former nd recruiting target hits transfer portal

Notre Dame has been judicious and successful in how they use the transfer portal to solidify their roster. Marcus Freeman has consistently stated that his program will always have a foundation of recruiting high school players to South Bend. With that being said, some recent news might become intriguing to the Fighting Irish defensive staff as news broke early Friday morning that Stanford LB/DE David Bailey had entered the transfer portal.

With Stanford general manager Andrew Luck’s decision to part with Troy Taylor as head coach, look for several Cardinal players with 1 or 2 years of eligibility to explore their options elsewhere. The dominoes might have began falling with star pass rusher David Bailey, who entered on Friday.

In 2022, the Fighting Irish offered and made a strong push for the Mater Dei standout. He held offers from Alabama, Michigan, Oregon, LSU, Oklahoma, and USC among several others. He was ranked as a top 50 player in his class across several top recruiting services. The 6-3, 250-pound pass rusher was able to record 111 total tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, and 14.5 sacks in three seasons. Bailey also managed to record seven forced fumbles.

Notre Dame defensive coordinator has a good group of pass rushers returning from a highly ranked defense. Guys like Joshua Burnham, Junior Tuihalamaka, Jordan Bothello (injury), Boubacar Traore (injury), Bryce Young, Loghan Thomas, Cole Mullins, and highly touted incoming freshman Christopher Burgess Jr.

That’s a pretty deep group of pass rushers, but with Bothello and Traore returning from serious leg injuries, the Fighting Irish could possibly think about adding Bailey’s talents and not feel the need to rush either back to service for week 1 of college football. Bryce Young and Loghan Thomas are talented players that are still developing and probably aren’t ready to take a heavy number of snaps. Burnham and Tuihalamaka are solid guys that stepped up for the Fighting Irish after losing their top two guys during the regular season, but passing rushing is not their forte. This makes Bailey and intriguing conversation for the Notre Dame staff. He has one more year of eligibility, and should want to play for a high profile contender that can compete for a national championship. He also might be ready to leave the comforts of California for the midwest. Either way, the Fighting are working from a place of strength, and addition like Bailey would definitely signal that Marcus Freeman is not satisfied until he wins a championship.