall, then he did his part as no one will be overly upset about it. (Well, I’m sure someone will be mad he didn’t run for 400 yards against Clemson)
"Although we know Trevor's been banged up, we feel like very confident after sharing medical information with our team," said Kelly. "That with a clean bill of health, he is going to be a really fine football player for us."
It's an interesting case where all four transfers could potentially end up starting and all four could end up playing reserve roles, but that's why they aren't in the NFL. And that's just fine as Notre Dame got better by stepping a little outside its comfort zone.
"We feel like we've added at both ends, in the locker room and guys that can play in positions of need for us at a high level," Kelly said. "They were need positions for us as well and we addressed them."