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

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.

Some Irish fans may be quick to dismiss a transfer from an FCS program, even a player with 21 starts and 105 tackles the last two seasons, not to mention 10 pass breakups, an interception and two forced fumbles in 11 games last year. But Rhode Island is a quality FCS program. If a needed safety transfer came from a low-level FBS program like Charlotte, New Mexico or Florida International, the reaction would be more positive, suggesting it is a player too talented for his current competition.

By the Sagarain Ratings , a system that combines both FBS and FCS analytics, Rhode Island was a better team than any of those three, coming in at No. 160, just ahead of FCS power South Dakota.

Five of the top-30 FCS teams, per SP+ , were from the Colonial Athletic Association, with Rhode Island slotting at No. 30. The Rams were 1-2 against those CAA teams ahead of them, with one of those losses coming 42-41 vs. Delaware.

Carter