Notre Dame 2018 recruiting class all over college football as sixth-year players

Rarely were there remnants of a team’s recruiting class in the program or elsewhere around college football past the five-year anniversary of its signing. Sixth-year players were around only because of injury luck bad enough to warrant a waiver from the NCAA. The novelty of former Notre Dame defensive back Shaun Crawford playing a sixth year lasted the entire 2020 season.

These days, though, sixth-year seniors barely register as unusual. The COVID-19 bonus season has made them a norm the last two years and will fuel an increase in them through 2025, when the last class that was granted the COVID waiver would be in its sixth season. Notre Dame had two on its 2022 roster, offensive lineman Josh Lugg and kicker Blake Grupe. It will have six in 2023.

College football’s sixth-year seniors in 2023 were part of the 2018 high school recruiting cycle, which still populates many college football rosters all this time later. The 2018 Notre Dame class has one scholarship player (plus two former walk-ons) still in the program and 11 with others. The Irish have three players who signed somewhere else in 2018 and then transferred to Notre Dame.

Here’s a look at all the members Notre Dame’s 27-man 2018 signing class who will be playing college football in 2023, either for the Irish or elsewhere, as well as the sixth-year imports on the roster.

Notre Dame 2018 signees still on the roster

• Safety DJ Brown: The lone 2018 scholarship player to spend six years at Notre Dame, Brown has played 47 games and logged 1,257 defensive snaps in his career. He has 105 career tackles, 5 pass breakups and 3 interceptions. He started 10 games in 2022.

• Long snapper Michael Vinson: A former walk-on, Vinson has been the primary long snapper since 2020 and returned for one more year in that role.

• Wide receiver Matt Salerno: Another former walk-on, Salerno was awarded a scholarship in 2022 and invited back for a sixth season. He has 6 catches for 58 yards and a touchdown in his career.

The 2018 signees on other college football rosters

• Quarterback Phil Jurkovec: After three years at Boston College (2020-22), Jurkovec transferred to Pittsburgh to play his final season. The Panthers come to Notre Dame Stadium Oct. 28.

• Running back C’Bo Flemister: A grad transfer in 2022, Flemister spent last year at Pitt and is back for a sixth year.

• Wide receiver Joe Wilkins Jr.: Wilkins played for Notre Dame from 2018-22 and took a grad transfer to Miami Ohio for the 2023 season.

• Wide receiver Lawrence Keys III: Keys is back at Tulane for a sixth season of college football after finishing fourth on the Green Wave in catches (30). He left Notre Dame as a grad transfer during the 2021 season.

• Tight end George Takacs: Takacs spent four years at Notre Dame (2018-21), transferred to Boston College in 2022 and caught 26 passes for 256 yards last season. He is back with the Eagles for 2023.

• Defensive end Ovie Oghoufo: Another three-school player, Oghoufo reunited with Brian Kelly at LSU in January after spending the last two years at Texas. He made 20 starts in his two seasons with the Longhorns.

• Defensive tackle Ja’Mion Franklin: The 2023 season will be Franklin’s third at Duke, where he started all 12 games last year. He spent three seasons at Notre Dame (2018-20).

• Linebacker Shayne Simon: A four-year member of the Irish (2018-21), Simon landed at Pitt in 2023 and was a 13-game starter. He returned to the Panthers for a sixth season.

• Linebacker Paul Moala: A grad transfer departure last winter, Moala picked Idaho and finished fourth on the team in tackles last year (61). He is back for Year 6 and his second with the Vandals.

• Safety Derrik Allen: Allen spent his freshman year at Notre Dame and transferred to Georgia Tech in 2019. He went in the portal again after the 2022 season and chose North Carolina as his 2023 destination.

• Cornerback Noah Boykin: Boykin took a redshirt at Notre Dame and left for UMass in 2019. He appeared in 20 games from 2020-22, with 38 tackles, 8 pass breakups and 1 interception.

The rest of the 2018 Notre Dame signing class

• Declined sixth year in 2023: wide receiver Braden Lenzy, defensive end Justin Ademilola, offensive lineman Jarrett Patterson

• Never redshirted but played five full seasons at Notre Dame using the COVID waiver: defensive tackle Jayson Ademilola, linebacker Bo Bauer, cornerback TaRiq Bracy, safety Houston Griffith

• Ended career after four seasons: wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. (NFL Draft), offensive lineman John Dirksen (retired from football)

• Ended career after two or three seasons: tight end Tommy Tremble (NFL Draft), offensive lineman Cole Mabry (medically retired)

• Transferred but ended career shy of six seasons: running back Jahmir Smith (Appalachian State), wide receiver Micah Jones (Illinois State), offensive lineman Luke Jones (Arkansas), linebacker Jack Lamb (Colorado)

Incoming sixth-year transfers

• Quarterback Sam Hartman: The ACC’s all-time leader in touchdown passes started 45 games in five seasons at Wake Forest. He chose Notre Dame in January.

• Wide receiver Kaleb Smith: A five-year run at Virginia Tech started as a walk-on in 2018 and ended as the team’s leading receiver in 2022. He transferred to Notre Dame in December.

• Defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste: A role player at Ohio State from 2019-22 after redshirting 2018, Jean-Baptiste will play at Notre Dame in 2023.