Former Notre Dame defensive lineman Aiden Gobaira enters NCAA transfer portal
A former Notre Dame defensive lineman has entered the NCAA transfer portal according to a report from On3’s Pete Nakos. Aiden Gobaira will look for another place to finish his college career.
In June, Notre Dame confirmed with Blue & Gold that Gobaira — and fellow class fo 2022 defensive line signee Tyson Ford, who also entered the portal earlier this month — had been dismissed from the Fighting Irish program via a medical scholarship. Almost exactly four months to the day, Nakos broke the news that Gobaira is looking to get back into college football at a new program.
Gobaira tore his ACL in fall camp 2023 and missed the entire ensuing season plus 2024 spring practices. That amounted to valuable time lost in trying to assert himself as an option for position coach Al Washington along the Notre Dame defensive line.
Gobaira arrived in South Bend as the No. 177 overall prospect and a four-star talent in the recruiting class of 2022. He was the No. 20 edge rusher in the class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, and the No. 5 player from the state of Virginia.
In 2021, Gobaira was a Maxwell Football Club National High School Defensive Player of the Year Award semifinalist. He played in the spring that year because of COVID, and he had 16 sacks in eight games. He was the Regional Defensive Player of the Year for head coach Sean Curry at Fairfax (Va.) Chantilly High School.
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In the lone season Gobaira was healthy for while at Notre Dame, his freshman year in 2022, Gobaira played one defensive snap. That was it. He got on the field for one play in a blowout win over Boston College.
Some high-level recruits never pan out. Injuries often have much to do with that, and that was the case for Gobaira. He also came to Notre Dame when the Irish had veterans Isaiah Foskey and Rylie Mills, now a defensive tackle, starting at the defensive end positions. Other experienced players such as Justin Ademilola, Jordan Botelho and Nana Osafo-Mensah were in the mix as well.
The goal is always to develop, retain and get good usage out of a talent like Gobaira, who was last listed on the Notre Dame roster at 6-5, 256 pounds in 2023, but it isn’t always that easy. Personnel choices need to be made by the likes of Washington and head coach Marcus Freeman, and injuries, as aforementioned, regularly dictate such decisions.
Without the injury, Gobaira would have been in position as a junior to compete for playing time at strong-side defensive end. Freshman Bryce Young is playing the most there right now ahead of Duke transfer RJ Oben. With season-ending injuries to Botelho and sophomore Boubacar Traore, Gobaira might’ve even got a cross-training look at Vyper like Joshua Burnham.
