CB TaRiq Bracy returning to Notre Dame for fifth season
Add cornerback TaRiq Bracy to the list of Notre Dame “super seniors” in 2022.
Bracy will return for a graduate season this fall, head coach Marcus Freeman confirmed Thursday. He participated in Notre Dame’s first spring practice earlier in the day. He is playing his fifth and final season using the COVID-19 waiver that gave all 2020 college football players an extra year of eligibility. He was set to be out of eligibility following 2021 before the NCAA implemented the waiver in the summer of 2020. It gave him the option to play five full seasons in college.
“He’s going to be here,” Freeman said. “He’s excited to have a great senior year.”
Five other teammates are taking the super senior route: wide receiver Avery Davis, offensive lineman Josh Lugg, defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola, linebacker Bo Bauer and safety Houston Griffith. All five were either starters or prominent role players in 2021 and announced their returns on social media shortly after the season ended. Bracy, though, did not make his plans public.
Notre Dame also brought in Arkansas State grad transfer kicker Blake Grupe, who is using the COVID year to play this season. Davis, Lugg and Grupe are in their sixth college season. The 2022 season will be the fifth for Bauer, Ademilola and Griffith.
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Bracy has played 44 career games in his four seasons at Notre Dame. He was the primary slot corner in 2021 and made 38 tackles with two passes broken up. He recorded his first career interception Oct. 9 at Virginia Tech.
His senior year was one of redemption.
He lost his starting role to then-freshman Clarence Lewis midway through 2020 and began the 2021 offseason with nothing guaranteed. With one demotion, a junior who had outplayed his three-star recruiting ranking through two-plus seasons found himself on an uncertain path.
Bracy saw the field in 11 games as a freshman, had two passes broken up as a sophomore in Notre Dame’s road loss to Georgia and won the starting field corner job as a junior. He had been on a steady climb since his 2018 arrival as a lightly recruited defensive back from Milpitas (Calif.) High.
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In November 2020, though, one wondered if he hit a plateau. He was benched in Notre Dame’s wins over Clemson and North Carolina after allowing touchdowns and did not play a defensive snap in the College Football Playoff loss to Alabama.
Bracy attacked the offseason determined to pull the wheel around and get back on course. By the end of spring practice, he had a strong grip on nickel back duties. He played all 13 games this season and totaled 483 defensive snaps. He earned a game ball after Notre Dame’s Oct. 23 win over USC, during which he made a team-high seven tackles and recovered a fumble. Teammates could tell the honor had significant meaning for him.
“He looked at me sincerely and was like, ‘Bro, it feels good,’” former Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton said on an October episode of Inside The Garage podcast. “Knowing how hard he works, and he may not always get what he wants at certain times, that’s being a good teammate, but you could tell looking in his eyes this really did mean a lot to him. He has come a long way.”
With Bracy back, Notre Dame returns all but two cornerbacks from its 2021 roster. Junior-to-be Caleb Offord and sophomore JoJo Johnson entered the transfer portal earlier this offseason. Starters Cam Hart and Lewis are back. So are rising sophomores Chance Tucker, Philip Riley and Ryan Barnes. Notre Dame also signed a trio of four-star defensive backs in December: Benjamin Morrison, Jaden Mickey and Jayden Bellamy.
