Rhode Island transfer safety Antonio Carter gives Notre Dame desperately needed backline depth

15.05.2023 - 11:49 nbcsports.com

Notre Dame’s spring practice roster featured only three safeties with any experience, four if Oklahoma State transfer Thomas Harper had been both healthy and expected to play safety rather than nickel back.

Early-enrolled freshmen Ben Minich and Adon Shuler (out in the spring with a shoulder injury) will add some emergency depth, but only so much can be expected from freshmen, naturally.

Enter Rhode Island graduate transfer Antonio Carter II, who committed to the Irish on Saturday afternoon. Carter entered the transfer portal last month and quickly received scholarship offers from nearly 20 FBS programs, including Wisconsin, Washington and Mississippi.

He was due to visit LSU this weekend and Florida soon after before those trips were canceled by his commitment while at Notre Dame this week.

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Listed measurements: 6-foot-5, 310 pounds. 2023-24 year, eligibility: A sophomore, Chan has all four seasons of eligibility remaining. Depth Chart: Chan might crack the two-deep as the backup to junior Blake Fisher at right tackle, conceivably competing with classmate Aamil Wagner for that theoretical honor. “Theoretical” because the practical backup to Fisher would more likely be senior Tosh Baker, though Baker will not be listed as No. 2 at both left and right tackle. Recruiting: Chan’s low-maintenance recruitment fit both an offensive lineman prospect and a Massachusetts product, turning down Boston College, Penn State and Syracuse when he committed to Notre Dame more than a year before he could sign his National Letter of Intent. The No. 11 offensive tackle and No. 221 overall prospect in the class, per rivals.com, Chan never wavered in that lengthy commitment.

Notre Dame 99-to-0: No. 78 Pat Coogan, junior interior offensive lineman

Listed measurements: 6-foot-5 ⅛, 309 pounds. 2023-24 year, eligibility: A junior, Coogan has three seasons of eligibility remaining. Depth Chart: An interior offensive lineman through and through, expect Coogan to spend some preseason practices working among the guards before being listed as the backup center on the public depth chart, behind fifth-year Zeke Correll. Recruiting: The recruiting rankings industry rarely respects centers, thus effectively capping Coogan’s ceiling at a consensus three-star prospect. Yet, Stanford and Michigan chased him until he chose Notre Dame, a clear choice all along given the Chicagoland product was a lifelong Irish fan.

Notre Dame 99-to-0: No. 79 Tosh Baker, senior tackle, again a backup but next year …

Listed measurements: 6-foot-8, 310 pounds. 2023-24 year, eligibility: A senior, Baker has two years of eligibility remaining. Depth Chart: Baker had the misfortune of arriving at Notre Dame just one year before the increasingly-heralded tackle duo of Blake Fisher and Joe Alt. Thus, Baker remains a backup as a senior, presumably penciled in as the No. 2 left tackle behind Alt on the public depth chart but perhaps the immediate option at both tackle positions if injury befalls either Fisher or Alt. Recruiting: The No. 5 offensive tackle in his class, per rivals.com, when he signed with Notre Dame, Baker fell to No. 13 by the end of the recruiting cycle, another example of recruiting rankings being fickle and confounding. Baker chose the Irish over the likes of Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State, a high-profile recruitment despite coming from Scottsdale, Ariz.

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Penn State RB transfer Devyn Ford gives Notre Dame newly-needed backfield depth, experience

Entering spring practices, Notre Dame looked stocked at running back, returning two juniors who each rushed for at least 800 yards last season as well as a senior with 285 career touches. With three underclassmen supporting them, the Irish were wealthy in both depth and experience at running back.

Notre Dame 99-to-0: No. 83 Jayden Thomas, junior receiver, probable No. 1 target in 2023

Listed measurements: 6-foot-1 ½, 220 pounds. 2023-24 year, eligibility: A junior, Thomas has three years of eligibility remaining thanks to playing in only three games as a freshman. Depth Chart: Thomas’s moments of success in 2022 made him a clear starter for this coming season, the only question being at what position. By the end of spring practices, Thomas looked like the frontrunner at the boundary position, a similar big body as past boundary stars Miles Boykin, Chase Claypool and Kevin Austin, though significantly shorter than those predecessors. Recruiting: Considered the No. 45 receiver in the class of 2021 by rivals.com, Thomas turned down most of the SEC as he chose Notre Dame, most notably his homestate Georgia. And any recruit chased by the Bulldogs in the last four years stands out more than usual given the overall quality of Georgia’s roster.