Notre Dame freshman WR Braylon James to enter NCAA Transfer Portal
The Notre Dame football program has lost another wide receiver to the NCAA transfer portal. Freshman Braylon James announced his intention to move on from the Fighting Irish on Thursday with four years of eligibility remaining. The portal officially opens for undergraduate transfers on Monday.
The 6-foot-2 1/8, 202-pounder from Round Rock (Texas) Stony Point decided to enter the portal after one season. James enrolled at Notre Dame during the 2023 spring semester as the program’s top receiver in the 2023 recruiting class.
James follows Notre Dame wide receivers Chris Tyree and Tobias Merriweather into the transfer portal. Tyree entered his name into the portal earlier this week on Monday as a graduate transfer. Merriweather announced his intention on Wednesday and expects to appear in the portal in four days.
In addition to James, Tyree and Merriweather, graduate student defensive lineman Nana Osafo-Mensah, senior D-lineman Aidan Keanaaina and graduate student offensive lineman Zeke Correll also announced they were entering the portal this week.
James was a four-star recruit ranked as the No. 138 overall player, No. 23 wide receiver nationally and No. 27 prospect in Texas in the 2023 recruiting cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.
James appeared in four games during his freshman season, effectively preserving his redshirt. He caught his first career pass, which went for 12 yards, in the fourth quarter of Notre Dame’s blowout victory against Pittsburgh on Oct. 28. He also played in the Tennessee State (Sept. 2), Central Michigan (Sept. 16) and Wake Forest (Nov. 18). Each one of those games took place at home.
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As a recruit, James reported 28 other Power Five scholarship offers. He chose the Irish over Stanford, TCU and Texas.
Braylon James’ NCAA Transfer Portal departure leaves Notre Dame with little wide receiver depth
With James’ departure, the Irish are now down to six scholarship wide receivers for next season: Jayden Thomas, Deion Colzie, Jaden Greathouse, Rico Flores Jr., KK Smith and Jordan Faison. Thomas and Colzie will be seniors. Greathouse, Flores, Smith and Faison will be sophomores in 2024.
Notre Dame does have three wide receiver prospects verbally committed in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Five-star Cam Williams is the headliner, accompanied by top 330 four-stars Micah Gilbert and Logan Saldate. Williams, Gilbert and Saldate will sign with the program during the NCAA FBS early signing window, which takes place from Dec. 20-22.
The Irish are also expected to target wide receivers to help fill out the depth chart while adding production at the position.
